Left ”Sixth Haven” marina in rain but
calm winds.Passed the ”Nordzeecanal” out to Ijmuiden,where we
decided to take a berth a couple of hours,to better catch the tide,once turning
into the bay of Antwerpen.Berthed alongside,and neighbour to a fantastic Swedish
yacht of 120 feet(
Maria af Dalarö).Coffee ashore and 2 hours of sleep.Left Ijmuiden in increasing
winds, force 6 (12-14 m/s),just before dawn.Once out in the North sea we
encountered quite heavy seas,and wind from astern.This forced us to reduce
mainsail,and set a preventer+spincreboom for the gib.For the first time,we
could test our new windvane/Monitor,and it proved to work very well,also in
heavy seas and wind from astern.The night passed with heavy traffic(especially
outside Rotterdam),and some incidents(nothing serious)with ships coming close.The
speed was incredibly 8-10 knots over ground,a combination of tidal streams with
us,and force 6 from astern.
Early morning September 27,we reached Vlissingen and
came into leeward from wind and sea.Anton who slept all night because of a
persistent cold,felt better in the morning and took over.Tell and I went to
sleep ,and woke up close to Linkeroever Marina in Antwerpen,just in perfect
time for the tide and opening of the tidal locks into the marina.At 1600 hrs we
were berthed alongside in the marina,and the whiskey that followed was one of
the better.Dinner and beer in the city,and the day after was spent cleaning,trying
to repair the LCD –screen in the cockpit(by changing whole cable),and
preparing Tarita for 3 months berthing.Tell and I leave with the train for
Amsterdam tomorrow,and further with airplane to Stockholm.Anton remains onboard
a couple of days.
Tarita will await further transport in the beginning
of January,to Curacao(Seven Star Ocean Yacht
Transport),and then hopefully proceed to our planned adventure in the South
Pacific.See you then !!
