Scheveningen / Holland have we learned something new?

Salsa af Stavsnas
Ellinor Ristoff Staffan Ehde
Mon 16 Jul 2012 07:42
Yesterday we sailed from the island of Vlieland to Scheveningen by den Haag, we are very close to Rotterdam, can even see the cranes when at sea. The ride yesterday was great! We started 0600 in the morning, set sail after one hour of motoring out through the shallow waters of Vlieland, then sailed 106nM closed hauled and made it in 16 hours! Waves are tough in the Nord sea and it is interesting to learn how we read the forecast.
We have had some rough times going to Borkum and Vlieland, not to start with, but at the end of the journey. Why? Was there any wrong with the weather forecast? Actually not. We have a great weather routing program (Meteo Com) and when you look at what it said afterwards and compared to what we read before you realize it was all there. What we learned is that when we think 9-10 meter/sec from the Baltic- or even the archipellago of Stockholm, that is no big deal.Even if it is the wrong direction, we tack, no problem. Well the same figure on an open sea that is only 20 meters deep (that is probably what makes the North sea so tough, shallow waters in combination with big fetch (long streches of water where waves can build up)) is something else. We read that the wind is going to come from the side, veering against us at the end, no problem. WRONG, at the end, when the wind is working against us we will soon have 2 meter waves smashing on the bow, to makes things worse the tide is probably also going the wrong direction, all this means that as we tack we might make a progress of 1 nM per hour! 1knot! Suddenly the last 5 procent of the entire journey takes 40% of the time to complete! With so much hassle! So you might think, well stupid, is that a surprise? Well don t we say that there are two way of understanding, intellectual and emotional? We have to get it in to our bodies.
 
And the kids hów are they doing as we learn the lessons?
To our surprise, they don´t care. As long as we are in good mood, they are. We are in good mood thanks to Ellinors way of dealing with things. She is always calm, she is always working on keeping things clean and in order. I´m always making sure everybody is getting food, even when the galley it tilted 20 degrees and the children take waves as something fun. Could we learn more? You bet, we learn all the time! The sea makes sure we learn....