I wake up before the alarm goes off and get up. Today is going to be quite a long day of sailing, so I make coffee quickly. It isn’t really clear where and how to pay, but the harbor office turns out to be nearby in a beautiful old building, where you still just pay at the counter. Quite a lot of money for a night alongside, but oh well. Fortunately, at the end I ask if you can just moor right in front of the bridge and be operated; it turns out it opens at 5 to 9. It is now 8:45. I run back to the boat and make sure I can sail fast. There is already quite a bit of crosswind in the harbor as well; that will make for a tricky turn in this narrow harbor, but ultimately it goes easier than expected.
At 7 to 9, I am already sailing through the bridge that opened for me. Quickly into the outer harbor, I haul in all the fenders and lines. It is a northwest wind and stronger than yesterday; I estimate a good force 4. It is coming quite strongly my way. The narrow channel to Kornwernerzand feels extra narrow with this wind direction. After a good hour, I arrive at the Lorentz Locks. Several ships are already moored on both sides of the bridge in the Afsluitdijk. The light turns red-green quite quickly, which is a stroke of luck. However, it turns out not to be a stroke of luck. There is a malfunction in the barriers. The opening is delayed by 10 minutes every time. The wind direction isn’t ideal for mooring briefly, but staying in the wind like this isn’t fun either.
The lock went perfectly; I am gaining more and more experience doing it on my own. Everyone moored on the low side in the lock. With my left-turning propeller, which pulls towards starboard when reversing, I was able to moor perfectly well on the high (starboard) side. With some pulling into the lock opening, the bow also stayed reasonably close to the bank; naturally, the stern line was back on the midship bollard and winch. This time, a steward who understood what he was doing and was handy, managed to loop the bow line around a low bollard. Just wanted to mention that we are going to drop quite a bit; that was good to know. I hadn’t realized the high tide was so severe. It involved working from the front and back, constantly releasing line and lowering two bollards.
Eventually, I made it through the lock at 11:45. Now that the engine has started without problems twice already and I still have 6 hours of sailing ahead of me, I dare to turn it off. With more than enough wind, I am sailing on the genoa at 4 knots first, and later more than 6 knots, on a broad reach or downwind course. My ETA is between 18:00 and 19:00. This is wonderful. There are also a few showers passing over, which nicely wash all the salt off the ship. Occasional gusts, poor visibility. Most ships have AIS these days and skippers appear to know the navigation rules, which is not always the case. Fortunately, it is not that busy, due to the weather forecast (it is a Saturday, though), but one still has to be careful. At 18:15, after two weeks, I moored back in my own box. Despite the crosswind, it went well. At 19:15, I took the local bus to the station. End of a wonderful trip and holiday.
- Departure: 18-07-2026 08:50 (Harlingen)
Arrival: 18-07-2026 18:05 (Lelystad) - Sailing time: 6.5 h
- Engine time: 3 h
- Sailing distance: 42.6 NM