Lady Martina - 2016

Amsterdam to Muiden

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Saturday 9th July Ref: 2016/29

Today we picked up Kathleen's neice and her boyfriend, Sarah and Navin, in Amsterdam before cruising with them to Muiden, a short distance away on the Markermeer. I had reviewed the current and expected weather and made a decision about our passage plans. We would cast off from Amsterdam Marina and cruise the shorter of the two optional passages through the Orangesluis and short way across the Markermeer to Muiden. The alternative would have been to go further north and around the island of Marken to re-visit that charming island again but that would be three times as long and more exposed for today and coming back the next day

{gallery}2016/amsterdam-muiden{/gallery}

Once we agreed this plan with our guests, we soon set off, cruising across and then along the Noordzeekanaal and back past the Amsterdam Central station and along the Afgesloten IJ towards the Orangesluis, taking care to cross the navigation and proceed along the small boat channel outside the main channel as the local harbour police are very strict about that.

On approaching the Orangesluis I had to wait for the next lock and then a host of other craft arrived and the sluis-watcher had to use his loud speaker system to move everybody forward. The cruise from Orangesluis along the Buiten IJ channel and out into the Markermeer was very straightforward and calm and so I got Sarah up to the helm and gave her some training as well as making sure she was occupied, distracted and scanning the horizon which is the accepted way of avoiding sea-sickness for those who are susceptible.

Then across the rest of the Markermeer in a south-westerly direction before joining the Muiden channel and turning due south to make the harbour moles with Sarah back at the helm. I then took over and cruised into a vacant inside steiger in the JH Stichting Marina but found the duty harbourmaster rather unhelpful. It is quite normal to have your length and breadth (beam) note but he was already busy writing out the invoice and insisting that we enter a box opposite rather than the alongside mooring!

I thanked him, declined and said I was going to try my luck at the JH KNZ & RV opposite and we had a totally different reaction. The harbourmaster cleared a fine alongside berth for us, insisted that we left the money until later and it was a totally different reaction. After this we took lunch in the centre of Muiden with our guests, let them take a walk along to the Muiderslot castle whilst we walked Max and then came back and rested on Lady Martina before all enjoying Mussels at the this fine yacht club later on.

The weather had been fairly quite today, after all of that wind of the last few days, but was freshening this evening although it remained warm.

24-31 degC, 64-38%RH, 1017mb steady, good viz, bright with sunny intervals and slight spots of rain with a F2/3 7-11kn SWly breeze

Muiden via Weesp to Amsterdam

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Sunday 10th July Ref: 2016/30

A voyage from Muiden via the Vecht to Amsterdam on Sarah and Navin’s last full day on Lady Martina. I had been monitoring the wind, in view of Sarah’s vulnerability to travel sickness and I so gave our guests three options: to Stay in Muiden another day, and travel to Amsterdam tomorrow; to cruise immediately to Amsterdam this morning and spend the day there or to try to cruise inland and across to Amsterdam today slowly and they chose the latter.

{gallery}2016/muiden-amsterdam{/gallery}

We prepared and left the moorings, turning to starboard and heading through the Grote Zeesluis lock which we managed without much difficulty and then crept under the main road bridge on the start of the Vecht as it was displaying double red lights for lunchtime and we could get under by just a couple of inches. We then struggled with the Spiererbrug just beyond it which was displaying a single red light but failing to acknowledge our arrival with the signal red and green. There was very little space between the two bridges for me to manoeuvre in the wind whilst trying to read the signs and the instructions from my ANWB Almanac and contact the navigation authority, and so I eventually moored alongside a barge as I worked the problem.

There was a VHF channel 31 indicated but that went unanswered when I called and then the phone number that they gave asked for me to press further buttons for options in Dutch which was discouraging. Eventually, we worked out how to key 2 for English and were then invited to key in the bridge number after which (eventually!) it opened but only when the main bridge lifted as well! We cruised on and found the next bridge again difficult and, after waiting for about twenty minutes only to spot that the publicised lunchtime closure was upon us, I gave up this option as being firmly in the 'too hard' tray and began to cruise back.

We got through the same bridges and moored up waiting for the Grote Zeesluis and just about got through at the next cycle to end up back in the Muiden channel again! I had also been struggling to find a fairly quick route down the Vecht and then across to the Amstel and up in to Amsterdam without lowering the mast etc and was struggling. Given that it was also a Sunday and many bridges were on remote telephone operation in Dutch multi-choice instructions, I decided that it was all too much trouble today and that we should cruise back across the Markermeer to Amsterdam earlier instead.

I could not remember having this trouble during earlier visits a decade ago and have been wondering whether efficiencies have been made in the waterway system by combining call centres that lead to all of these unintelligible multiple-choice questions of whether it was just that I had been cruising with a Dutch-speaking partner then. There also seems to be very little use or response to the VHF as well (or ‘Mariphone’, as they call it) mainly because there has been an enormous expansion of the German holiday boat hire trade and they are not licensed to use them. On the other hand, there has not been such an increase in British boating visitors and even a decline a some reports suggest and this despite our excellent book!

The trip north along the Muiden channel and then north-west across the Markermeer went very well, with winds rarely exceeding 8-10knots and the sea state slight in the shelter of the coast. Sarah was fine this time and was happy to sit and chat and read and so she is used to Lady Martina now for reasonably-calm cruises. We took a look in Sixhaven again and they only had stern-on moorings and so we had to withdraw and cruise on to Amsterdam Marina. This manoeuvre was not helped by a large catamaran trying to some in behind us at Sixhaven; with no chance of them being accommodated and us having to wait whilst it reversed out! I took a hammerhead berth at Amsterdam Marina again and soon gave Max a long walk in the adjacent building site; still deserted as it was the weekend

25-34 degC, 60-37%RH, 1009-1017mb falling slowly, good viz, bright with sunny intervals with a F2/3 6-10kn SWly breeze

Zaandam to Sixhaven

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Tuesday 12th July Ref: 2016/31

As our summer boating voyage through The Netherlands nears its conclusion, and we wave goodbye to our delightful guests, the logistics of making our safe return back to England begin to be of concern. Today was an abortive trip from Amsterdam Marina to Zanstaad but still we managed to fill Lady Martina’s diesel tanks and obtain a good mooring at Sixhaven on our return to chalk off two of the action items to make it a better day.

{gallery}2016/zaandam-sixhaven{/gallery}

The scheme was to get away from the exposed expanse of Amsterdam Marina and all the building noise and spend a day or two in nearby venues and so I planned a short trip along the Noordzeekanaal to Zijkanaal G, where I knew that there was a bunker boat and I thought that we could then lock through Wilhelmina Sluis, pass under the Beatrixbrug and take advantage of the leisure boat moorings just the other side. We would thus be situated to see Zaandam and perhaps cruise further to the Zaanstad area to see the windmills and all else. The plan for the following day was then to cruise back to Sixhaven to be well positioned for our ferry and flight arrangements.

This scheme nearly worked as first we arrived in Zijkanaal C, found the bunker boat and started to fill up with diesel. I had negotiated a deal of 600 litres for €600, having grossly over-estimated how much we wanted but we only needed just under 260 litres and so I had to buy these at €1.25/litre, there normal price. I need not have felt disappointed as it meant that there was a lot less to pay!

Next, we cruised under the Dr.J.M.den Uylbrug bridge without needing it to swing and approached the Sluis en Wilhelmina and experienced a manageable delay as the sluis watcher waited for a large cargo vessel to come up from behind us. The other motor boat made for the shore, but we circled, came up behind the vessel and then followed it into the sluis; taking the forward place alongside it; in position to be the first boat to leave. We then found a place at the mooring above the sluis but then became concerned as we were the wrong side of a dividing line demarking the space that could be occupied free for 72 hours and that reserved for boats waiting for the sluis.

We were then reminded of the differences of Dutch culture as the crew of the boat behind us assured us that it did not matter and that nobody ever checked but I was uncomfortable with that and tried to get Lady Martina into the right place. I very nearly did so but just required that boat to move up a bit when they refused saying that ‘we were transferring the problem to them’ by edging them into the bridge waiting zone. From a position of saying that it did not matter when we were going to moor there, they were now saying that it did matter for them! I should have accepted their next offer, which was to move further down into the 72 hour moorings, so we could more mostly in the right place but by then I was frustrated at this turncoat attitude and we left, seeking moorings further up the canal.

My experience at the next bridge, Pr Bernhardbrug was not very encouraging as they (eventually!) responded to my VHF call with a complicated Dutch sentence that I could not understand and left us waiting on single red lights. I got fed up with this again and turned back, making my way back down Zijkanaal G and turning East along the Noordzeekanaal towards Amsterdam. We were reconciled to having to return to Amsterdam Marina again but I thought that I would just try Sixhaven Marina once more. The sounded encouraging on the phone and then, upon entry, there were at least three places into which Lady Martina would fit.

So, out of such adversity, we had landed on our feet and could moor at our preferred venue ready for our time in England. The only problem was that, once they fill up the normal moorings, they then let larger vessels moor stern-on against the main pontoon in between and my davits and dinghy were supposedly in the way. I had just set off with the dog for his run, when the harbour-master stopped me and wanted me to drop the dinghy off of the davits and retract them so that we would be contained within our box. I did this and brought the dinghy round to the bow where, after I had walked Max, Kathleen and I then started using the dinghy to clean Lady Martina’s hull.

21-34 degC, 69-28%RH, 1009mb steady, good viz, bright after earlier showers with a F2/3 6-9kn SWly breeze

Sixhaven to IJmuiden

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Thursday 21st July Ref: 2016/32

Today, we repositioned Lady Martina from Sixhaven via Beverwijk to Ijmuiden ready for our Dutch friend from Broom, Ines, to join us for our sea passage to England and to provide the preparation for the voyage in all ways. I had researched the weather and concluded that the better day for us to cross the North Sea was tomorrow, which led to some changes of plan. We had planned to take the train to Delft today, to see the Royal Delft factory, and so that plan had to be changed but Kathleen took that in good heart. It is my experience that, given a series of fine days, it is better to cruise at the first opportunity as visibility soon deteriorates days into an anticyclone and forecasts can always change.

{gallery}2016/sixhaven-ijmuiden{/gallery}

The first main task was to bring the tender round and then haul it up and secure it on the davits and that took some time and the day was becoming hotter by the moment. Kathleen wanted to do some food shopping but we had to leave that for the other mooring places were already filling up and they would soon need to moor further arrivals stern on behind us, which would have blocked us in. We filled up with water and then left around 12.15pm in the end and I cruised slowly along the Noordzeekanaal enjoying the warm day and settled conditions, making our own breeze to keep cool.

I turned into the Beverwijk side canal and made our way to the new moorings. Again, there was nobody moored and we had them to ourselves and Kathleen was able to get ashore for that food shopping as I conducted engine checks and tidied up the boat.

The short cruise through the ‘Small Lock’ of Klein Sluis which we could navigate as our height with aerials down was only 5.2m against the 6.2m of headroom that the bridge offered at this state of tide. The alternative for the sailing boats that were waiting was not to get through before 7pm!

We found plenty of space in the Seaport marina and had to use a box mooring for the first time; a new experience for Kathleen although I had completed this many times before. I paid my €33 for a mooring and then planned my sea passage for the next two hours, checking tides, winds and preparing my log book for the passage. Then Inez arrived and we settled her aboard and had drinks and nibbles for an hour or two before retiring to bed with great expectations for the day ahead which would be her first at sea!

28-34 degC, 63-23%RH, 1013-14mb steady, good viz, bright, sunny and fine with a F2 6-9kn NWly going SWly breeze

IJmuiden to Lowestoft

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Friday 22nd July Ref: 2016/33

This was a textbook cruise in smooth/slight seas from IJmuiden to Lowestoft, after which we moored up at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club and I treated the ladies to a fine meal and nice experience in their historic dining room. I had chosen today to take Lady Martina back to Norfolk as it was predicted to be the first of three very fine days that would be suitable, with light winds and better visibility than the others. It had represented a bit of a scramble for Ines to be ready and delivered to Ijmuiden but she had made it and we were all ready and set to go, after enjoying nice drinks and a chat, because I had prepared the boat’s navigation plans and engineering checks in good time earlier.

{gallery}2016/Ijmuiden-lowestoft{/gallery}

Ines and I rose at around 7am and Kathleen, with some reluctance, a little later and so I tended to the fenders and some of the deck work, leaving Kathleen to concentrate on the flasks of drink and sandwiches such that we were ready to leave by my planned time of 8am local time (6am UTC). The weather was as predicted but there was a residual swell and half meter wave pattern from the north-east and we proceeded west and that made the first third of the voyage a little more uncomfortable than it might have been.

We all coped well with that, but I then became aware that Ines had previously suffered from travel sickness as an air hostess and so she needed a little help and encouragement coping with the vessel movements, which were yawing a little. I kept her busy and focused on the horizon and she survived without being sick or feeling too bad and both her and Kathleen had periods of sleep below as the very long and somewhat tedious eleven to twelve hour voyage took place. However, at sea, boring is good for it means no problems, danger or inconvenience and so we relentlessly made our way across the North Sea until we spotted the Norfolk coast and approached Lowestoft harbour. As she is assisting Brooms with their marketing plans on the 'Continent', Innes was pleased to be brought across conveniently and accommodated but, additionally, it was her first sea experience having previously, like so many Dutch sailors, only cruised on the inland rivers and meres.

I slipped into the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht club marina and telephoned for permission to moor and was advised to raft up on the visitor’s pontoon and I spotted a newer-style Broom 42 and easily tied up against it. The owners were not on board and had left chains up on the walkways and an obstruction on the forw’d deck but I had the club's permission to raft up and so pressed ahead, got the hose and proceeded to get the ladies to scrub the boat as I supervised the rinsing hose.

There was a Dutch boat next to us and Ines helped me chat to them. It was unusual to see a motor boat from Holland making the trip over and I congratulated them and said so. I then treated the ladies to a drink and meal at the clubhouse and we all used the Lady Martina shower and changed for dinner and so I was very flattered to have the two ladies for company; leaving our new Dutch friends to ask subtle questions to try and understand what was going on!

We all enjoyed the experience and then the girls had a whisky before bedtime before we all turned in to sleep at the end of a very satisfactory but tiring day.

21-30 degC, 84-21%RH, 1016-18mb slowly rising, good to mod viz, smooth/slight sea with slight swell bright, sunny and fine with a F2 6-9kn NNWly soon going NNEly slight breeze

Lowestoft to Beccles

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Saturday 23rd July Ref: 2016/34

Enjoying both Lowestoft, Beccles in the company of my two lady crew as we locked through Mutford from Lake Lothing and into Oulton Broad and then we cruised up the Waveney to moor by Beccles road bridge. An enjoyable evening being invited aboard Precious Time for drinks and then back aboard our own Lady Martina, with Kathleen and Innes to stay overnight, eating and dancing, before our return home tomorrow

{gallery}2016/lowestoft-beccles{/gallery}

I went on decks with the mop as the sunny day had also been accompanied by a heavy dew and it was a lovely quiet, warm and sunny start to the day back here in Norfolk. We did not have to be in any hurry today, as the boat outside us, ‘Popping Corks’ was not leaving until after 2pm and so we lazily enjoyed our breakfast of muesli on deck and then we walked into Lowestoft to have a look around.

We stayed in the pedestrianised shopping centre for the most part, the more civilised part of the Town, and looked in a few shops and bought some bread and Eccles cakes from the bakers and then I walked Kathleen and Ines back towards the sea to stop at the Theatre Café, where we enjoyed some cakes and teas together before returning to the yacht club and re-boarding Lady Martina. I had checked with the boat next door and the Oulton Broad Yacht Station and arranged that we would cruise upstream with Popping Corks and another boat that was due to lock through Mutford but stay on the waiting pontoon once I had navigated past the lifting rail bridge.

And so, around 2.00pm, I started the engines and then cast off and made my way into the bridge channel to await the others. Unfortunately, we were then ‘descended upon’ by numerous 12ft International clinker-built gaff-rigged sailing dinghies who were having a rally and I was left alone in the channel for some time waiting for them to clear the harbour. Eventually the other craft joined me and, once an old MTB and two sailing vessels had cruised downstream under the bridge and past us, I led the fleet into Lake Lothing and up towards the railway bridge and Mutford Lock.

We had some wait until the Railway bridge opened at 3.15pm and then, to everyone’s surprise, the lock-keepers called Lady Martina first into the lock ahead of all of the other craft; when we were due to be following everybody else! The other craft queried the lock-keeper’s messages but had to accept them and then I asked for instructions and, I was duly called to go forward and moor inside the lock. Now, the way that this old lock operates is that two boats are allowed in at a time but the lock itself is only able to manage one of them and so the pedestrian bridge is lowered, separating the two craft, the first is locked through and then the small bridge is raised again and the second one is locked through before another pair of boats are allowed in and the process repeated. We locked through, across Oulton Broad and then started up the River Waveney towards Beccles and we could still hear the lock operation instructions being broadcast on the VHF for some time afterwards, when all those boats were still being sorted out! We had been truly fortunate and the lock-keepers very wrong in calling us first but everybody has to follow instructions with nobody able to query things.

I cruised very slowly at around 4 knots up the River Waveney and eventually arrived at Beccles Bridge to find that its fixed height would require us lowering our last after taking down the sun canopy and so we stopped short and looked for a mooring. Luckily, another boat was due to leave and left early for us and we found a good and safe (if rather noisy!) mooring just below the road bridge. Once we were settled, I led my ladies on a walk along the river and past the yacht station up into Beccles itself. By this time, the shops had closed but we just enjoyed looking at the buildings of this old market town as neither Kathleen or Ines had been here before.

As we took a look around the Beccles yacht station, we met the couple from the BOC and their family, who were aboard Precious Time and were invited aboard for drinks and an interesting conversation. Back to Lady Martina, where Kathleen started preparing a fine meal of grilled salmon and boiled vegetables and Ines and I took turns in taking a shower aboard before we enjoyed the meal and Kathleen could have hers. By candle light, we played music and then I danced a little with both ladies until we just sat and chatted. Eventually to bed and to sleep to the sound of the traffic passing over the bridge at the end of a very enjoyable day.

31-33 degC, 43-30%RH, 1020-1018mb falling rising, good viz, sunny and hotwith a F1 3-6kn variable SWly slight breeze

Beccles to Brundall

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Sunday 24th July Ref: 2016/35

Cruising from Beccles to Brundall via Somerleyton on another fine and sunny day but arriving late at Brooms in Brundall after delays at Reedham and stopping off for a very welcome meal at the Beauchamp Arms

{gallery}2016/beccles-brundall{/gallery}

I was woken up by the traffic at around 7am Norfolk time, which would have been 8am in The Netherlands to find the domestic batteries quite depleted and so I dressed and used the gas to boil a kettle and then wrote up yesterday’s journal on my battery-driven laptop. I had completed this by about 8.30am and toyed with the idea of starting the generator but deferred this and carried on working on my ship’s logs for a while longer until I heard from my lady guests. By 8.45am, I was really needing some power and so I started the generator and kept it on about an hour or so and this was sufficient to charge the batteries and secure the boat facilities until we wanted to leave. I had also been running the immersion heater during this time and generated sufficient for us to have our showers.

We then got a Channel 14 VHF radio message from the Broads Authority 'Spirit of Breydon' patrol vessel to say that Reedham Swing Bridge was closed again because of the heat. I inquired further and established that it would be open again later, after the day cooled off, and so we stopped off at Somerleyton moorings and walked around the village as an enjoyable way of using the time.

Later, when returning, we enjoyed drinks at the local pub whilst listening to live music and Kathleen and I danced together on the grass. We set off once back and, as we had no food on board, it was suggested that we stop on the way and I eventually pulled in to The Beauchamp Arms around 8pm and we found it to be still open and serving food. It was a strange place, full of anglers and others with just a couple of tables of boating families, but the food was good and cheap and we enjoyed it. The anglers, from the North of England, stay annually there and enjoy the fishing which has been very good lately.

We did not stay long as the daylight was fading as we set off and, it now being well into July, darkness falls all too early. I just about managed to get us to Brooms at Brundall and safely moored up

25-30 degC, 60-48%RH, 1017-1014mb falling, good viz, sunny and hot with a F2 6-9kn variable SEly going SWly slight breeze

Brundall to Horning

2015-04-30T19:23:00+00:00

Sunday 13th November Ref: 2016/36

A well-planned and successful trip down the River Yare, passing the Reedham Swing Bridge and across Breydon Water and then, lowering everything, under The Bure Bridges and up the River Bure and under Acle Bridge after which we could re-assemble Lady Martina for the cruise home to Ropes Hill Dyke, Horning

{gallery}2016/brundall-horning{/gallery}

This was a cruise organised at short notice. I saw how the weather had improved today and realised that we were experiencing Spring Tides and that low water would be very low today. The meant that we could pass under the Bure Bridges well before Low Water in Great Yarmouth, which was in the afternoon, and so could stem the tide for safely navigating under the bridges early on the tide. The remainder of daylight hours would also allow our passage up to Horning and so the decision was made.

I dressed quickly and set off with Max, walking him along the Crabbett’s Marsh wood chippings road and then feeding him and loading him, and his accessories, into the old Range Rover. Then to gather my things together, opting against washing, shaving or anything else, so that I was very soon ready to go. Kathleen had been putting together foodstuffs and other essentials for our day out with the additional security of our meal for this evening should we have got delayed and stuck.

Once loaded, I rushed us to Brundall and there put Kathleen aboard as I unloaded the car and transferred Max, his kennel and all of our things onto Lady Martina. After disconnecting the shore-power, I successfully started the engines, unmoored and we set off, Visibility through the misted-up bridge windscreens was a challenge but I was soon on the main river and heading downstream at a good pace; the ebb flow behind us. This strengthened the further down the Yare we got and we were lucky that Reedham Swing Bridge was open such that our progress was uninterrupted and aided by a tide of up to 2kn at times.

As we cruised across Breydon Water I used the space and time to engage the auto-pilot as Kathleen and I removed all of the canopy sections, the winch and the ensign flag staff and then lowered the mast and, after this, the side and forward windscreens such that we were right ready to approach the Bure Bridges. We had about 9ins to spare, even an hour-and-a-half before the 14.45 low water as the tide was due to sink to only .5m above LAT today. This left us cruising against the strong tide up the lower Bure as we punched the flood tide.

I sat up on the bridge with no windscreens or covers for around two hours until we had negotiated Acle Bridge after which we could tie up briefly and then put up the windscreens and the mast to provide some shelter. We cruised on like that as the sun was setting but we just manage to arrive at Horning before dark and could then unload and put Lady Martina to bed. Instead of putting our new covers back on, Kathleen fetched the older ones from the loft and we fitted those instead for the winter, carefully laying out our best ones in the garage to dry prior to cleaning, treatement and safe storage until the Spring.

14.6-15.2-11.2degC, 73-59-74%RH, 1024-1026mb rising, good viz, calm, sunny spells but cold with a F2 4-12kn NNWly slight breeze