[Sting]

I chanced upon this thread today; very enjoyable reading, Jeroen. Thank you for sharing your sailing experiences and taking us along on the journey.

I took this plunge a few years ago and my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed our boating experiences. It wasn’t an easy journey given we had been no where close to the water our entire life and no one in the family had owned anything closely resembling a boat. The time and effort on learning, training and pushing the boundaries has been worth it though.

Taking the liberty to share a few pictures, hopefully it doesn’t distract from your fantastic posts. This is Macaroon, a Brig Eagle 8, in the Channel Islands. Upgraded from a 6.7m Brig, just so I could have toilet onboard

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sting

Taking the liberty to share a few pictures, hopefully it doesn’t distract from your fantastic posts. This is Macaroon, a Brig Eagle 8, in the Channel Islands. Upgraded from a 6.7m Brig, just so I could have toilet onboard

Very nice, thanks for sharing! Those Brig ribs are very impressive boats
Jeroen

[Jeroen]

The final trip of the year: Day 2 of 4 (continued)

Just a little map of where I found myself on this second day. Amsterdam is well known to many people. It is connected to the North Sea by a huge channel, the North Sea Channel (Noordzeekanaal) Duh! There are massive sealocks at IJmuiden. Recently these locks were upgraded and the new lock is the largest lock in the world!



This gives you an idea of the size of ships that will dock in Amsterdam. To be honest, they don't dock right in Amsterdam anymore, but there are many ports/terminals between IJmuiden and Amsterdam.

I decided to stop at Dekker Watersport, an excellent ship chandler. They are located just off the North Sea Channel and have their jetty right in front of their shop. I have visited them several times in the past. I also did the training and exam for my RYA Radio License here about a year ago.



Huge shop. Anything that you can think of for your boat and then some more too!







I bought some teak oil, chatted to one of the sales guys about my Raymarine set-up, and had a cup of coffee (free for all customers). Time to go and explore the North Sea Channel.

An interesting and eclectic mix of old and new ships of just about any size and type!



This is Amsterdam's famous Botel. A floating 3-star hotel. It is built on or near the former NDSM shipyard. Difficult to image, but there used to be massive drydocks here and a slipway on which the supertankers of the days were built

(https://www.botel.nl)

These days there are still quite a number of smaller ship yards around. They cater for all kinds of ships. Here you see some offshore vessels being worked upon.



Attachment 2678101

All kinds of ship repairs are being carried out here. Does anybody need a bulbous bow?



I am not a hundred per cent sure what this is. Apart from it being ugly. I believe it is some sort of floating apartment barge for refugees or asylum seekers.



I came across this harbour tug going at full speed. These sort of tugs can go full speed in either direction. But it still looks a bit weird to me.



I looked her up and this is quite an interesting tug. She has a hybrid propulsion system and I found this image of her two thrusters. Fitted bow and stern, rather than next to each other in a more conventional way.



It was not too busy, but I did come across some large vessels.



TUNA S (IMO: 9779032) is a General Cargo and is sailing under the flag of Liberia. Her length overall (LOA) is 179.99 meters and her width is 30 meters.



Amsterdam has always been a freight harbour. Lots of stuff coming into the Netherlands and also going out. These days a lot of it is containerised of course.



Another passenger ship. Not sure what she was doing here at the terminal in Velssen near IJmuiden. She was built in 1966. Apparently still used for cruises.



By this time I got close to the Sea Locks in IJmuiden. It started to absolutely pour with rain. Visibility was down to 400-500 meters. I am not allowed to be on the water in poor visibility. Checking the radar, just sailing back on the canal would get me out of the rain the quickest.

Some more tugs and large cargo vessels in various ports of Amsterdam.







Not quite sure what this vessel was. Some kind of special cargo. It has a very flat deck with all kinds of structures welded in place it seems. Unfortunately, as a small pleasure craft, Sirion is not allowed to sail into the various ports and terminals. All we can do is look inside and use a telelens!



Anybody who has visited the Netherlands and has been to some of the more touristy bits will have come across these two!



Here is that same Tuna S vessel again. Already moored!



More vessels





One of the oldest harbours is the so-called Petroluium harbour. It kinda shows



A lot of new buildings over the last couple of decades. Not always a success in my opinion.



These are some of the old buildings that have been renovated and are still being used. Sometimes as offices, but some also as apartments. I like that!



Another true Amsterdam landmark. The big white triangle is new and modern. But that tall building right behind it was the old Shell Laboratory. I have visited it 30-35 years ago a couple of times. Not sure what its function is today but there is a very nice restaurant at the very top. Great view of Amsterdam harbour.



I made it into the Marina by about 17.15. Already getting dark. This marina is directly opposite the Central station on the north bank of the IJ. Perfect location if you want to visit Amsterdam. It is right next to the "pontjes" (ferries) shuttling back and forth all day and night.



I checked Google map for some nearby restaurants. Found a nice Indian restaurant about a ten-minute walk from the marina.



To be continued

[Thad E Ginathom]

Aside: I have been googling what is "IJ" in your language.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Aside: I have been googling what is "IJ" in your language.

Ah, I had not realised this might cause you confusion.

Dutch has this unique letter combination, an i and a j, making ij. It is pronounced identically as the letter y. Or identical as the letter combination e and i, ei!

So my surname is Dorrestein. There is also the family name Dorrestijn. They are pronounced identically. But different families altogether.

ei is known as the "Korte ei" (short ei) and ij is known as the "lange ij" (long ij).

When people ask my surname I will tell them, Dorrestein met een korte ei. (Dorrestein with a short ei)

An egg is ei, not ij!

So the body of water known as the IJ is simply that, a body of water called IJ. No translation is available.

Although two separate letters, they are both written in capitals. The same is true for ice, which is ijs or IJs at the start of a sentence.

According to Wikipedia (as I had no clue):

The IJ (Dutch: [ɛi] ⓘ; sometimes shown on old maps as Y or Ye) is a body of water, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is known for being Amsterdam's waterfront.

The name IJ is derived from the West Frisian word ie, alternatively spelled ije, meaning 'water' and cognate with the English word ea.[1] The name consists of the digraph ij which is capitalized as IJ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IJ_(Amsterdam)

[Jeroen]

Final trip of the year: Day 3 of 4

I left the marina around 08.00 AM. Today I would be passing through the Oranje locks at the east of the IJ and make my way across a pretty large body of water, the IJmeer. As I had plenty of time I decided to pay a visit to the island of Pampus to see the historic fortress.

The first order of business is getting to the locks.

The marina was on the north side of the IJ, which meant I had to pass all traffic to the south side to make my way east. Near the locks I would have to pass again to the other side. Pleasure crafts have a separate channel here, marked by buyos that separate them from the main channel. This is a very busy crossing with barges coming and going from all directions to/from the IJ, the locks or the Amsterdam Rijn kanaal.



These dedicated pleasure craft channels are known as "fietspaden" Bicycle path. All this area is under control of two different traffic centers and the lock is a third one. So lots of attention to the radio

As soon as I came out to the marina, I came across this huge trawler being pulled by two tugs. Impressive manoeuvring





I made my way east into the traffic centre "Schellingwoude". On the map, this is depicted as the crisscross line where you can from VHF4 to VHF6. Called sector Schellingwoude to announce my attention to sail across to the "fietspad". The cleared me.

As soon as I arrived on the other side, this barge, right in front of me, without warning, without calling out of the radio, slipped its mooring and started moving towards me. I had to go into reverse to avoid it!



Some more shipyards on this side of the IJ. One of Greenpeace ships getting some maintenance.





The Oranjelocks have been getting maintenance for the last couple of months. Although they have three separate locks there could be delays. I had called them to check the week before. They told me the best time is to arrive early in the morning.

As I arrived a barge came out and the lock operator cleared me to enter the lock immediately.





Past the locks initially still in a channel, pretty wide.



As you pass the so called "hoek van 't IJ" the water opens up and you find yourself on the IJmeer.

Part of the Dutch traditional (Bruine) sailing fleet moored in the far distance.



There is lots of nothingness ahead. Very calm day though. Hardly any wind or waves.



Bear in mind, that the IJmeer is a lake now, but it used to be part of the Southern Sea as we called it, the Zuiderzee. With the completion of a 32 km long dam, it was closed off from the sea and became the IJsselmeer. In the mid-70s another dam was built which split the IJsselmeer into two. Irrespective the IJmeer is a large body of water. And you need to be cautious crossing it for bad weather.

My first glimpse of Pampus.



It is an artificial island with a fortress on it.

From Wikipedia:

Pampus (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɑmpʏs]) is an artificial island and late 19th-century sea fort located in the IJmeer near Amsterdam. Pampus now belongs to the municipality of Gooise Meren and is open to visitors.

Together with the artillery battery on the lighthouse island near Durgerdam and the battery at the Diemer seawall, Pampus protected the entrance to IJ Bay and the harbour of Amsterdam. Pampus was part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam (Dutch: Stelling van Amsterdam). In 1996, UNESCO designated the entire Defence Line with its 42 forts a World Heritage Site.

Construction
The fort is on a man-made island situated on what was the Pampus shallows or sandbank in the then Zuiderzee. There is a well-known Dutch expression "laying for Pampus" used to describe people that are lying down knocked out. It stems from the time ships had to wait for high tide at Pampus before they could enter the harbour of Amsterdam.

Work commenced in 1887 and creating the island and fort required the sinking of 3,800 piles and the importation of 45 thousand cubic metres of sand. It took the Dutch eight years and ƒ 800,000 (€ 8,559,172) to construct the fort.[citation needed]

The fort is built of bricks and concrete. The fort has an oval shape and the main building has three floors. On the ground floor were the troops' quarters, kitchen, laundry, two coal-fired steam engines of 20 hp, two dynamos, telegraph, first aid station, and magazines. Most classrooms were located on the south side of the fort. An eight-metre dry moat surrounds the building. Tunnels on the north and south connect the ground floor of the building to the counterscarp. The counterscarp is made of concrete and contained a gaol, the forge, and several supply rooms. On top of the counterscarp there is a parapet to provide close-in defence. A large glacis surrounds the whole fort.

You can get to Pampus in two ways. You take a ferry from the nearby harbour town Muiden. Or you sail there on your own boat. Guess what I did?



I moored and made my way up to the restaurant/cafe/ticket office.



I decided to take one of the tours. I was lucky, the earliest tour had only two other guys in it. So it was just the four of us, including the very knowledgeable guide.

This is one of the two gun turrets. Used to be all steel, but is now a wooden mock-up. During World War 2, ze Germans stripped the fort and took all metal, including the guns back to Germany. Interestingly enough, the guns and just about everything else made of metal came from the Krupp Metal work factories in Germany at the time. Not quite sure ze Germans fully understood the concept of a circular economy!



Entrance to the fortress



We were taken to various chambers. Interesting to see. I was also surprised to hear and see some of the original electric wiring for the lights!



A diagram of what the guns looked like. These guns were state of the art in those days and could hit a target 12 kilometres away. Our guide had visited the Dutch navy museum and they had been discussing the accuracy of artillery. It is believed these guns were pretty accurate with a 1 in 3 hit of each shot!.





One of the shells. Not an original one. Found somewhere else, but similar shells were used here on Pampus.



This was an interesting chamber. refrigerator! The island had to be fully self-sufficient for months at a time. So food was stored here and was kept cool by circulating water around the chamber.

Their

Immense thick walls!





Around 14.00 hours I was done with the tour. I started up Sirion and decided to head for the Marine Zuiderzand to have a look at yet another ship chandler. Again, I have come here often. It is more or less on our way home from Strand Horst. So I often stop there.

BIG marina.







After spending some time in the shop I returned to Sirion, started her up and made my way to Muiden. I have been here before. If you check our "bringing Sirion home posts early on in this thread, you will see us passing through the old "sea-locks".

This time I would stay in the marina smack opposite the beautiful castle "Muiderslot". I had spoken to the harbourmaster and she told me to back into their marina into a specific slot as it would give me a great view of the Muiderslot at night.

Coming into the harbour the Muiderslot is easily visible



Busy marina



Nice mooring!



Even better at night, what a view!



I had a nice walk around Muiden. Always lots to see. In the evening I had a good dinner at one of the local Cafe.

Tomorrow the plan was to sail to Strand Horst and arrive at around 14.00 hours. I had made an appointment with a carpenter to come and look at Sirion woodwork. Should be easy enough. However, that was before Sirion had to go into salvage mode.

More to come

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Should be easy enough. However, that was before Sirion had to go into salvage mode.

More to come

A real cliffhanger! Suspense!

[Jeroen]

Last night it took me some time to find a restaurant. Of course, it is off-season. More importantly, I have found a lot of restaurants and cafes stay closed on Monday, Tuesday and even sometimes on Wednesday, simply due to lack of staff.

In the end I decided to have dinner at Ome Ko (Uncle Ko). A so called traditional "Bruin Cafe". (Brown Cafe). If you never seen or been to a traditional Dutch Bruin Cafe have a look at their website.

https://omekomuiden.nl

It is called bruin (Brown) because these cafes used to be dark and smokey. And because of the smoke, everything got even darker and more "Brown".

For some reason and I have no idea why, every single Dutch Bruin cafe has Persian rugs on its tables! I kid you not!



Ome Ko is a bit of an institution here in Muiden. Everybody knows it. During the summer months, it runs a huge terrace, in front of the cafe, right on the edge of the sea locks.

Nice place, with traditional pub food and pleasant staff.



When I came back to Sirion, I noticed a little boat moored on the other side of the jetty. I had a little chat with the owner and his son. They had bought this boat a few days earlier and picked it up in Waspil (pretty far south in the Netherlands). They were sailing it to Dokkum, which is pretty much in the North of the Netherlands. It was a very long trip.

Four days into their trip, not even halfway, they had encountered all kinds of problems with their engine. It overheated several times. The guy's brother came over to help them fix the engine. He made a makeshift cooling reservoir they could easily top up whilst sailing. The head gasket was leaking and they were constantly losing cooling liquid.

They had no charts, radio, or plotter. The dad told me he was a bit weary navigating from Muiden into the Randmeren. There are some very shallow bits here. Could they maybe follow me in the morning? Sure, I said, not a problem.

We decided to leave at 08.00 o'clock. By 07.50 they started their engine and poured in a lot of water too. As it warms up it leaks less!

We agreed at a sedate speed of about 9 km/h.

Our little convoy left the marina and fell in behind a gorgeous Dutch flat bottom making its way out of the marine too.



Behind me the little boat with father and son crew.



We cruised for several hours at 9 km/h with no problems. The little boat stayed behind me at about 30 meters distance. We got to the lock at Nijkerk. The final lock for me on this trip and my final lock this year with Sirion.





I had a chat with the dad whilst in the lock. Everything was going fine, he was reasonably familiar with these waters. I told him I had to speed up after leaving the lock as I had to make marina Strand Horst at 14.00 hours. No problem he said and thanks for helping out.

We left the locks behind us. I did keep an eye on the little boat now and then. All of a sudden I noticed the distance between us had increased a lot, more than I expected. Checking through the binoculars I did not see a bow wave on her. So probably no propulsion. No other boats around at all.

My old salvage instincts kicked in, I turned Sirion around and went full ahead!
Within a couple of minutes, I had Sirion alongside her. Luckily the water was very calm. No wind, no wave. All I had to do was adjust my fenders. Note the yellow jerry can? That was their makeshift cooling water reservoir.



The dad told me the engine just stopped. Repeated starting did not bring it back to life. He told me he had checked and did everything he could think of, but no dice. So I offered to tow them to a nearby marina.

There are two ways of towing. You could attach one or two ropes and have the stricken vessel behind the towing vessel. Or you tie the two vessels together side to side. The latter is preferred for better manoeuvrability. It also allows you to use more ropes and spread the load of the ropes across multiple cleats and bolder.

Truth is, on yachts the bolders are not meant for towing. So that is why you need to be really careful. Use multiple ropes, and set the tension in each rope equally.

It took us a couple of minutes to get the towing arrangement established. With everything secure, I put Sirion into slow ahead. Asked the dad to put his rudder a tiny bit to starboard. Within minutes we were sailing at about 5 km/h.



I checked the tension on all the lines, everything seemed fine. The dad has asked me to tow them over to Zeewolde. Just about the opposite of Strand Horst. He knew some people there who might be able to help them. I asked him to call the Zeewolde marina too, notifying them of us getting there and arranging for another boat to help in docking.

It's one thing navigating such a towing combination on large open water. Manoeuvring in a marina and docking it is quite a different matter altogether. Most harbours have a harbourmaster dinghy or something to assist in such situations.

We never made it to Zeewolde. After about 15 minutes of towing the Dad called out to me: I found it! I know what's wrong!. The tank is empty!

For crying out loud!! Luckily he had two jerry cans with diesel. I lent him one of my funnels. (he did not have any) and poured the diesel into the tank.



With a bit of bleeding the engine fired up again! So we disconnected all lines. They were very grateful for all my help. But seriously it wasn't much. When you see people in trouble, no matter what, you need to provide assistance. apart from the moral thing to do, it also requires of you to under the water- and sea way rules and regulations.

Once again under its own power



It took me another twenty minutes or so to reach the marina Strand Horst. Moored at the bunker Jetty and took on some 175 litres of diesel. As with cars, top up your tanks before putting a boat away for the winter months.

Next, I sailed Sirion into the marina, right to the slipway. This is where I picked her up in March. Back home so to speak.



I checked my plotter which keeps track of the distance and time travelled. We did almost 2600 km and 308 hours of sailing in our first season. That is quite a lot. Most boaters do less than half. I checked my logbook. We also did about 18-19 overnights in various marinas all over the Netherlands.



I caught up with all the guys at Strand Horst. Very pleasant and professional. With still a few hours of light I decided to give Sirion a good cleaning on the outside. That got me very wet. So I used the dryer facility to dry all my clothes.

Most marinas, will over washing and drying facilities for their members and guests.



A carpenter, Rene, came around to look at the teak decking in the rear of the cockpit. Nice guy. He would be able to replace it all with Sirion ashore this winter.

Finding a dinner place that evening was a bit of a challenge. Marina Strand Horst is in the middle of nowhere. There is a McDonalds and a Wok place next door. Neither held any attraction to me. Eventually, I decided to walk to Ermelo, about 6 kilometres and had an excellent 3-course dinner and some alcohol-free wine!







The next morning, Michael of H2O arrived to help me with the engine maintenance.



We discussed what needed doing. We would check the valve clearance, and change the engine oil and gearbox oil. Both oil filters, the fuel filter on the engine and the used filter on the duplex fuel filter.









I had to leave by 13.30 as I had to be home in time that evening. Andre the harbour master took me to a nearby train station.

Michael finished the various jobs and the Strand Horst guys hauled Sirion out. Micheal did some further winter-proofing of her as well. This means draining all water from the engine, toilets and freshwater system and filling it with anti-freeze.

The next day I drove back to pick up all my gear, the bedding and some other stuff we don't want on the boat during the winter month.

Very pleased with how her hull looks!





Loading up the Mini



You might recall that during the initial home trip in March I damaged the starboard railing. It was bent out of shape. Michael managed to straighten it perfectly.



So first season with Sirion is over. We really enjoyed ourselves. Lots of trips, lots of adventures, lots of new places that we explored. Met lots of people along the way. All in all, a very enjoyable experience.

I will be doing some maintenance on Sirion over the months to come. I want to polish and wax her hull and superstructure. Also, all the teak needs oiling.

There is some more work to be done at my home marina. We will haul out members' boats ourselves as well.

I have been spending two days as an apprentice harbour master on our marina as well. I am invited to the annual harbour master meet and dinner afterwards. The marina also organises various other social gatherings during the winter months.

More to come in the winter months.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

The day after I went back to pick up all my gear from Sirion, was "haul out" day our marina. Some 30 boats will be lifted out of the water and put on the parking area for the winter.

There are several reasons to take a boat out of the water. Ice can severely damage these boats, although these days, it is very rare to have sufficient ice on the rivers. Of course, it does get very cold, if not freezing, and damp on boats that are left out on the water, which takes its toll on the boat and its equipment.

So many owners like to haul their boats out of the water for the winter. A number of our members do it similar to how I did it. They have a winter spot somewhere else.

But the marina also allows members to haul their boats out and put them in the parking lot. It means they can work on the hull for instance during the winter. And it is relatively very cheap!. The five months Sirion will spend inside its "winter berth" costs 4 times as much as the 7 months in the water!! In all fairness, that is primarily due to our marina having stonking low berth fees.

So last Saturday morning I went over to the marina, to have a look and lend a hand. Its an early start. We rent a huge mobile hydraulic crane from crane company "De Boer". They arrive at around 06.15 and it takes them about an hour to set it up properly



De Boer is well known "crane and haulage" company. My friend Berndt knows them well, they used to sponsor his annual classic car tour. In 2018 their premises were one of the stopping places for our tour.

Have a look here for classic cars and mobile cranes:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/beyon...ml#post4422446 (Vintage & Classic Cars touring around our village in the Netherlands!)

When the crane was set up, we all gathered around for a very brief instruction.
Rule one: The crane driver is always in charge and has final authority on everything
Rule two: His colleague is the one who guides him with hand and verbal signs/instructions. Do not interfere, don't think you are helping by giving other instructions
Rule three: don't do anything stupid.



The team had made all kinds of preparations. With pumps and hoses at the ready. The best way to clean a hull is when the boat has just been lifted out of the water. However, cleaning the hulls was not allowed until the boats were all on the shore for safety reasons.



Here we go









One of the committee members, Erik, had organised the whole day. He had made a schedule of where all the various boats go. The smaller, lighter ones, are in the far corner of the parking lot, at maximum reach of the crane. The heavier the boats get, the nearer they need to be parked to the crane.

So all the respective boat owners had to show up in the correct sequence at the haul-out jetty.

I could tell most of the folks had done this many many times before. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. People helping each other, chatting, having a coffee and so on.

In true Dutch tradition by about 0900 am the deep friers came out, for a healthy breakfast. Everybody was offered rolls with kroketten and or frikandellen. Dutch snacks.





One small bit of consternation. This gorgeous wooden sloop belonged to Jelle, our treasurer. He bought it only a few months ago. All of a sudden we noticed smoke coming from under the engine cover. We ripped of the engine cover to notice the stop solenoid was permanently energised. So I ran to our barn, known as "the hold". We have all kinds of equipment and tools. Took a couple of spanners and we disconnected the battery.





On average the team managed to haul a boat out and place it on its support every 6-7 minutes. So pretty good going!

In the far corner, people were already beginning to hose down the hulls of their boats.





More and more boats got hauled out.





I had to leave by about 09.30. So for the next few months not much to see and do at our marina. We have a few social/party gatherings, and the group of harbour masters I belong to will get together. There is a group of volunteers that works throughout the winter on all kinds of jobs. I might go and lend a hand too.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thank you for your wonderful season of watery adventures. Looking forward to next year. I'm sure there will be winter updates as to work done and other marine-related things that you get up to.

[BlackBeard]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

In true Dutch tradition by about 0900 am the deep friers came out, for a healthy breakfast. Everybody was offered rolls with kroketten and or frikandellen. Dutch snacks.

Dont know if so much fried food is healthy enough but those frikandel sausages are to die for...

Many years ago I had a Dutch captain, he introduced them to me, never had better pork sausages since. Unfortunately you don't get them outside the Netherlands/Belgium or do you?

Apologies for digressing...

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by Sting

I chanced upon this thread today; very enjoyable reading, Jeroen. Thank you for sharing your sailing experiences and taking us along on the journey.

I took this plunge a few years ago and my wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed our boating experiences. It wasn’t an easy journey given we had been no where close to the water our entire life and no one in the family had owned anything closely resembling a boat.

Taking the liberty to share a few pictures, hopefully it doesn’t distract from your fantastic posts. This is Macaroon, a Brig Eagle 8, in the Channel Islands. Upgraded from a 6.7m Brig, just so I could have toilet onboard


Attachment 2677878

Congrats on the Boat Sting. Sorry i am not sure on the correct terminology.
Is this the same type which is usually used by special forces like how they show in the movies? What is the body made of?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by BlackBeard

Many years ago I had a Dutch captain, he introduced them to me, never had better pork sausages since. Unfortunately you don't get them outside the Netherlands/Belgium or do you?

I have never come across either frikandellen or kroketten anywhere else but in the Netherlands.

Jeroen