Yes, we know that pronouncing the name of our destination is challenging for anyone who is not Dutch. Sorry for that people 😉.
But we are setting sail to one of the 5 Isles on the shallow seas called ‘The Wadden’. They are reknowned holiday islands and have wonderful (though expensive) harbors with good facilities. As said …we sail where the winds takes us, which is funny really considering that we can always go anywhere 😉.
Sailing the seas almost always means…planning well ahead. What are the tides doing so that you plan to have currents in your favor and also know what the depths are in (possible) shallow waters. As always we made a plan….and so.
We wanted to leave just before the flood tide to sail outside to Terschelling. It promised to be a beautiful sailing day and we are not disappointed. Leaving Den Helder, we first have to motor our way a little against the wind to the TX2 buoy and then set the after sail and the front sail for a lovely crosswind sail. From then on, we average a speed of 7.5 knots. A lovely light breeze and sunshine. It’s wonderful.
At 14.00 hrs we enter the harbor and there is space on a long jetty. It’s a little bit harder work mooring her with heavy side winds that seem to have found their way back to us. We pay the harbor, which is always a bit painful, being 190 euros for 2 nights we plan to stay. Bizarrely disproportionate when I calculate it. But hey, it is what it is and we will enjoy every minute of it. We walk through the village with our shipmate Gaffel (🐶) and eventually settle down at restaurant “Loods” for beer and ‘a plank of goodies’ before returning to the WJ. Not long after, Annelinde and Jan from our sister ship ‘the Gandalf” board with their dog Ot and we share tough sailing stories. Their mate Sebastian (who is also in port) also drops by. A wonderful evening indeed, where the wine did most of the bragging by the way😉.
Watch the matching Youtube video to the story here:
