We left Gravelines as planned an hour or so before high water. An immediate problem became apparent with the engine morse control as the screw adjuster had worked itself loose again
Quick work with the screwdriver from the emergency toolkit sorted that out and we proceeded to sea with hardly a delay
Sailing past Dunkerque was not as evocative an experience as I expected. It was hard to relate the history of the mole and the beaches of Dunkirk to the modern industrial wasteland that you see today
In any case we were rather fully occupied with the hassles of sailing downwind with a following swell rolling us about all over the place.
At times we even rolled the genoa away altogether and sailed on just the reefed mainsail as we were comfortably making more than enough speed over the ground
Dodging the various sandbanks was easy enough with the chart plotter to show the way, I imagine it would have been quite stressful in the days before GPS
The French courtesy flag came down and the Belgian flag went up somewhere in the vicinity of the border by which time we were becoming aware of the huge number of sails up ahead
There were yachts galore on the horizon and they all seemed to be heading our way! I counted over forty before I gave up and that wasn't the half of it.
As we approached the entrance to Nieuwpoort, it became clear that the majority of the yachts in sight were beating up to and then rounding a mark a mile or so down the coast and then running back into the entrance to Nieuwpoort.
We were faced with wall to wall yachts effectively blocking the course into the harbour and I didn't feel inclined to go and test their understanding of the Colregs!
We were back to trying to slow down again just like the other day getting intimate Gravelines! However, this time we paid a high price as a gybe went awry and the mainsheet traveller smashed into the end stop of the track
That bodes to be another expensive repair but I've never been wild about the setup so at least now I can sort it out to my liking
We managed to insert ourselves into the pattern of arrivals but it was pretty insane with yachts of all sizes, big and small, piling into a narrow harbour entrance under full sail!
These Belgians certainly know how to handle their boats I must say but it was an incredibly stressful hour or so for this nervous English skipper!
Happily, I'd arranged our berth already via email so I didn't have the added hassle of contacting the relevant marina by VHF.
We came alongside nicely and I checked on whilst Rik and Jane squared things away. Dinner on board was followed by a couple of beers in the marina clubhouse
It's good stuff, this Belgian beer but I reckon I know why they're such brave sailors - they're all too ratted to care!
Tomorrow we plan to set off to explore Belgium by public transport. We plan to be here until Wednesday anyway as the weather is squiffy until then
Quick work with the screwdriver from the emergency toolkit sorted that out and we proceeded to sea with hardly a delay
Sailing past Dunkerque was not as evocative an experience as I expected. It was hard to relate the history of the mole and the beaches of Dunkirk to the modern industrial wasteland that you see today
In any case we were rather fully occupied with the hassles of sailing downwind with a following swell rolling us about all over the place.
At times we even rolled the genoa away altogether and sailed on just the reefed mainsail as we were comfortably making more than enough speed over the ground
Dodging the various sandbanks was easy enough with the chart plotter to show the way, I imagine it would have been quite stressful in the days before GPS
The French courtesy flag came down and the Belgian flag went up somewhere in the vicinity of the border by which time we were becoming aware of the huge number of sails up ahead
There were yachts galore on the horizon and they all seemed to be heading our way! I counted over forty before I gave up and that wasn't the half of it.
As we approached the entrance to Nieuwpoort, it became clear that the majority of the yachts in sight were beating up to and then rounding a mark a mile or so down the coast and then running back into the entrance to Nieuwpoort.
We were faced with wall to wall yachts effectively blocking the course into the harbour and I didn't feel inclined to go and test their understanding of the Colregs!
We were back to trying to slow down again just like the other day getting intimate Gravelines! However, this time we paid a high price as a gybe went awry and the mainsheet traveller smashed into the end stop of the track
That bodes to be another expensive repair but I've never been wild about the setup so at least now I can sort it out to my liking
We managed to insert ourselves into the pattern of arrivals but it was pretty insane with yachts of all sizes, big and small, piling into a narrow harbour entrance under full sail!
These Belgians certainly know how to handle their boats I must say but it was an incredibly stressful hour or so for this nervous English skipper!
Happily, I'd arranged our berth already via email so I didn't have the added hassle of contacting the relevant marina by VHF.
We came alongside nicely and I checked on whilst Rik and Jane squared things away. Dinner on board was followed by a couple of beers in the marina clubhouse
It's good stuff, this Belgian beer but I reckon I know why they're such brave sailors - they're all too ratted to care!
Tomorrow we plan to set off to explore Belgium by public transport. We plan to be here until Wednesday anyway as the weather is squiffy until then
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