SV Ostinato: Swimming Squirrels

June 30 - Crew, Pat and Frank, have arrived! They successfully navigated their way to the boat with King's "if all else fails this is how you find us" email instructions. Best laid plans to prepare phones for travel went astray resulting in dashed expectations for worldwide phone service.....hmmmm we have certainly heard that story before.... . It gave King the opportunity to call up the phone company and pull their chain. An activity he has always enjoyed. It was somewhat sorted out before bedtime....

July 1 - We gave Pat and Frank a day of rest and then set our sights for The Hague. Two destinations. First, the Mauritshuis Museum, home of The Girl With the Pearl Earring. The second, the International Courts of Justice. Both were iffy. The Mauritshuis Museum had just reopened on June 27 after a major refurbishment and the painting had just returned from being on

wow! she is stunning

loan for two years. We figured the likelihood of getting in was slim. The Courts of Justice was even more doubtful. The web site requested that you apply on line for a time to visit. Dates in September kept coming up. Good luck with that. Let me just say, it was a perfect day. We arrived at the ferry 1 minute before it left the dock. The train left 5 minutes after we found our seat. At the museum we waited for 15 minutes in line before we reached the front doors and had tickets in our hot little hands. Afterwards, we ate at a sweet restaurant in the town square....and the food was

Enjoying a perfect day in The Hague

wonderful...and they had bathrooms! We arrived at the Courts of Justice to be told "no tour but in the visitor center is an exhibit that provides the history, complete with a movie" and it was free! And you know we love free! Even gave us headsets. When we completed the brief tour (frankly, just enough), we walked to the tram stop just outside the grounds and a minute later the tram appeared and whisked us to the BIG train station...........

International Courts of Justice

.....as opposed to where we had arrived. No problem, the Amsterdam train leaves in 2 minutes....yikes! run, run....We ran as fast as 4 old farts can run and hopped on the train seconds before it pulled out of the station. Fabulous! As we climbed the steps huffing and puffing to find seats, the conductor was waiting for us with his little handheld computer. Pat... check, Frank.....check, King....where did he go?....Sue...no check! "Did you touch in at the gate?" he asked. "I did, I did" I responded. "Did you read the message?" "No"' I said. "You have to read the message"! he exclaimed. "I couldn't understand the message even if I had read it" I responded.....with that, the teenage boys sitting down next to where I was being grilled began to snicker. Where was King?! The conductor then advised me, using a frowning face, that I was traveling on an ILLEGAL ticket..."what was he to do with me?" I told him about the 2 minutes we had to reach the train and that we had to run. He looked at me and said...."you ran?".....as if that was a ludicrous thought. And then he smiled and said "next time swipe your ticket...and read the message!" Without explanation, King has finally shown up now that my drama has ended. The conductor immediately asks for his ticket. King begins searching all his pockets....no ticket. The teenage boys have started to guffaw. The conductor has had enough of these Americans. He sends us to our seats like 2 wayward children and retreats down the aisle shaking his head.

waiting for our turn in the sluice

July 2 - Destination Lelystad. First, we must cross Amsterdam. Dodging the ferries and barge traffic is not for the faint of heart. At the waiting dock for the first sluice, yachts are already 3 deep awaiting the next opening. We must wait until the second wave to get through so we chat with other folks heading out on their sailing holiday.

The wind is nice and King and Frank set the sails. Ahhhha, a lovely sail to Lelystad. We are entertained by three square rigged ships cruising about near our course. What fun, we get to pass right by them on our way to the next sluice. At least that was the thought until we were shooed away by man with an stern look (we seem to get a lot of those these days) racing toward us in a large black inflatable. From another angle, along with the billowing black smoke coming from the ship's cannons, it was clear that we had stumbled into a movie. No confirmation, but I'm thinking Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the North Sea"!

Pirates of the North Sea! Johnny Depp must be out there somewhere

Another sluice and we turned the corner into a sea of masts. The harbour master had said "take any slip"....we passed row after row of skinny box slips. The wide girl was never gonna fit.... King kept going. I'm counting the rows now, calculating how long its going to take us to back out of here cause there is certainly no place to turn around.....and King keeps going. Ostinato also means stubborn! The end of the canal is coming up fast. Heads on the docks are starting to turn and stare. The boats are getting smaller and smaller. We round the corner and to every one's surprise (including King's) there's side-tie dock space, a yacht club and a lovely crane that will lift off Ostinato's mast! Who wouda thunk it.

Ostinato is now a power boat!

July 3 - The mast is off!
The next 4 days are spent wrapping, measuring, sawing, drilling and padding to prepare for the mast's return to Ostinato...on a horizontal axis. The bridges on the Rhine and Danube do not open. Maximum clearance on some is as little as 15 feet above the water line. With her mast up, Ostinato is 60+ feet.

Before I move on, a few words need to be said about this wonderful location. First, the staff is wonderful. The removal of the mast was perfect. No request was too bothersome. Always ready with a wonderful smile. Part of the club houses a very nice private restaurant over-looking the marina. We spent several evenings enjoying a well deserved beer/wine after a hard days work. The shower facilities appear new and are well maintained ......and they didn't nickle and dime you to take a shower. I really hate that. Laundry....right around the back of the building. €3 wash and €2 dry....and I'm talking a good 50 minute dry! Yep...its the little things. Last, but not least, the members. Many dropped by just to say hello and have a chat. When Holland played Costa Rica in the World Cup, we were all invited up to the club to watch the game on the big screen TV. King and I lasted to the end of regulation time...0 to 0, then slipped out. Patty and Frank, however, stayed on till the bitter end and were rewarded with fireworks and blowing horns as the room celebrated. You might think, lying in bed 50 yards away from the festivities, that King and I might have been kept awake by the reverie but no ....snoozed right through it. The crew was also invited to a going away party at the yacht club for 2 new live-aboards, Coen and Jose aboard SY Wildeman, a 37 ft. Halberg Rassey, who are preparing for a round the world cruise. Friends, neighbors, children and grandchildren came out to celebrate their exciting adventure. How grand it was to be able to join in.

July 7 - The day has come, it's time to lay the mast on her new location. The guys have done a superb job of building the cradles that will keep her secure. Patty and I did important things like stand on the wood when it was being sawed, fetching tools from the workshop, and wrapping up the mast with cling wrap like a big deli sandwich to keep the lines and wires from flailing about and, of course, keeping tummies filled and clothes clean. We motored up to just underneath the crane and within minutes the mast laid horizontally in her new cradles, pretty as a picture. After a few final adjustments, along with recommendations from the crowd, everything was crocheted to the deck......we were ready.....but the weather, unfortunately, was not. A storm was rolling in. We would be there a few more days. Time to wrap a few more lines on her.

Final step, placing the boom aboard.

July 10 - We were up late last night watching Holland play Argentina at the Lelystad Yacht Club along with a room full of its members. Consequently, waking up at 5:30 was not my plan...but I was excited. We were finally departing for the Rhine today. Many thanks to everyone we had the pleasure of meeting at the yacht club for making our stay such a pleasure and a success!

First bridge as a power boat

Going under the first bridge was very strange. Your first thought is to start the "bridge drill", find the bridge tender's phone number, look for a place to tie up, check signs for opening times, are the lights red and green? But wait....we don't need to do that. Yippppeee! Ohhhh. Are you sure we can fit? Everyone aboard watches carefully as we slide beneath the bridge floor with a good 5 foot clearance. The rain from the last two days is showing up in current, resulting in a 3 knot loss of speed already. This does not bode well. The river is now back to March levels when King first started his daily tracking.

The sun was hot and the chocolate brown water swirled and bubbled, pushing Ostinato one way, then another. The big ships come close but most seem to try to give us plenty of room. King and Frank are doing 2 hour shifts dodging ships and trying to keep us near the banks where the current is a little weaker. The rivers are running fast due to the recent rains. Marinas are few that can handle Ostinato's size....especially now that she is 10 feet longer with her mast sticking out like a battering ram, shooting out both front and back. We decided that Hattem would be a good spot for our first docking with our new size. Because of our 7 meter beam, we have successfully avoided box slips over the past 2 years. My blood ran cold when the marina manager informed King that he had a box slip that would accommodate us. A new addition of 10 feet to your boat is not the time to be attempting a box slip with a 7 meter beam for the first time.... King

Not sure what she was but the kids liked her!

was game but after two attempts, a guy from the docks yells to us that there is a side-tie just around the corner....zoom, off we go. Our new neighbor, the one that has our mast up his back side, did not look thrilled to see us. A storm blew through a an hour after our arrival. 25 knot winds with hail. But it was over quickly, giving us plenty of time for a trip into the village to visit the fair so Patty and Frank could pick up some great mustard and aged Gouda cheese.

Inspiration. If Arne can make it to the Black Sea surely we can

July 12-14. After 7 hours averaging only 3k speed, we finally left the Ijssel and entered the Rhine into Germany. This much current so soon was not expected. The champagne toast to celebrate our arrival in a new country helped ease the tension out of the first day of dodging the big ships on the Rhine. We departed at 0700 the following day in hopes of reaching Duisberg. It was not in the cards. The current was even stronger today. At one point a squirrel, swimming across the Rhine, was making better time than us. No rain today but overcast and cool. We are all back in our coats. In 6 hours, we only traveled 35 k. The following day, we did a punishing 55k, passing by Duisberg, on to Krefeld. In Krefeld we met Arne, a Swede on a 21 ft sailboat, doing the same trip as us.....so if you think we are not quite right, just know we are not alone!

July 15 - At long last, we crawl into Dusseldorf. First stop, the fuel barge, 105 liters in the starboard and 160 liters in the port tanks. We also pulled out the jerry cans and topped them off with another 40 liters. Ouch! On to the marina. A nice surprise to learn we were city center, right in front of fantastic architecture. We enjoyed a walk through the old town with a brief stop for some good German beer and sausage. Later in the evening we were serenaded by a jazz band playing just above the quay where we were tied. David and Wendy on Amusant, friends from St. Katharine's, arrived while we were out exploring the city. They will be doing the trip down the Rhine/Danube along with us on their 58 ft Krogen Express. Amusant can travel twice our speed without breathing hard and carries several times our capacity of fuel .....which it really needs at those speeds. She also has goodies aboard that we don't....like a french press which is now on loan to Ostinato so Frank can enjoy a decent cup of coffee. She will be lovingly known as "The Mother Ship".

Ostinato beneath Dusseldorf eye popping Frank Gehry designed buildings

Cologne Cathedral from the Rhine

7/16-17 The following day we departed for Cologne via Hitdorf and Zundorf. No marinas for us in Cologne so we passed on to Zundorf and took a train back to the city to visit the famous twin spire cathedral and have a beer in its old town. The Mother Ship was at the dock when we returned. Soon after, Arne, the Swede also arrived. It's always good to know that everyone is tucked in safe for the night.

Early departure the next morning with our sights on the Hersel to set us up for a quick bus ride into Bonn to visit Beethoven's home. Amusant would stay another day to visit Cologne and Arne would chug on toward Koblenz. The bus....what were we thinking? It was like entering hell....or maybe Tallahassee in late August. Beethoven's home was ....well, old. It was surprisingly moving to stand next to a piano that he actually played and see original compositions. We all especially enjoyed an interactive 3 D experience of Beethoven's Fidelio Opera. Besides being fabulous music and great visuals......it was air conditioned! Tomorrow we head toward Koblenz.....but that will be another story.