Today is the first time that I was skipper at the North Sea and I enjoyed it very much. The past years I sailed and dried out on the shallows of the Waddenzee with the eldest two of my children with a Sportina 730. That boat was perfect for Friesland and the Waddenzee and my children did really a good job in navigation and steering. However since I was able to get this Westerly 33 Storm past December, my dream to sail on open sea with my own yacht could become true. My parents joined me, since they were delighted to approach IJmuiden on own keel. Their experience with sailing on a Randmeer was welcome too, so I good do the navigation.

The ebb current from Den Helder to IJmuiden would hold till one hour before high water Hoek van Holland. That was 9:39 am (https://getij.rws.nl/). However we arrived late in Den Helder, had dinner, prepare navigation, waypoints, course and so on. Therefore we decided to leave at 7 am and accept some current against us (less than 1 knot) for a few hours. The wind was good, a start with West 5 and later in the afternoon 3-4. So after sailing on motor straight West through the Marsdiep, we good use the genua jib and got around 6 knots through water. So the first 2,5 hours almost 7 knots SOG. As known the current would turn against us and the wind would reduce. So when the jib didn’t manage to keep 5 knots, I raised the main sail, so we good keep 5-6 knots speed through water, with one knot current against us.

Finally we approached IJmuiden and I noticed VTS Haven IJmuiden on VHF 61. We need to cross an incoming sea vessel in the channel. VTS warned us about incoming vessel close. Well we like to get in the basin on south side before Evanglistria, since we both wouldn’t fit and I did the navigation calculations with both 5 knots and 2,5 mile versus 1 mile. Would do. But try to speak out Evanglistria into the mic of your VHF to tell your intentions… At least I love the name of my ship: FOLLY – Foxtrot, Oscar, Lima, Lima, Yankee.

After 8,5 hours and 43 NM on sea we arrived in the IJmuiden marina. Sunny afternoon with a nice dinner on board and a little walk to the beach. We taste the salt, which is good.