We left The Hague early at around 5 o’clock because we knew that our longest sail was yet to come. We were planning to head south 60 nautical miles along the Dutch coast crossing almost all of Zeeland and almost going into Belgium.
Our destination was Cadzand. This sail includes various tricky points: tidal currents (which of course we underestimated slowing us down to sometimes only 2.9kn), crossing of three shipping lanes (highways on the seas to the ports of Rotterdam, Vlissingen and Antwerp), and a long sail in itself.
Eventually, we had favourable conditions. The sea state had calmed down from the previous day. Winds were light to moderate and sun was out for the first time ever!! The biggest challenge, however, was the captains patience not only that he had to take the weather as it came and hence also the currents, but also the length of the trip in itself.
After making very good progress at the beginning and then having heavier winds propelling our boat to almost 8 kn of speed overground, we certainly had the current against us: and we creepingly slow going towards our target . The fact that the captain couldn’t control the speed and time of arrival made him at times grumpy and a little impatient but our XO was dealing with that with a smile and a challenge where possible 😉
Again, our proudest member of the crew was fluffy cat Simba. He complained a few times about the noise of the engine when André got impatient again or when he thought it’s time for him to get up, but overall he was very calm regardless of the long trip. After 13,5 hours of sailing, we made it into Cadzand. Here the sun was awaiting us and we were preparing for going to bed early because we are planning to take a rest day after.