Epilogue

05-09-2010

Home sweet home after a long and sometimes quite wet voyage
After being our home for two months the YELLOWDREAM is back at her berth again.
It was a very varying tour we did. However one thing was more or less constant. The weather really played crazy ! Sometimes we were sweating in a hot sun, other times freezing with 12 degrees at noon in a drizzle! And we spendt lots of days waiting for the wind to decrease. And by the way . When there was wind , it often was not enough to sail and we motored over 80% of the time!
Also the wind direction at the western coast of Norway was very rare ; south to south-east instead of the normal west to northwest.
We covered about 1450 nautical miles and visited 4 countries (apart from Holland off course).



Now comes the time to think about another trip next summer . Until then!
Who knows?????????

Back home !

3/4-09-2010



Today we take the reverse ropute back to delfzijl.Tomorrow we will do the rest to Steendam at the Schildmeer. The only difference is that there is less time to catch the right tide , especially the current at the Eems back to delfzijl.
However we took the dry-out area under Juist exactly in time ,scraping the bottom and ahd the right speed to have a helping current all the way up the Eems to Delfzijl.Yes , we have the normal speed again after I removed a bunch of rope from the folding prop! It was a miracle that with that amount of rope we still could do 5.3 knots! Removing the rope I discovered a new advantage for a folding prop. The rope will not stick behind the prop blades and have to be cut all the way trough but loosening it is enough to slip over the folded propeller!

The weather was excellent with no wind at all . The waddenzee was flat as a mirror which gives an almost surrealistic view.

Closing the circle ; back to Norderney.

02-09-2010



Today the weather will be fine for the trip to Norderney. The wind will be force 4 northwest which is not suitable for sailing but it will veer to North during the day and sailing may be possible later.
We left the harbour about 1.5 hrs after high tide which is the moment the current on the elbe changes from over 2 knots in to over 2 knots out in about 30 minutes!
We , because there were about 20 boats leaving for Norderney or further.
During the morning we made good progress under engine with a speed up to 7.6 knots over ground.
Then it happened .We just passed the Jade appoach when suddenly the engine revs went down. Immediately I knew we had something in the propeller and put the engine in reverse and forward a few times.After doing so there was a big bumping against the hull and thing seemed better. However the speed still was about 0.5 knots less than normal so something was still in the prop.
Luckily the wind hed veered and we could put on sail. The rest of the trip was a wonderful sail on a broad reach at 5-5.6 knots through the water.
At 8.00 that evening we entered the harbour of Norderney and thereby closed the circle of our voyage.
Tomorrow we will go to Delfzijl on the reverse route of the second day of our voyage.

To Cuxhaven , the gate to the Northsea

31-08-2010




Today we will leave the Kielcanal and go to Cuxhaven over the river Elbe.
The Elbe is a big river here and up to several miles wide.
Also the depth is enormous , up to 12 meter in the fairway and up to 28 meters near Cuxhaven where the river makes a sharp bend.
Sailing can be quite dangereous or impossible when the strong tide goes against a force 5 wind or more!
But today there is hardly any wind and we have a nice trip to Cuxhaven. Only the last 15 minutes it started to rain!
Cuxhaven is the typical departure port for Dutch sailors to go home and for others to go to Holland for holiday.
Sometimes dozens of sailers wait for days for the weathere to improve because leaving Cuxhaven and sailing the"German bight in a force 5 or more can easily become unpleasant or dangereous.
We also waited one day for the weather to improve.
During that day a curious event happened in the harbour.
Somebody was trying to put a "cherry picker"or servicing platform on the newly installed slipway but someway uncoupled it from the towing car. He tryed to hold on but the whole thing rolled down the slipway and almost totally vanished in the salty waters! By the way , it was low tide . After a lot of talk and try a diver came and attached hoist sling under water to make a lift-out by a crane possible.
See the following fotos.



Oops.....



OOOOops.....



Here comes the tide.



Rescue is on its way.



Resurgence.



As they say in Holland "Luctor et emergo" or "I struggle and emerge".



Like in the song "On the road again".

But back to normal live. Tomorrow we will leave at 8 oclock when the tide goes out and have a long trip back to Norderney.