Happy New Year!
After a year in which I did only one trip - a circumnavigation of Britain lasting three and a half months - the time has come to plan something for this year. So what might we do in 2014?
The centrepiece of the summer will be an inland cruise in the Netherlands from Friday 25th July to Sunday 10th August, taking part in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Dutch OGA. The Dutch were quite a large contingent in Round Britain and I am sure they will organise something very special. There will be an opening event at Wemeldinge on the Zeeland Delta on 25th July, sail through the canal system to Amsterdam, then proceed to the Ijsselmeer (former Zuiderzee) for some inland freshwater sailing in open water, finishing at the Dutch naval port of Den Helder in the north by the Frisian Islands.
I would plan to leave Southampton at least two weeks, before joining the fleet in Wemeldinge, and with a local shakedown cruise in the Solent before that. so the itinerary looks like this:
5th to 11th July: Shakedown cruise in the Solent - visiting local destinations such as Bembridge, Cowes, Newtown Creek, Yarmouth, Lymington, Beaulieu, the Hamble, Porstmouth, Langstone and Chichester Harbours.
12th to 18th July: a sail up the Channel taking in such English and French ports as suited, dependent on wind and tide. This could include Cherbourg, Honfleur, Boulogne, Chichester, Brighton, Dover, finishing in Ramsgate.
19th to 25th July: a sail to Wemeldinge with possible stops at Dunkirk, Ostende and the wonderful medieval Flemish city of Antwerp before going into the Dutch canal system at Vlissingen (Flushing), then to Middelburg, Veere and the Veersemeer, ready to join the fleet at Wemeldinge on 25th July. (You can look all these places up on Google Maps).
25th July to 1st August: From Wemeldinge to Amsterdam via the Dutch canal system: itinerary informed by Dutch Old Gaffers plans. We would have a fortnight with the OGA fleet. I would anticipate some very good parties and some excellent sightseeing opportunities, including some wonderful Dutch towns and cities. It is possible to sail on the canals (I did so when I took my Dayskipper Practical), although tacking to windward is not really feasible. With prevailing south westerlies there is a reasonable prospect of getting through most of the system under sail.
4th to 10th August: The middle weekend would be in Amsterdam and we would get to Den Helder by 10th August, ready to set off into the North Sea.
From Den Helder we might wish to visit the Dutch Frisian Islands (Texel, Terschelling) before heading down the coast and before crossing back to th English east coast (anywhere between Lowestoft and Dover, including the Rivers Deben, Orwell, Stour, Colne, Blackwater, Crouch, Thames, Medway, etc. Then on to Ramsgate and Dover, finishing by the weekend of 24th August.
As always, I am dependent on crew. I have had Yachtmaster Instructors and complete novices on board. It is more important to be willing, enthusiastic and a full participant in the life of the boat than to be a hugely experienced sailor. Our day to day plans are within the limits and abilities of the crew. We eat well, mainly cooking for ourselves aboard, but with occasional, well chosen meals ashore. Your financial contribution will be towards day to day running costs, food, fuel etc., and will be kept as low as possible. Your travel to embarkation and from disembarkation is at your expense. (There is a very good integrated transport system in the Netherlands by the way, so getting from Hoek van Holland or Schipol to and from wherever Toucando may be is reasonably straightforward.)
I am not providing you, neither are you providing me, with a "service". If you join up it is as part of a crew comprising friends and fellow sailors, and enjoying sailing and shore time together, and the wider companionship of the yachting, and specifically the Old Gaffers, community. Please get in touch via toucando(at)citybeat(dot)org(dot)uk.
