Author: max.cruises

We are back! And it feels so very good!

Well I would have to admit that for me (Max) I was kind of frustrated to go, because after many years I finally wanted to have a summer in Innsbruck. – I know – very-first-world-problem. Still I was not hot for sailing, I was not feeling it. Sleeping on a bunk, no real toilet. For month to come. But hey. Isn’t this what you wanted max? I guess so….

After eight hours of car ride through france, with expensive  PCR Tests at hand that we never had to show – we arrived at Port Chantereyene in Cherbourg rather late. Then literally ran to the boat and opened her up. She was in perfect shape.

Continue reading “Episode 34 – THE RETURN”

The next 24 hours turned into 48, but good ones. As the current becomes really strong towards the channel islands and basically lost all wind already in our third night, we had to turn on the engine. And we really dont like that. In the morning we were flying along at 12km/h (with the current), but wenn the tides turned it got pretty …. yeah strange.

Because our boat goes 7-8 km/h under engine and this is about the amount of current against us, the boat was standing still. And GPS/Apps dont do a good job telling you where you are aiming, if you dont move above the ground. So we had some frustrating 6 hours of motoring but standing still. Then the tides turned in our favor again and we zoomed towards Cherbourg. Though it was a close call if we would make it before the next tilt. 10km before Cherbourg we took a left turn at Cap Levi and since it was so little wind, we did what we like the most: We anchored.

Continue reading “Episode 33 – Winter Break Cherbourg”

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.

Continue reading “Episode 32 – Never forget the panzerschokolade”

Let’s start quick – the new mast is amazing. Later more on that. So what is this Ijsselmeer? It’s basically a historic basin where the watt sea used to be. Because it is so vast and huge shallow at one point the Dutch decided, why not build a wall “THE DIJK” to make water levels a little more controllable. And since they know what they are doing when it comes to water, the separated the basin from the north sea. What are we left with is a giant body of water with constant water depth between 3 and 5 meter, but basically nothing in it’s way in terms of land structures to the north and very little to the west. So there is a lot of wind and the wave can not really build up huge. It’s a very short and shallow wave… nerve-racking at times but always reasonable. So this thing IJsselmeer and it’s little brother to the south the Markemeer seem like they were build to serve sailing yachts. And yes, it was great fun.

Continue reading “Episode 31 – IJsselmeer to Ijmuiden”

After two very sunny weeks in Emden it was finally time to go on. New mast within 5 weeks is fast, but 5 weeks is still 5 fucking weeks. Did we mention that we had new crew? Claudi was motivated enough to exchange the promised Portugal for rainy Holland. Weather was not in our favor – after all it is fall 😀 – so we opted for the Staande Mastroute. A canal route passing the northern Netherlands inshore, giving us a chance to make progress while out on the North Sea storms are going nuts in our absence.

Continue reading “Episode 30 – The Staande Mastroute – to the IJsselmeer”

A mast is expensive, so I thought you folks might be interested in how much this baby accounted for. Well the mast was falsely cut and was actually supposed to go on a brand new boat. So it has never seen the water but you can not officially purchase it. Cash 3000. The rigging (cables) itself came in at somewhere around 1500 (but with taxes and official bill). Then there was some labor costs and the used boom. It altogether was roughly 6000. Not too much for a brand new entire mast setup but still 1.5x the price of the entire boat 😀

Continue reading “Episode 29 – finishing Emden”

Why do used masts even exist? A mast is a very individual thing for each boat depending on size, type and personal taste and if it doesn’t break, it should stay on the boat until it lasts. The rigging is changed every 15 years, but the mast? Nope. It’s a bit like searching for used tent tent poles. If they don’t break, nobody will want to get rid of them and if somebody does offers some they most likely will not fit your tent anyhow. Benni and me were crawling the internet for masts – friends from home who are boat owners helped us with contacts in the Netherlands. It was lots of calling people, calling sailing clubs looking at the few listings on Ebay. In the end we figured that – no matter if it will be second hand or new – we need professional help.

Continue reading “Episode 28 – The New Mast”

Emden…. Never heard of it? Well this is because you are an ignorant person! No of course not. I admit, if my buddy Jan would not live here, I’d probably haven’t heard of if it either. Though it is an important town for Volkswagen shipping all their cars from here, the ferry to (f**king) Borkum leaves from here and it once was in direct competition to Hamburg to become THE German harbor. It didn’t. And if anybody asks me “where is that Emden you talk of” I just tell them “very top left corner of Germany”.

Continue reading “Episode 27 – Emden”

After being towed back to Borkum we were recovering fast. Only the towing itself felt like a “walk of shame”. The Ferry from Emden was overtaking us while people took a lot of photos. And many people in the harbor stared at us. We would have stared as well – no doubt. In those moments it is hard to maintain self-confident. But after realizing just how lucky we have been, we started managing the situation. Benni instantly started to contact and google for 2nd hand masts. We had great support by Martin – a father of our good friend Jan – who owns himself a Plattbodenboot in the Netherlands. Thank you Martin! I was socializing with the firms in the industrial complex at the harbor to get rid of the 300kg of wood (with glossy paint on it). We had two low wind / sunny days, which helped a lot to dry mattresses and clothes. We build the boat to be prepared to run under engine to Emden. Why Emden? Well Borkum is an island with very little shipyards or mast / rigging companies… actually none, or only commercial. We needed to get to mainland Germany to handle this situation. And so we did a quick ride from Borkum to Emden. 55 km in 5 hours due to tidal current pushing us. Maybe it’s not all bad in the North Sea

Continue reading “Episode 26 – 01st Sep to 05th of September – Healing”

On the 1^st of September we left with the flood north. Well prepared and even with food for our longest sail so far we were in best spirits. Waves were not too bad and wind was in good strong but manageable condition. When you leave Borkum there is the official north-west waters and then there is the “inner passage” a little more south. Since water depth were all at least 5 meters, mostly above 10 we decided to take the southerly inner waters – because it is shorter. I was inside the boat when Benni yelled at me to come out.

Continue reading “Episode 25 – 1st of September or “when the shit hit the fan””