The sailing has started

We flew to Kampen 24th of May and stayed there couple of days preparing the boat. We also spent some time with our friends E&C. Kampen was again a  nice place to stay. The Dutch athmosphere is nice and open.  

The first sailing day was Sunday the 27th of May. We started from Kampen heading to Stavoren. Wind was calm during the morning time but ended up to 10 m/s from North directly from Stavoren. The 10 hours sailing was great and the boat behaved as expected. The dinner (spaghetti) made the day. The feeling was good.

 The harbour in Stavoren has good services with a small shop.

The plan for the next day was from Stavoren to Makkum. The wind continued to blow from North with speed of 8 - 10 m/s. Waters are shallow in the Ijsselmeer and the waves are not that high. There were hundreds of sailing boats out at the lake. The trip was about 30 nm.

After 5 h sailing we ended up to Makkum. We selected the first small harbour. Makkum has a nice beach. Also the city has nice downtown. We met there a Finnish surfing family from Luxemburg and that was a nice surprice.

From Makkum, 29th of May, we started at 1 pm. The starting time was based on the tide calculations. Our target was to sail to Vlieland that is the door to North sea. After a short sailing we arrived to the main locks to salt waters. We managed to pass the locks well as we got a lot of good advices from the other boats.

There was a lot of engine sailing during the day as the line was narrow and there was a lot of traffic. We got also the first experience about the North Sea waves. Again the trip was ca. 30 nm. After we ended up to harbour and settled down the boat we took a short walk to the village. There we had a nice dinner in a restaurant.

As said the Vlieland is the starting point to the Nort Sea. It has a small village and own nice atmosphere. We rented bicycles and had a nice tour around the village in rainy weather. The sand beach is really beautiful.