Aug. 13, 2007 - While The Cats Away

This weekend, was Wendy's second on her Day Skipper course down in the Solent, so Kim & Stewart went over to Holland on Friday with Kim's sister Julie and Trevor.

We got there just after lunch time and whilst Julie, Trevor & Stewart went into the village to get some provisions, Kim went over to the service centre to ascertain what had been done to the boat. A pleasant chap called Pim, who spoke excellent English (of course!) came over to the boat and we got the ST60 Wind to work - not really sure whether they had actually done anything, or whether the previous malfunction was just a glich. Anyway it worked fine for the rest of the weekend. The TV aerial certainly hadn't been done, but at least Pim now knows exactly what has got to be done. Basically he's been asked to "make it all work".

Late afternoon, we slipped the mooring and motored out into the Veerse Meer heading towards Veere. There was a reasonable wind blowing Northerly 12 -15 knots. Due to the inexperienced crew we decided to put two reefs in the main (they were already there, so more a case of leaving well alone) and use about 2/3rds genoa. We had some really good sailing and finished up short tacking up to Veere with gusts up to 19 knots. It all came to an end when the skipper ran her aground! We were pushing up to the shallows and tacked in 6.5m of water and halfway through the tack - the boat grinds to a halt. 6.5m to 1.5m in nano seconds. Since she had already gone through the tack, we switched the engine on and a good bust of full ahead had her clear and on her way. As we were then quite close to Veere and the time was getting on we decided to motor the last bit. A lesson in some healthy respect for the chart which did indicate that the bottom shelved very steeply.

Motored in to Veere Marina (where we stayed last time) to find the berth we had reserved earlier in the afternoon had been taken. So back out again and round towards the entrance to the main harbour. However the outer visitor jetty only had a couple of boats on it and so we moored up there - just as the harbour master was walking down. He confirmed we were okay to overnight. We had a quick walk into Veere to the Yacht Club so Julie could get some "fags" - she'd run out and was at risk of doing "cold turkey"!

Back to the boat and spag bog, plenty of beer and a sound nights sleep.

Although Friday had been a pretty sunny day, Saturday dawned with a cloudless sky and a promise of scorching sunshine.

After a leisurely morning exploring Veere (for the benefit of the guests - well Kim has seen it a few times!), we headed off towards Goudplaat and anchored for lunch. It took three attempts to get the anchor to set. The first two attempts just would not set, then after switching to the leeward side of the channel she set perfectly, Stewart and Kim had a swim before lunch and then we just sat back and enjoyed the setting.

We were actually in sight of the jetty at Goudplaat, which was full (hence why were anchored), but since we were on the leeward side of the channel we weren't happy about staying overnight, so when a couple of boats left we upped anchor and took up our now customary place on the jetty.

The skipper was then given the job of seeing to the bar-b-que.

The Cobb Bar-b-que is a brilliant device - it just doesn't burn the food. Shortly there after it was time to eat.

We finished the evening up with a game of Nautical Trivial Pursuit.

Sunday morning, after a cooked breakfast, we slipped the mooring and headed back to the marina. Got back about 11.30 BST, which gave us time to clean the boat and have a leisurely lunch before the drive back to Calais for the 19.45 BST ferry.

Everyone had a great time, the weather was brilliant, we all got a bit burnt and we probably drank too much. Stewart's high point of the weekend was a trip part way up the mast.

We had hoped to meet up with  fellow forumites - Morgana - who were on their way over from the Orwell to Holland for their summer cruise, but they decided to stop at Middelburg, rather than push on all the way to the Veerse Meer.

Kim and Wendy will be back on Emjaytoo in a fortnight, so maybe we'll see them on their way back home.