but for the Grace

Monday 14th August

It is only once you are in it that you realise what an amazing feat of engineering the Nord Ostsee Kanal really is! It is 98 km long, with just one lock at each end. It is at least 103 m wide and is 11 m deep and all the bridges have 43 m of clearance! This means that ships that are 32 m wide, 235 m long and 40 m tall drawing up to 8 m can use it! So pretty big!
It was started in 1887 by Kaiser Wilhelm 1 and opened in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm 2 and then widened from 1907 to 1914 to enable the new 'dreadnought' sized ships reach the North Sea directly without having to go through the narrow Denmark Straits. It also saves ships sailing to or from the Baltic over 260 nm.
However there is nothing new! Harald Blue Tooth dragged is marauding ships across this part of the country rather than risk the Skaggarack! And when Denmark ruled the area prior to 1864 there was the Eider Canal, which was built in 1784 and still goes from Tonning to Kiel, joining the Kiel Canal around the 50 km mark. It is supposed to be a very scenic alternative to the canal, but can take you up to 7 days to do and we are 'canaled out'! The canal banks are very green with nice looking paths and trees all the way. I expected it to be industrialised and a bit grim but it is quite the contrary!

It is 0900 on Monday 14th August and we are ready to leave a very sleepy Brunsbeuttel. Our Dutch neighbours are keen to get going and as we are tied to them we need go first so they can go! We have 65 km to motor to Rendsburg Yacht Club, our stop for tonight. You cannot use the canal under sails alone. The wind is on our bows so there is no point in motorsailing and want to get this bit done.

The ferries come at you from all directions!

The canal is virtually empty apart from the kamikazi ferries which hurtle from one to the other and have right of way so you have to avoid them. We pass only one large ship and some schooners and a Viking ship on their way to an event in the North Sea.

Baltic schooners

Viking invasion!

The marina at Rendsburg is in a little 2 nm long lake on our port side, it has plenty of space and so we have no problem in finding a free box mooring. The only problem is that it is for a much longer boat and as our stern lines are much too short, we pull up with a shudder about 2m away from the pontoon! We extract ourselves from the posts and dig into our deep locker to get our long shore lines which have somehow made their way to the bottom of it and have another, this time successful go!

Grace safely berthed, second time lucky!

Rendsburg is a typical German town but we manage to find a nice square round the back of the church for a beer!

Germany feels so familiar even after 26 years!

At 1030 next morning we slip our mooring and head back towards the canal, at about the kilometre 80 mark we see another English yacht going in the opposite direction and we both wave and cheer excitedly at each other. It is our first one since we saw Grace's namesake in Groningen.

Another English yacht!

We were just remarking on how quiet the canal was and how few ships we had seen when we noticed that the signal light posts coming up to a corner were flashing red, white and red. We were not totally sure what this actually means as the only published guidance we have for sportboats like us is that if all the lights are red then everyone has to stop immediately to starboard but otherwise carry on!

Signal posts

The ship that has just appeared round the corner and in front of us is huge! It is sweeping round over towards our side of canal as it negotiates the bend. We can see nothing in front of us other than a huge wall of blue, orange and rust coloured containers. I slow down to dead slow to allow time for the ship to get round the corner, it starts to straighten up in the middle of the canal. I increase our engine revs to stop us from being push onto the bank by its approaching bow wave. We are so close to the cliff like sides of the ship I can almost touch it. Looking up to the bridge, there is someone on the bridge wing and he waves at us. I was going to wave back but then I notice it, there is literally a 'hole' in the water created by the suction between the ship side and canal wall. We all hold on tight as Grace comes over the crest of the bow wave and then plunges down into the void and then slowly claws her way back up the other side. Our depth gauge reading went from 11 m as we crested the bow wave down to just 6 m as we fell down the other side!

This ship is big!

The ship has passed, the canal is mirror calm again and we meet no one else until we reach the locks at Holtenau at kilometre 98 and the end of the canal. Passing under the huge autobahn bridge we are in the waiting area. Monitoring the traffic on the VHF we realise that there is just one lock in operation so we could be in for a bit of a wait. 16 yachts waiting to enter the canal have been there for 4 hours!
We settle in for a bit of a wait and drift about in a most proficient way which only 5 weeks of Dutch canals can teach you! However by 1400 the second lock is in operation and it is our turn to go! All 10 of us rush towards the lock gate, none of us want to miss the chance to get through or find a space!

The commercial locks are vast! We are about 3/4 of the way along it!

Jump onto the tree trunks!

Time for a lock selfie!

We need not have panicked, the lock is huge, more like a lake really and plenty of room for all of to moor along side. Anne, stern line in hand throws all caution to the winds and makes the leap onto the logs floating around the edge of the lock and secures us to the big steel rings that are fixed to them. As the single huge lock gate behinds us close and the one in front opens there is no change of water level. Here they must just control the water flow.
Finally after 6 weeks, 678 nm sailed and 144 hours run on the motor, Grace is in the Baltic!

The Baltic Sea!

Cuxhafen 12th and 13th August 2017

We were woken at 0830 by a very grumpy Hafenmeisterin berating our poor and lazy seamanship for mooring on the emergency pontoon. I did point out that the Marina was in complete darkness when we arrived at 2340 the night before. It was impossible to see if any of the standard berths were free as it was not possible to see the tiny green plaques that signify a free berth! 

Free berth!

I also told her that she was not showing a green light on the entrance to the Marina which did not help Anglo-German relationships. However once we moved to a new berth she mellowed when I showed her a picture of a panda from France that Ellie had seen when she was there!

Softening the harbour mistresses heart!

I was surprised how little fuel we used despite the hard running, we filled up with 46 litres of diesel after running on the motor for 27 hours. We have been burning just 1.7 litres per hour so we won’t need to fill up again this season!

Cuxhafen Marina 

To get to the Canal lock at Brunsbeuttel we picked our time to exit the Marina to ensure we had the tide with us and that the current across the exit was not too strong, our experience from Friday night made sure of that! So by 1400 we were fully fuelled and easy for the next leg of our trip. The navigation up the Elbe was easy, we just followed the green channel marker buoys 20 nm from 31 to 57, opposite the lock entrance. Our plan was to dodge any ships going up or down the river and scoot across the Elbe at right angles towards red buoy 60. 

Avoiding traffic in the Elbe

We would then sail up and down in the sport boat waiting area until we got the signal to enter the lock. We had been reading lots of blogs about the canal and had expected a 2 or 3 hour wait.

In the lock and the leap of faith onto the logs!

However,as we crossed we could see a white flashing light, which meant we could enter the lock! But as we got closer it changed back to red – I checked with the lock keeper on VHF 2 and was told to get a move on! We went straight into the old lock, it is still big but about a quarter of the size of the new locks! To secure up in the lock, Anne had to jump off the boat down onto a couple of old slippery tree trunks around the edge of the lock and tie Grace to some metal loops. With bow and stern slip lines back on the boat I haul Anne on board. Not easy, as it is a long way down! There is only about a fall of 1 m into the canal and within a couple of minutes we are in the canal itself at last! 

The marina behind the lock with big ships passing all the time!

On leaving the lock we make a sharp turn to port and turn into a small marina tucked behind the lock wall at Brunsbeuttel and raft up against a Dutch boat.

Mooring hooks!

 Every one has big steel mooring hooks which they loop into the top of red buoys 15 m from the dock walls – we definitely must have one of these wonderful items! I spend many a happy hour observing which is the best pattern. Go for the biggest possible is my conclusion!

It was fascinating to watch the big ships go past just a few metres away. The town is dedicated to the lock and there is a viewing area to see the locks in action! A very popular Sunday past time. There is a big fair going on, all the way up the Main Street. We visit a bar but it does not help me to win a goldfish for Anne. 

Beer does not help to win a goldfish!

It was the fact that I won a goldfish for Anne at a fair in Harrogate that first made her realise that she loved me! Oh well you can’t be lucky twice!

At the fair!

Wangerooge to Cuxhafen.
This is our final but toughest leg to get past the German Bight and into the Kiel Canal. This was going to be a real challenge for us, not only is it going to be the longest run, the latest leaving therefore with the potential for a night time arrival but also where we have to get our navigation absolutely spot on if we were not to stray into the Traffic Separation Scheme and risk a fine of 1000 € from the German Coastguard. They actually send out a patrol boat and if you can't pay up there and then they take your stuff to the value of it…….good luck with that! I think they will struggle to find that on Grace my old socks are not worth much!

The time of the tide is really difficult, to get across the sand bar we cannot not leave Wangerooge before 1300 which was about 2 hours before high tide at 1512. This would mean a potential 10 to 12 hour trip with a night sail down the Elbe, against the tide to Cuxhafen. Part of what makes the approach to the Elbe such a challenge is its strong tides which when combined with the wind makes it extremely choppy and uncomfortable. Something to look forward to then!

We are now ready to leave Wangerooge harbour, it is a beautiful sunny day and we are one of two or three other yachts taking the opportunity to exit. Just as we get to the withies that mark the passage out of the harbour, the large freighter that we followed in the day before came out stern first from the commercial port. He was going to need a lot of space to make his turn so we stood off and waited for him, following him yesterday had helped us find the new channel so perhaps he would bring us luck!

Our lucky freighter!

In light winds we are making very good progress, all are sails out, the engine is turning at just 1000 revs and we are charging along at over 6 knots with a favourable tide. We are soon across the Neue Weser shipping lane and then over the Roter Sands. At the Neue Weser channel there is a tall ship coming from Wilhelmshafen. We are making excellent progress and are now following the buoys marking the ScharnhornRiff right to the start to the start of the Elbe. We still have the current in our favour and we are making between 6.5 to 7.5 knots and are 60 minutes ahead of our estimates.

Tall ship out of Wilhelmshafen

It is now 1745, we are by buoy 5 and are starting to feel the effects of the 2.5 knots of tide against us coming out of the Elbe. Our heading is now more easterly, we have taken in the mainsail to prevent the need to fit a gybe preventer as it is starting to get a bit rolly and none of us are keen to leave the safely of the cockpit to go to the foredeck to fit the preventer line. The tide is now in full flow out of the Elbe, the wind is starting to rise to Force 4 and the waves are building up. Increasing the engine speed we are maintaining our boat speed of 6 to 7 knots but the actual speed over the ground is starting to fall quite rapidly, 5 knots, then 4 knots. It will continue this way until 2307.

From Buoy 5, we now have 16 miles to left to run following the green channel markers to Buoy 31A. Large ships heading down to Hamburg or the Kiel Canal pass close by as we skirt the inside of the marker buoys. By 2035 we reached buoy 15 and we have the last remnants of daylight with us. We are riding the swell with the engine now running hard to maintain our boat speed of 6 to 7 knots as our ground speed continues to fall as the tidal stream continues to build.

By 2130 the final rays of daylight are gone and we are rushing forward hard into the darkness towards the distant lights of Cuxhafen. All around there is the roaring of the waves, occasionally broken by the deep thrum as a large ship passes by us barely a 100 metres or so away. Our navigation and steaming lights are our only means of identification to these ships and they seem very small and faint. As we follow the channel buoys they are becoming progressively more difficult to see against the lights in the background. This is only my second night sail and the pitching of the sea, big ships and variety of lights is a world away from the sleepy Portuguese fishing village where Anne and I did our training.

Last remains of the day

For the next couple of hours, Grace is working really hard to push her way against the current. Our ground speed is just 1 to 1.5 knots, and we are fighting to reach every buoy. It is taking almost an hour to pass each one. But the exhilaration is intense – the darkness all around us with the engine racing beneath your feet and the boat surfing over the waves.

In the Elbe

It is now 2300 and we have reached our final mark 31A. We are trying to make sense of what we can see on the shore as the perception of depth goes. From the chart we know if we run on a bearing of 140 from buoy 31A we should be running parallel to the dock wall. The first opening is the ferry port. The second must be the opening for the the Marina, but there is too much confusion to interpret what we are seeing. Suddenly we glimpse what looks to be the opening into the Marina but there is only a red light showing and no green light to mark the other side. Shining our big torch we can see the unlit starboard side post and some masts behind.

A fast turn and Grace is heading in. The current is still running really hard. As we move towards the Marina entrance we are being pushed towards the unlit post. Grace's engine is now flat out. Throttle is fully open, with the screw racing as we push through the waves. Grace is being drawn closer and closer the to the big entrance piles – then suddenly we shoot through the gap and we are into the calm of the Marina basin. Everything is still as we idle while we prepare the fenders and mooring lines.
Someone has heard us come in and he takes our lines, securing us up to the empty 'emergency' pontoon.

2340. After 10 hours, 60 n miles sailed (although only 48 nm actually covered) we turn everything off and collapse exhausted. We have made it through the German Bight. It has taken us 4 days of sailing, covering 200 nm and it is now just 20 nm across the Elbe to Brunsbeutil.

After exploring Norderney for three day and to wait out the bad weather our Windfinder Pro app (it is the one they all use here and gives a 7 day forecast with local tides) showed that we had two reasonable days ahead with westerly winds before more bad weather and storms at the weekend. And although the tides would not be ideal it was our only real opportunity to make for Cuxhaven until next week…..and we really had seen everything Norderney had to offer!

From Norderney the only real option without sailing through the night, and with only two of us that was not a realistic option is to sail to Wangerooge. From there you can sail to Cuxhafen and then on to Kiel Canal or sail to Helgoland, restock with low duty booze and either take the Eider at Tonning and rejoin the Canal at about the 70 km or go to Cuxhafen then on to Brunsbuttel.

The distance to Wangerooge is about 32 nm, but we had to leave Norderney on a rising tide to give us time to take the Easterly Dovetief channel and not the rather unpleasantly rough Westerly Schlucter channel. Potentially this could save time as we had to make the start of the channel into the harbour at Wangerooge no later than 2 hours either side of high tide as it runs across a shallow sandbank.

In the Dovetief Channel

The first leg out to the open sea through the Dovetief was much nicer than coming in from Borkum, still a bit rough but nowhere near as bad as through the Schlucter. It was a really nice day, with a nice F3/4 westerly and with all our sails up we were making and easy 4.5 knots on a general bearing of 075 towards the Accumer Ee safe water mark towards the eastern end of Norderney. Staying on the same bearing we passed Baltrum and Langerooge and then a further 7.5 nm to Otzumer Balje and then a further 7 nm to where the Harle buoy should have been……but wasn't! The Harle buoy marks the start of the channel into Wangerooge Harbour which is situated at the south side of the island, about 5 km from the town itself. As the Harle buoy was out of position we could not find the start channel marker buoys. Although it was high tide, a steep swell had developed which had totally obscured the buoys and when we could catch sight of them we could not be sure which one it was and we dare not risk going for it.

We follow a large ship into the Wangerooge Channel

Suddenly a large ship turned out of the channel and headed in towards the island. Then there it was, our first buoy, the others followed and with Anne upfront spotting the buoys as they have all been move from their charted positions but we made it across the critical H4 and H6 which marked the bar. We were through and soon in to calmer water and round to the back of the island. Once in the harbour, the harbour master directed us to a space alongside the pontoon. When we were safely moored up, I went to pay my dues and found the harbour master in his office in the corner of the club bar! I ask about the buoys and are told they have been recently moved and there was a note on the bar with their new positions which I should copy before I leave! In all the countries we have visited over the last 6 weeks, this was the first one with a customs post!

Wangerooge is a funny little island. There are no cars, the only transport is an ancient train that takes people from the ferry to the town. There was one waiting in the siding and we slipped on board along with the ferry passengers and sat in the corner with our dark glasses on and hats pull down low hope the conductor would not throw us off and make us walk.

We sneak a ride on the only transport on the island!

The town itself was a supermarket, 6 pizza parlours and the imaginatively name 'Pudding Cafe'! However, the beach was superb! Naturally we ate pizza and walk back the 5 km to Grace along the sea defences and the old Gothic lighthouse! We would need to be fresh for tomorrow and possibly our most challenging sail yet.

It is either pizza or pudding!

The new lighthouse

A great beach but a bit bracing!

The old 'Gothic' lighthouse

Exactly six weeks since leaving Dover we have made it in to the Baltic Sea and are at the old British Kiel Yacht Club at Stickenhorn! 560 nautical miles sailed, 131 hours motored.

Just behind the lock is the start of the Baltic Sea at Kiel!

The rough trip over from Borkum has shown that we have a leak somewhere as there is water in the bilges. Nothing major but the labels on some of the food tins we have stored there have come off. That will make for some interesting meals later on!

Anyway I spend a happy few hours dismantling bits of the saloon and taking chunks of skin off my knuckles to try to get the floorboards up to dry the water!

Getting the floorboards up!

I also take advantage of the torrential rain showers to wash the thick layer of salt that now covers Grace!

Not sure which is better me or Grace!

Norderney is a traditional German seaside resort and we hire bikes and explore the town, the beaches, the lighthouse and paths and dykes around the island.

The town 

 The beach

The lighthouse 

I even build up courage to go paddling on the nudist beach!

Paddling at the nudist beach, British style!

It is the 6th of August and we want to move onto Norderney as soon as possible as we have a gap in the weather of 2 nice days. We leave Borkum’s Burkana harbour early to catch the rising tide. We follow the channel back out to the Fischerbalje and then into the Ems estuary. It is here that we first start to feel the full effects of the wind over the tidal stream that the area is notorious for. It is only a force 3 wind but the waves are building, first 1.5m then rapidly between 2m and 2.5m in a short violent swell. Grace is pitching and rolling down the wave crests, plunging her bows deep in the water throwing up great plumes of spray that makes our hands and faces wet and cold. We are motoring hard but are making slow progress against the incoming tide and we have 10 miles of this to go even before we are able to make our turn for Norderney at the Juisterrif North buoy. It really is hard work, we are fighting to keep control of Grace all the way. By the time we make our turn towards Norderney we are feeling grim but know we must keep going if we are to make the tide at Norderney.
We are now running east towards Norderney, and the going seems a bit easier, a bit of genoa out helps to stabilise Grace but she is still pitching and rolling uncomfortably as we pass the Juist North buoy and onto the Schlucter buoy and the start of the Schlucter channel into Norderney and the Marina behind the island. It is 10 miles this way through the sandbanks. By now the wind is blowing force 5 and our Reed’s Almanac advises that we take the easterly Dove-Tief channel in anything over a force 4, but it is a further 10 miles round, we will miss our tide and we are both exhausted by the struggle so far, we need to get in and so must go for it!
Our passage through the Schlucter channel is horrible, the waves are so big across the sand bar that it really does feel like we are being tossed about in a washing machine. I cannot see the red channel marker buoys to follow and Anne is stood, lifeline on and gripping the Grace’s spray hood dodging the incoming spray and spotting where we need to go, keeping us (okay me) all calm.
As we start to get into the lee of the island, the sea becomes calmer and Grace is more manageable. She feels less like a roller coaster ride. Ahead of us there is a confusion of red and green buoys where the easterly and westerly channels meet, I am a bit confused and I start to cut corner toward my next red marker. Suddenly I am in the surf and the depth is falling rapidly, 2.2 m, 2.0m, 1.9m, 1.7m and we start to pitch wildly. Realising my mistake, I make a sharp turn to port and we are now heading back to the calmer water of what I realise is the actual channel.
Once round the back of the island the sea becomes still and calm, the wind drops and apart from avoiding a couple of ferries and after a trip of 39 miles we are soon comfortably berthed in the Marina. We decide to stay until Thursday to recover, explore the island and shelter from Wednesday’s forecast 25 to 30 knot winds!

Grace berthed safely in Norderney Marina.

I’m berthed safely in the Marina bar!

5th August 2017

German Bight has a bit of a reputation as the 'washing machine' as that what it feels like to sail it, after all it is even an area to itself on the shipping forecast so it must be true! The next eight days have been probably some of the most demanding we have done from a navigational, boat handling and endurance perspective. It is a huge area of shallow sandy islands with convoluted access, coupled with big tides, strong currents, vicious North Sea winds, oh and busy, tightly regulated shipping lanes…..But really rewarding and interesting to sail it, visiting some places that you would not normally choose to visit!
Our first port of call on our way to the Kiel Canal after leaving Delfzijl was to be Borkum. Delfzijl has a long 3 m easterly exit bounded by a long row of windmills and I catch sight of the old Norgips plasterboard factory that I used to visit every two weeks for a couple of years almost 27 years ago when we lived in Germany. This feel a long trek even before you even reach the main channel of the Ems.

The long easterly exit from Delfzijl

The old Norgips plasterboard factory I used to visit 27 years ago!

Then we have to head west, the first time for 6 weeks and it feels like we are going backwards! We tack our way down the river avoiding the shallows in the centre on a general bearing of 320 up the Dukegat, Alteems and Randzelgat. We are sailing with the tidal stream but there is a steep sea with short pounding waves.

Grace takes a bit of a beating in the typically short deep waves

After 6 hours sailing we enter the Fischerbalje at Borkum, as with most Frisian Islands the channel is just the start of a typical 10 mile slaloms in between sandbanks and over bars to reach the harbours located behind the islands and away from the prevailing North Sea winds. This involves trying to reconcile what you see on the charts and chart plotter with the actual location of the buoys. The advice is always follow the buoyage and not the charts as the sands shift all the time! We also had the dubious pleasure of trying to follow withies, which are simply tree boughs stuck in the mud, if the branches on the top point up, then keep to port, if tied down then keep to starboard……as you can imagine most of the ones we came across had the top broken off in the high winds, so a bit of guess work was required at times! No wonder Davies in the 'The Riddles of the Sands' was always running aground and 'kedging off'…….we often felt the same. Borkum is particularly unlovely for a Frisian Island, there is a delapidated yacht harbour, Port Henry and a larger, ex-military harbour, Burkanahafen which has the lifeboat, a ferry and workboats to service the wind farms that dot the area. It does have a lovely all tide entrance though which is a relief after weaving around the channel to get there! We cannot find anywhere to moor and no one to help or advise, the harbour master does not answer her phone or vhf so we sail back to the yacht harbour, the gap into it is drying fast, there are old tyres on the posts but we get in okay despite a strong cross current across the entrance that tries to push us on to the posts, I understand what the old tyres are there for now. The pontoons are all rickety but at least they have space. Moving forward to the first space we suddenly shudder to a halt, stuck in the mud! There is only 1.2 m of depth and we draw 1.5 m. Going astern hard we pull free, I realise that I must get Grace out of there if we are not to be trapped by the falling tide. It was 1.7m when we went in, it is now 1.5m so no time to waste! Plenty of throttle and Grace is back out in the channel. So back to Burkana, we tie along side a long quay on the western side of the harbour, opposite to the lifeboat. I go ashore and ask in the only place open, a dump of a bar and get told that we must move to the northern end. We do this only to be moved on again but this time by the harbour master who tells us to raft up opposite. We do, onto a nice Dutchman who is very helpful. It has been a run of 26 miles today and our first experience of the German Bight is over. It is not long before we are joined by other boats and soon we are rafted 6 deep with 3 boats on our outside! There is nothing to be done but pay our fees, use the portaloo facilities and go for a walk….I can confirm there is nothing to see in Borkum, it is all a bit miserable. We are now in Germany and take down our Dutch courtesy flag and replace it with a German one.

Our new German courtesy flag

On our return we are now rafted only 4 deep, the liftboat men have told the others to move to where we were originally tied up due to impending bad weather! This does not bode well!

Grace rafted up 4 deep, with our long lines ashore in case of bad weather

Friday 4th August

It is a bit blustery but we exit smoothly from our very tight berth at the Groningen Oosthaven, no megaphone advice from the harbour master was required! As it is 1100 we have plenty of time to make the last of the city bridges before they stop for lunch! The time ticks by and the group of yachts waiting for the bridge to opens builds up and dodging about starts to become more exciting when you add 18 knots of wind! It is here that we also meet our namesake, we keep running into people saying they have met us and Grace before! She is a motor barge and her SSR number (small ships register) is only two digits different. We say hello as we dodge past!

Now the German has arrived in his big motorboat, it has got plenty of big scratches and dents down the hull. He is weaving about quite a bit and we hang back in the canal basin in front of our berth which we left 40 minutes earlier! He whirls about on his bow thrusters and we try to keep out of his way. Finally the bridge finally opens but he has not seen it and is facing the wrong way across the canal and we cannot get past him….we are going to miss the bridge again! Suddenly in a panic he realises the bridge has opened, he opens up his engines and races towards the bridge, we follow drawn along in his wake. Everyone is shouting at him to slow down as he has created a mini tsunami that is making all the boats on the bank rock violently! The bridge light has changed to red, we slow down but the German powers on, the bridge keep realises what is happen and changes it back to a flashing green so we follow and are through!

Following our German friend!

Immediately after the bridge, our pathfinder suddenly slows and disappears of the bridge, the boat heads for the bank but he reappears just in time, coffee in hand, to avert disaster! We can't decide whether it is better to have him in front or behind! But at the next bridge he disappears off into Groningen Motorboat Club and we have a free run ahead of us!
We are now on the Emms canal, it is big and wide and very deep. We are high up above the countryside and look down onto fields and villages as we pass by. With 18 to 20 knots of wind behind us we fly down it on the genoa alone at 6 knots and we have soon left all the other boats behind us. After 5 m we reach the Bloemhofbrug, I use the vhf to call then up when we are about 0.25 miles and it is opened for us as is the Woldbrug and Eelmerderbrug at Appingdam. We are now almost at Delfzijl and the sealock out into the Emms.

Flying down the Emms Canal on the genoa alone!

Once in the sealock there is about a fall of a metre back to sea level, the port itself is very busy and there are plenty of fast moving tugs and barges to avoid as we cross to the far side of the channel and head to the west end and the marina's wave breaker.

In the Sealock at Delfzijl

We pick a suitable berth and go for it and make as graceful entrance as the gusting winds allow! Putting away our Now very battered Staande Mastroute Atlas away for the last time and we leave the boat to explore Delfzijl.

We can put away our well thumbed Canal Atlas!

Grace safely in Delfzijl Marina

We meet the hafenmeister on the pontoon and he pulls out of his pocket a credit card machine and pay him. It really is the simplest yet! After visiting Lidl, which seems to be the highlight of the town we return to Grace to prepare for the sea again after 5 weeks of canals, Germany and Borkum in the morning.

Delfzijl as was, only the gateway through the dyke remains!

2nd August
We do not have far to go today, except to get closer to the railway station at Groningen so Ellie can get back to Schipol Airport! Our aim was the Oosterhaven Marina, which is very close to the centre of Groningen. It is on the eastern side of town, along side the Emms canal and very small. Phoning ahead we check there will be space for us!
We refuel at Reitdiep Marina before we leave, it is the only filling station before Delfzijl and I am concerned about fuel levels especially as the tank's gauge no longer seems to work….it is always full! However Grace seems to be continuing her very abstemious streak, burning just 40 litres of derv for 34 hours running, so a rate of 1.2 litres per hour! I also buy 3 lovely new big blue fenders to replace the one I lost! I strategically place two new ones at the bow, we look a bit like a bumper car but I feel more relaxed! I also buy a service kit for our Jabasco Sea Toilet as I watched a YouTube video on how to stop them squeaking and I am now convinced the joker valve needs replacing! It will be messy and I may even manage sink the boat if I build up enough courage to change it! It is amazing what rubbish people put on YouTube…..I've a few thoughts to add a few of my own!
We leave the Marina through its convoluted exit, from the bridge people watch just waiting for you to come a cropper! It feels very gladiatorial where the crowds are already have their thumbs down! We are now back in the Reitdiep and through the first of our city bridges. It is 1115 and we have 45 minutes before all the bridge keepers stop for their lunch.

Rafted up for lunch!

We make the next two bridge easily including a tramway bridge and we are a couple minutes from the next one, the Herman Colleniusbrug when our luck runs out! It is only 1150, all the bridge lights are off and people are moored up. There is nothing to be done but to raft up against a big motorboat, then have a pleasant chat to its skipper (who turned out to be a master of a big barge on his holidays!) while he advised me to get a move on through the bridges and have lunch!
Promptly at 1300 a man appears on his bike and opens the bridge. There really is no point in rushing to the next bridge as the bridge keeper will have to close this one, hop on his bike and go to the next one! We continue through the centre of town, it is very pretty and we only have one sticky moment with the canal wall while I test the strength and durability of one of my new fenders! Fortunately it survives, although a bit scuffed and slightly flattened!
Views of the canals of Groningen

We always seemed to end up in people's photos!

At the junction with the Emms canal three major canals meet, either taking you up to Aachen and Germany or out to Delfzijl and the sea. It is here that we meet a big barge heading for Germany, chaos ensues, horns are sounded, much engine revving occurs as the barge attempts a 90 degree turn surrounded by yachts and motorboats. I am too much of a coward to do battle with him and retreat out of his way. In this case, discretion really is the better part of valour! We miss the bridge opening but are in one piece and are safely moored to the waiting pontoon. Time for tea and ginger cake!

A bit of rope throwing practice while we wait for the bridge!

Just 3 more bridges and we are at the Marina. Going slowly past we are hailed by the harbour master with a megaphone. She gives us and in fact anyone else passing detailed instructions about where and how we should tie up. The place is just a few pontoons and posts on the side of the canal but it is a great location. Our berth, 43 is very small and tight but we can worry about how to get out of it in a couple of days when the wet and windy weather has passed!

The hafenmeister's megaphone, she and it are famous across Holland, we have run into a couple of boats who have benefited from her advice!

Toilets in marinas vary considerably, in the last month we have had luxury ones with baths and views, floating ones, underwater ones, just plain grim ones but these are a bit special! They are completely communal ones, toilets and showers and in the middle of it all, the washing machines, so you can always be assured of an audience!