After a quiet and very acceptable night at anchor we managed to set off again this morning with a minimum of faffing over the anchor. Our only disappointment was to note the poor state of our batteries after one night without shore power, showing low battery alarm despite being fully charged the day before. We were relieved to make an uneventful transit of the canal, although the contrast between the tiny yachts and the huge container vessels is always striking. We noted the availability of diesel at kilometre marker 62 at €1,07 although at the time we thought we had sufficient and passed on by - a decision we would come to regret later. The wind continued at force five from the west throughout the day although it was forecast to lessen later and we planned to continue our passage as far as Cuxhaven.

We finally arrived at the Brunsbüttel locks at around 5pm and agreed with the lock-keeper that we would wait for the yacht signal, an occulting white light, before following in a commercial vessel. As we entered we were pushed sideways by the force from the vessel's propellers and sacrificed a layer of our gel coat against the water line planks which act as pontoons. A procession of yachts followed us in, each one struggling with the unexpected turbulence and the last one ending up sideways between the ship and the quay. It was not our most proficient locking operation having looped our ropes round the chains which support the floating pontoons. As the pontoons came up our ropes jammed on the chains and it was all we could do to retrieve them. When the gates finally opened a huge swell came in from the main river making the boats jump about even whilst still tied up and giving us an idea of what was about to come.

We were making our trip whilst the tide was still flooding, to try and avoid the wind against tide conditions which are notorious in the Elbe estuary. Even so the north westerly wind caused a heavy swell and we barely made any headway against the adverse tide. We opted to increase our speed for the short passage to Cuxhaven avoiding the even worse conditions which could be expected when the tide turned. Unfortunately this meant using more of our carefully conserved diesel than we had planned and with fuel no longer available to sportsboats in the Alter Hafen we were left rather shorter than we would have liked for our onward passage.

It was a cold, windy and unseasonable evening in Cuxhaven but we consolded ourselves with a very acceptable fish supper in the 'Hus op'n Diek' restaurant (www.fischgaststaette.de)

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 62 nm

Total to date: 1123 nm

Avg Speed: 6.5 knots

Duration: 10:15 hours

Diesel: 101 litres

Wind: W 4

Mooring: €20/night

Electricity: Included

Water: Included

Charts

BSH 3014.9

3014.10

3014.11