Jul. 8, 2007 - Some Decent Weather at Last

Our usually slick Friday night departure was thwarted by SeaFrance, who were an hour late leaving Dover.  Nevertheless, we were still on board Emjaytoo by 10.30.  We were pleased to see that the marina had serviced the engine, tightened up the rigging and removed the autohelm, presumably for repair. 

The next morning Wendy and Lucy fought their way through the Havendag celebrations to get some provisions in the village, whilst Kim readied the boat for departure.  The weather by this stage was brighter but still very windy.  We got out into the Veerse Meer and were tacking up the lake in a very stiff breeze before we had had time to get the fenders in (shock, horror!).  The wind was by now registering 17 - 20 knots and we had one reef in and a partially furled genoa.  At least an hour of vigorous short tacking up the channel left Wendy exhausted and with very bruised knees!  Much easier when Wendy took the helm and Kim did the running about from one side of the boat to the other with the genoa sheets.

Kim started to notice a problem with the wind instrument as it would not give at true wind reading.  We thought this might be due to the fact that the speed log appeared to be jammed.  However, it then stopped giving even an apparent wind speed reading as well and a look up the mast suggested that the TV aerial had been dislodged (come off its bracket?).  We have since found out that they had some very strong winds earlier in the week and this may have caused the problem.

Despite purchasing a bosun's chair, Kim (rightly!) does not have any confidence in Wendy to hoist him up the mast, so we will have to get the marina to sort the problem out!  The problem with the log was due to a build up of muck and was sorted out by a good clean.

Throughout the afternoon the weather progressively got better and we arrived at Veere Marina in glorious sunshine.  We had earlier phoned ahead and reserved our 10 m box for the night, which turned out to be a different variation yet again - mooring between piles with a narrow finger as well.  Kim tried the PBO method of hooking a big loop over the pile and using the winches to let us go forward slowly under power and it worked a treat.

After securing the boat, Kim and Lucy went for a swim and although it was a bit cold to start with, both thoroughly enjoyed it.

We went for a quick walk round Veere to get some cash out and Wendy and Lucy bumped into Wendy's friends Hans and Tineke enjoying a beer outside the Veere yacht club.  As time was getting on, Wendy had a quick beer with them and accepted their invitation to coffee the next morning.

We had a very enjoyable evening meal, cooked on the Cobb placed on the cockpit table, in spite of Kim's initial concerns about raging fires on board the boat!

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny and by now the wind had dropped right off, leaving the surface of the water like a sheet of glass.

Lucy and Wendy both took advantage to have a row in the tender, then Kim and Wendy went off to see Hans and Tineke in their beautiful new house on the Kaai.

We had an uneventful journey back entirely under engine as there was not enough wind and time was pressing, as it often is on a Sunday.  When we got back to the marina we met another English couple who keep their boat there.  We didn't really have time to talk to them very much (although Kim successfully scrounged a much-needed tea bag!).  Hopefully we will get to know them better in the future, especially as Denise was very complimentary about how Wendy brought the boat back into our berth!

Another brilliant weekend, all a brighter shade of lobster than we were before we left, although we do have a problem with sorting out the wind instrument and TV aerial.  No doubt more of this in future entries.