April 2017 – Ipswich to Amsterdam

22nd to 23rd April – Sat-Sun

27 Hours Overnight, 151 Miles, 2 bouts of sickness, 4 bruises minus 1 fender.

We left Ipswich at 8:15am when the lock went to free flow.  I managed to drop the boat hook in the water and we made an early rescue stop on the next pontoon, at least we now know it floats.

The forecast was North backing Northwest later 4 or 5, sea state Slight or Moderate.  Which should have taken us to Amsterdam before the expected higher winds arrived.

Sunny and still but cold day leaving Ipswich Marina, which has once again been a perfect winter mooring.

Going under the Orwell Bridge.

Passing the Port of Felixstowe at the mouth of the River Orwell, not yet wearing my all weather gear, there’s more.

We headed out into the North Sea, northwards to the North Shipwash Buoy and then eastwards to make our passage to Ijmuiden, at the end of the North Sea Canal.  Winds were 5 to 10 knots we had the Main Sail fully up and 2000 revs ticking over on the engine.  The first 12 hours passed uneventfully as the tide was with us and we were making 6 knots.

The tides changed at about 8 hours in and the sea started to roll but it was perfectly tolerable.  We had both taken seasickness pills as this was our first trip of the year and sea legs had not been acquired.  We knew before we set off that this was going to be a tough crossing as it is still April, the wind is still very cold and the nights are still long.

Our last overnight passage from L’Aberwrach to Plymouth was almost pleasant and the winds were warm and the night short.

Micks first major visual item was the Mast-EA1B Navigation Beacon approximately 30 miles out.

We reefed in the main sail, had sandwiches and hot drinks, more seasickness tablets and changed into heavy weather clothing.  I snoozed a little twice in the cockpit, as I was to stand first watch, while Mick slept.  However the winds increased and the sea continued to build, to the point where I was physically sick.  It went dark at about 8:30pm, but I had to stand my watch as Mick could not have stayed awake the whole time.  So he slept from 09:30pm until 11:30pm, the wind was a good  force 5 by this point.  At the end of my watch I went downstairs to sleep and was sick again. I then slept from 12:00 until 5:00am on and off. 

During Mick’s watch it was pitch dark and cold, with no moon.  The winds increased to force 6 and the boat motion became increasingly unpleasant.  During his watch we proceeded across two Deep Water Routes (shipping lanes) and north of the RIJN Field Oil platforms, and onward to connect with the Ijmuiden Entrance channel, passing a major tanker anchorage and a large windfarm.

So cold was it that despite wearing 5 layers of clothing we wrapped ourselves in a sleeping bag whilst sitting on deck.  We were both individually at different times propelled across the cockpit by sudden steep waves and landed on the floor of the cockpit along with the boat cushions and sleeping bag.  Hence the bruises.  We were always securely harnessed to the boat, but it still shakes you up.

We both encountered several passenger vessels in the darkness but not many fishing boats.

After Mick’s heroic watch he slept from 5:00am until 7:00am, so he had completed 5 hours of solo watch and I had completed 4.

During my second watch the sea was very strong and the winds still 20 plus knots.  But there was less activity and I did manage to see the sky, full to bursting with stars when the clouds parted.

We were both pretty nauseous for the second half of the trip and had very little to eat or drink which did not help with the bitter cold.

Just to add a little more excitement it started to pelt icy rain for the last hour before Ijmuiden.  I was physically shaking whilst steering us in.  The sea just outside Ijmuiden is known for being boisterous and did not let us down.  Then as we were about to enter the Entrance to the North Sea Canal we were over taken by a DFDS ferry and an Oil Tanker at close quarters. 

The very very welcome site of the Zuidersluis (lock), which is the entrance into the North Sea Canal.  Where we sadly parted company with a new ball fender, not tied on proper by me in my shattered state.  A nice find for someone as we did not notice it was missing for another hour.

Seasickness for us wears off pretty quickly once in calm water.  To the extent that we put the kettle on and broke into the still well laden sandwich box and had a big tea cup CHEERS.

The 15 mile trip up the North Sea Canal was very pleasant in comparison.

We managed to see a car being offloaded from the back of a barge.  And the tanker caught us up and was then manoeuvred into place by tug boats.  Very impressive.

We arrived at Sixhaven marina at 11:00am (12:00 noon) local time.

Our longest passage to date and Fleur did us proud, Mick’s maintenance regime paid off handsomely and a bit more character building was achieved.  We hope the summer will be worth the pain of this trip as we head north, and now for a week or so in Amsterdam.  Its the Kings birthday on Thursday, when the town comes out to play and there may be a bulb field trip to take.

Happy blog service will be resumed next time.