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Waterval - First part: getting to Plymouth



When Sisca, my wife, and I where a/ convinced that we like sailing the Med better than the North Sea and b/ I decided to retire from work relatively early ( at 62) from my work as an ophthalmic surgeon, we bought a brand new boat with an interior for the Med and a stern-platform to easily come to the cay backside first. She is a Catalina 445, shallow (wing) keel version, that was instantly available at a moment that the dollar was low. After over 20 years of sailing relatively under-canvassed boats she was a handfull, being much bigger an óver-canvassed. I learned to reef down earlier and decided to order a high-aspect focsail in stead of the huge genoa. Now she is reasonably docile to handle, apart from being blown aside when waiting for one of the many sluices in The Netherlands. Thank someone for inventing bow props!

When leaving my home-port Sas van Goes, in Zeeland, The Netherlands, early may this year, I started out without wind. Two hours of motoring later I was sailing under a small focsail in gusts of wind up to 32 knots! Being singlehanded on board I would have liked to spend the night at anchor, but since my wife and friends came to see me off, I took the pontoon on the inside of the Roompot sluice. The pontoon I had wanted wasn't there yet for the summer and I had to get into the fierce wind to reach the pontoon. Twice I was blown off the side, but then luckily my guests arrived and managed to get and keep me to the pontoon. So don't trust yourself that you motoring and tying-up skills will make you get 12 tonnes of boat with a shallow keel (only 1.55 m) to the shore.
The next day at low tide the bridge was sufficiently high to let me pass to the sea. My stepdaughter Fleur, a semi-pro sailor when she's not a pediatrician, joined me for a trip to Ostende. There we had a memorable family meeting and a great dinner. Next day, my wife Sisca, who will be joining us in Bayona, saw me to to go singlehanded to Plymouth. Dover was reached with 4 hours of sailing, and the rest on the engine. No wind.... . It was silence before the storm and I was holed up in Dover for a week. Luckily Sisca could join me by ferry and together we visited Canterbury, again wonderfull. When the wind was forecasted to drop I went to Eastbourne. A long and bitter fight against wind (force 5-6) and tide. The 45 Nm to Eastbourne brought over 80 on the log!
The rest of the trip was uneventfull and frequently boring, having to motor most of the way. Beaulieu River was beautifull, but ridiculously expensive for a mooring. You learn a lot, solo tying a 44 foot boat to a mooring on a 2 knot tidal stream, by the way.
Then mostly motorsailing out of the Solent and past St.Albans Head. Breathtaking scenery, this part of the coast! The weather remained almost windstill. Though, as the pilotbooks say: with the prevailing westerly winds, use every opportunity to go westward. A bit of diesel is well worth the troubles of wind against sea.
So I arrived in Plymouth more than a week early for the Portugal rally. Fleur will join me by plain tomorrow and sail up to Lisbon. Then her hollidays are over. So Bayonna to Lisbon its the three of us, then Sisca and myself go on and will after the rally proceed to the Mediterrenean, ultimately Greece and Turkey. But that may not be until next year. Travelling is now the purpose, not just the means. I look forward to let the sea help me find out who I have become after 40 years of working. Apart from that I will enjoy the company and socializing that the rally will bring us!
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