Mr. Wind held it’s promise and we were preparing the boat our first long passage – all the way to france. Food, some heavy weather gear and some Frikandel to go. Crew? Actually Andi “the lawer” Simgeheim – my former colleague, Tech entroponeur and philantrop was planning on joining us. A yachtsman himself he was stoked to hear of our plans to cross the English channel. Though he is part owner of a business and leaving for 5-6 days into corona prone france with a two days notice. Long story short – he could not make it. So it was just the two of us – Benni and Max.
Wednesday was still a little hefty, Thursday and Friday consistent north easterly – perfect. There is always tidal currents and as we looked them up…. We of course had to get up early or miss half the Thursday if we don’t. So 6 o’ clock alarm, everything was prepared and out we went into the north sea. The waves reasonable, the wind present.
Sailing these waters is always a little stressful. Super busy with huge cargo traffic, strong tides and between Zeeland and Calais the “inner waters” (everything between the commercial shipping routes and land) are full of sand dunes. Actually they would all be plenty deep enough for our small boat…. But after the mast thing at Borkum…. We ride this sailing vessel like if it had 12m draft and not length.
It was rolly and esspecially I had a hard time sleeping. A mix of strong movement, loud noises and excitement/nervousness is not the best cocktail for a deep sleep.
We had called many harbors along the way for winter parking – checking if possible at all and if yes: at what cost. We knew it would get expensive towards France. The Belgium folks replied fast and were cheaper then the dutch. Zeebrugge or Ostende – we could pick. But we were already there after the first night and it was still good conditions. Bologne sur mer (Close to cailais) answered once – with a question for us – we replied and never heard of them again. Dieppe answered 2500 Euro for the winter – haha…. NOPE. So there was only Cherbourg left. With a very tempting deal for a very modern marina. But from Ijmuiden to Cherbourg it is 550 km…. as the crow flies… and Barfuß certainly does not fly neither is it very good in going straight lines thorugh shallow waters. So we just went for it… Sleeping got better and as I write we are 100 km behind Calais or 400 since start. And 170 left towards Cherbourg. But now there is no wind and dark clouds over England.
Maybe they will bring wind or water or storm. We have no internet since 48 hours and you kind of start to think “hey… whatever it is going to be you can not really avoid it…. You have to deal with it”…. So we are pretty close to a happy ending after all in crazy 2020…. But not quite yet. Lets see how the next 24h will hold up.
