8-9-06

The way home.

On a Monday our last group left and on a Tuesday our new group arrived. As we where already in England and this trip was meant to be a long distance trip, we decided to go to the English Channel Islands.

We left Portsmouth very early when it was still dark. Winds where south westerly which meant that we had to tack our way to Alderney.
Around the Channel Islands the currents are very strong. With the current we would really be getting somewhere, but against the current we sometimes seemed to sail backwards..

After almost two days we arrived on Alderney, the most north west Island. The harbour is very beautiful, a lot of rocky surroundings and the anchor place is sheltered by a wall to keep the waves out. We where not the only ones in the harbour, a colleague of ours, the Jantje was there as well. The small brigantine of Dutch origin was a beautiful sight in the sunset.

The Next day we left with destination the east coast of England. The waves had increased a bit and wind was picking up as well. With the wind on the aft we almost surfed down the waves. We knew bad weather was coming our way, question was, would we be on the east coast by that time or would we be forced to stop in between. After a days sailing we decided it was time to make a stop and wait for the wind and waves to calm down. We took berth in Boulogne sur mer. A beautiful town in France.

Waves came crashing over the surrounding wall of the harbour and we where glad to be inside! After two days the waves decreased and we went out again. The silly thing after strong winds is often that the wind in the following days will decrease. Our pit stop and decreasing winds stopped us from going to England once more. We still had more than 200 miles to go.

After being gone for 4 months we wanted to enter Dutch waters in a special way. For the four of us this meant sailing north and through the Stortenmelk enter the Waddenzee. And so we did on Wednesday morning, under full sail! We went to Terschelling and on Thursday, our last sailing day, we went from West Terschelling to Enkhuizen.

It had been a beautiful trip, a perfect ending of a very special sailing season.

My grandmother asked me to write the log in Dutch so she could read the entries, so as from now on the log will be bilingual.

Greatings
Deckhand
Jet Sluik

De weg naar huis.

Op een maandag ging onze laatste groep van boord en op dinsdag kwam de nieuwe groep aan boord. Aangezien wij al in Engeland waren en deze reis opgezet was als mijlenmaker, hadden wij besloten naar de Engelse Kanaal Eilanden te gaan.
We hebben Portsmouth in het donker achter ons gelaten. Met een zuid wester wind moesten wij kruisend naar Alderney. De stromingen rond de Kanaal Eilanden zijn zo sterk dat wij met de stroom mee redelijk hard gingen, maar tegen de stroom in hebben we zelfs achterwaarts gezeild.

Na bijna twee dagen zeilen arriveerden wij op Alderney. Alderney heeft een hele mooie haven met een rotsachtige omgeving en een muur die de ankerplaats afschermt van golven. En wij waren niet de enigen in de haven, onze collega`s op de Jantje lagen vlak voor ons voor anker en waren een heel mooi gezicht bij ondergaande zon.

De volgende dag zijn wij weer vertrokken met bestemming de Oost kust van Engeland. De golven waren wat hoger geworden en ook de wind was inmiddels wat toegenomen. Met de wind op de kont van het schip leken wij af en toe van de golven af te surfen.
Kustwacht gaf waarschuwingen uit voor opkomende hardere winden, vraag was wanneer en zouden wij dan al bij de Engelse kust zijn. Na een dag zeilen hebben we besloten de wind en hoge golven af te wachten en zijn wij naar Boulogne sur mer gegaan. Een zeer mooi Frans stadje.

Golven bulderden om de omliggende muur van het stadje heen en wij waren blij binnen te zijn. Na twee dagen kalmeerden wind en zee en zijn wij weer vertrokken. Het vervelende na harde wind is dat daarna vaak de wind zo ver af neemt dat het bijna te weinig is om te zeilen. Onze pitstop en de afnemende wind leken ons te verhinderen om nog naar de Engelse kust te gaan en dus hebben wij koers gezet richting Thuis. Nog 200 mijl te gaan.

Na vier maanden in het buitenland varen wilden wij de Nederlandse wateren graag op een speciale manier binnen varen. Voor ons vier betekende dit dat wij langs de noord via de Waddenzee thuis wilden komen. Via het Stortemelk zijn wij op woensdag morgen onder vol zeil `thuis` gekomen. We zijn naar Terschelling gegaan, op donderdag zijn we van West Terschelling naar Enkhuizen gezeild en hebben wij een geweldig mooie laatste dag gehad.

Het is een geweldig mooie reis geweest en was de perfecte afsluiting van een heel bijzonder seizoen.
Mijn oma heeft me gevraagd het logboek ook in het Nederlands bij te houden zodat zij de verhalen kan lezen. Van af nu is het logboek dan ook twee talig!

Groeten
Maat
Jet Sluik

Goodbye Ireland

After 2 weeks of waiting, trying to arrange some way to stay in Ireland and not being able to sail; our new group arrived on board on Friday. As we where not allowed to stay in Ireland, we decided to give them the opportunity to see a bit of Ireland so we stayed one more day in Cork and set sail on Saturday towards the south coast of England. As none of the crew and only one of the guests had been to the Scillies, we set course and sailed through the night.

Winds picket up and under full sail with the wind on the quarters we raced towards the Islands. Not accustom to normal 12 day trips we had to sail through the night. Gijs and I went to bed after our first 12­6 shift but neither of us slept. I felt the Tecla pick up speed and as I was laying on the high side of the boat, I got forced out of bed more and more. Around 11 pm Gijs and I got hoisted out of bed because we where going to fast, we where speeding up to 11 knots (about 20 kph).. that was new to me.. we where actually going to fast so the ship was beginning to find her own way down the waves. Our guests on board all experienced a bit of sea sickness so we where needed on deck to get the topsails and the stay sail down. And still we went about 9 knots per hour.

Next day, after only 24 hours sailing we arrived on the island st Mary.
We threw anchor in a bay where the water was so bright you could see the ground at 10 meters of water.. that was kind of a shock for me as I was on look out. Imagine seeing ground under a ship with a draught of almost 3 meters, somehow as a Dutch girl that was a bit hard for me. I can`t remember seeing ground under the boat and not already knowing we are on a sandbank somewhere on the Waddenzee with a boat with a flatbottom. But as I measured I saw that there was over 10 meters of water.. not a problem I would say!

Next day we sailed round the island as our guests walked over the Island to our next anchor place. After the Scillies we set went to Penzance. The funny thing about Penzance is that you berth in a lock. The harbour can be sealed of by sort of a fold which prevents the water from going out. So inside the harbour it seems as if there is no tide. This does mean that you can only enter the harbour 2 hours before and 1 hour after high water. We where there 15 minutes before the harbour closed.

The small opening hours of the harbour made us leave at half past 5 AM which gave us a beautiful sailing day ahead. From Penzance we went to Falmouth, next day on to Dartmouth, leaving in the morning for Weymouth and then to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. In Dartmouth we, unexpectedly, sailed into a harbour festival. With big naval ships and al kinds of small sailing vessels. At night we looked at the fireworks and in the morning, as we where leaving, there was an air display with helicopters and all kinds of flying objects.. We went at anchor once more in the bay of Weymouth and went on very early the next day. I think I have never seen so many beautiful sunrises in one week as in this one!

We arrived on Wight before midday and so we had some time to look around and relax. The next day we sailed to Portsmouth where the journey ended.

Although I kind of miss Ireland and the beautiful scenery of the Irish south west coast, I must say that England is very beautiful as well. Not as much `mountains` but just as much sights to see!
After this trip our course will be set on home, feels a bit strange to be honest.
So until next time, probably from a Dutch harbour.

Jet Sluik
Deckhand