How Slow Can You Go Before Your Going Backwards?

Customers at a local restaurant were
given Ducks to take home if they would
agree to email a picture from its new home  

July 18 - The landscape is beginning to change from low lying flat lands to tree covered hills. A stop in Hafen Oberwinter allowed us to do the 4 loads of laundry that had piled up and shoot through the grocery store that was conveniently directly across from the marina.  The laundry was in high demand when we arrived so we patiently waited our turn.  When the load before us was finished and no one came to claim it, I carefully placed it on top of the dryer and began our wash.  Using washing machines when you can't read the instructions is always a challenge.  This time it appeared that the wash would go on for 2.5 hours!  Gez...at that rate we would need to seek citizenship just to get the laundry completed.  As we were attempting to figure out what to do, the owner of the laundry on top of the dryer appeared....carrying more laundry.  She was not pleased and let us know this in perfect German along with lots of pointing to the printed instructions taped to the wall, underlining the words with her fingers and then pointing to the 2.5 hours blazing at us on the machine....as if that would make us understand. OK.  I screwed up.  Fix? "Nien"!  Profuse apologies were delivered along with offers of Euros to compensate her for her inability to add things to her wash for only a Euro....or at least that's what we gathered from her pantomime.  She declined and finally smiled.  All was right again with the world....or at least in the Oberwinter Haven.  After she left, I spun the dials a bit and somehow reduced the wash time to a reasonable 60 minutes.....and she said it couldn't be done!  HA! For once my "button pushing", that makes King crazy, paid off!  We soon had laundry flying from all of the life-lines around Ostinato.

July 19 - The meeting of the Mosel and the Rhine in Koblenz is quite spectacular.  A larger than life statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I riding a horse meets you at the corner of Mosel and Rhine.  Here we crossed to the left bank and slipped into a small cove to tie up to a tiny yacht club that we would call home for the next few days.  The charge...€1 per meter (length of boat), €2 for power per day.  All on the honor system.  Just put your money in an envelope before you depart.   The marina was within a short stroll to the ferry which takes you across the river to Koblenz.  After exploring Koblenz, it was decided that since we would not be going down the Mosel, we could rent a car.  Oh goody, a car trip.  At least we will be driving on the right side!

The view of Koblenz at night from Ostinato

July 22 - Trier was our first destination to see the Porta Nigra.  The blackened stone 2nd century city gate is one of Germany's

12th Century Berg Eltz castle right out of Disney

vineyards straight up the mt side

many UNESCO World Heritage designated sights.  All went well on the drive...a few u-turns but who's counting.  We were entertained by the breath taking scenery of a gazillion grapevines covering the vertical mountainside.  One could only dream of all the wine it would make.  Parking was like finding hen's teeth but we were finally able to locate a parking garage close by.  Brilliant!  And after an afternoon of wandering around Trier, it was time to find our hotel.  Back to rescue the car from the garage.  Of course, it was 1700, that's 5 p.m. for non cruisers.  The place was packed and a long line of cars snaked their way down the ramp.  King butted his way into the line.  We arrived at the exit and oops....no one to take our money.  As with the laundry a few days ago there was lots of pointing and talking and shaking of heads.  A nice lady, walking by on her way to her car, came to the rescue and after saying the obligatory "parking is not free", graciously walked Frank around the corner and up a flight of steps to pay.  The amazing thing is that not one horn honked the entire time.  The rest of the side trip was thankfully non eventful as we visited lovely little towns and a fairy tale castle that would be at home in Orlando.

Lighted signs tell when ships are coming near the Lorelei

The following day Ostinato and Amusant cast off their lines at 0700.  The good news was the river had dropped a foot and traffic was light.  To put it mildly, the current was still wicked.  A family of swans attempted to travel along with us as we arrived at the St. Goar, "Fun Marina", entrance.  They labored hard to make headway up stream till mama finally gave up. As soon as they turned around they quickly shot down river and out of sight in seconds.   We slid into the marina and gratefully took the only berth that we would fit in which was at the fuel docks.  A great spot for the wide girl except the dock master's office roof had a bit of an overhang....which Ostinato's mast gave a little tap and left a small dimple as testimony to our visit.  Once that was sorted out, the dock cleat that was to hold the bow took a nose dive into the water.  No problem, the dock master quickly found another and screwed it in.  We spent the next two days at St. Goar visiting the castle which over looked the marina and talking to the dock master who provided excellent information on the next leg. While there was a great feeling of relief once we arrived at St. Gore one look at our spread sheet, provided by friends who did this same passage in 2012, showed and I quote "the beginning of the worst". Yikes!

The legend of Lorelei Rock, where beautiful mermaid type beings lure you onto the rocks by singing their lovely songs, had me on edge.  Not that I thought Pat or I would succumb to that but who knows about King and Frank. This is the narrowest part of the river we will transverse.  Strong currents and underwater rocks add to the excitement.  We decided to head up river by bus to see what all the excitement was about.  From the top you have a great view of the Rhine traffic.  This is the only part of the river that we have seen that actually has traffic lights to indicate where ships are in each part of the narrow passage.  More excitement.  Just what I needed.  We spent a good hour watching ships come and go and matching it to the traffic lights.  At least we know what we are getting into.

July 27 - St. Gore to Bingen - The Rhine Gorge is beautiful, full of castle and vineyards. There is no worry about missing anything because you are going so slow that you can take a shower and the view is almost the same when you’re done.  We had delayed our departure for this trip thinking the spring floods would be over.  We had not planned for the summer rains which put the Rhine 1 foot below Flood Stage 1!  Our all time low speed was 0.4 knots.  Even barges were getting tugs to pull them through this particular section so considering that the Rhine is still flooding, making the passage on our own was an accomplishment.  My SV Angel Louise spreadsheet says "the worst is over".  YEA!

Even big ships need a tow sometimes on the Rhine

July 28 - 31 Wiesbaden, Stienheim, Mittenberg, Neustadt-Erlach....Ostinato's  progress is greatly improved.  We entered the Main on the 29th and passed through a total of 5 schleuses (locks) that day.  While there is still current against us it is much lighter compared to the Rhine.  To gain entrance into the schleuse we learned quickly that your best bet was to travel in

One of the smaller locks

tandem with a large barge.  Amusant and Ostinato could both fit in perfectly in most schleuses with 2 barges.  Despite this strategy our longest wait for entrance was 5 hours - a combination bad timing and "technical" problems with the schleuse.  

By the end of the first day we had fine tuned our process on snagging the bollards.  King would drive Ostinato into the schleuse.  I would snag the first bollard at the mid cleat.  As water filled the lock and Ostinato rose, Frank would nab the next bollard and then I would do the next ...and on until we reached the top.  Pat made sure the boat pole was always ready.  Toward the end of the day, Frank was even beginning to get fancy with lassoing the top bollard without the assistance of the boat pole.  Most of the time the water lowered or rose gently but some of the bigger schleuses tossed you around pretty good.  We also did our best to stay as far back from the big ships as possible so we didn't get bounced around as they moved out of the schleuse.  We spent our first night at anchor in a pretty little cove when we found we didn't fit in the marina.  The next few nights we tied up to town quays, anchored or got permission to stay overnight at the lock.  We have really enjoyed getting out of the marinas.

3 man team on the locks

August 8 – Wurzburg (Km252) 49.50N 10.12 E. After a bit of confusion on where we should tie up (we were actually being fought over by 2 harbour masters...a first!)  We landed at the town quay instead of the yacht club.  Much more convenient and the harbour master worked hard to accommodate us.    We are a bit strange looking and, of course, not too many sailboats from the US

Paying homage to St. John of Nepomuk, patron saint of bridges

come this way so we become an instant tourist destination.  We need fuel but because of the 5 hour delay at the schleuse we will need to spend the weekend.  No fuel after noon on Friday or the weekend so we will stay to Monday.  Wurzburg is a beautiful city that was restored after being bombed in WWII.   A must stop on the Viking River Cruises.  King and I stopped in a wine shop to browse.  The salesperson spoke perfect English with an accent that felt familiar.  After chatting a bit, we commented on her excellent English. She shared she had gone to school in the US. Where....FSU....where her parents still live.

We are getting low on both water and fuel.  The Mother Ship (Amusant) gave us water from her tanks but it won't last us long.  Dirty laundry is threatening to take over the boat.  The town quay is really meant for cruise ships so water is not easily available but when the Harbour Master said he would help us "take a drink" at the big boy faucet we couldn’t refuse. The force was so great that we may have gotten a quarter of a tank before it started overflowing from the back pressure.  Still more than we had. We learn that the fuel barge that we planned to get fuel from only sells to the big ships so we must move on to find diesel.  The next fuel was found at a tiny yacht club about an hour down river from Wurzburg.  It was one of those, "I can't believe we are going in there" experiences.  Pat, Frank and I were stationed at each corner of Ostinato calling off how many feet she had before there would be a collision.  To add to the excitement, we began plowing mud while we were still 10 feet from the fuel dock.  Amusant wisely remained in the river until we somehow finally floated close enough that I could leap off the boat and tie on to something.  The next challenge was

Wuzburg has been beautifully restored after being leveled during WWII

finding someone to give us fuel.  The place was deserted, however, I had seen a head pop out as we were crawling in so off to make new friends.  Boaters are always ready to help and these were no different.  The fuel people were called and we were told they would arrive in a few hours.  15 minutes later there they were, ready to fill us up.  The Mother Ship slid in next and in no time we were off again, completing 6 locks, even with the delayed start.  Our stopping place would be a pretty little pond off the river.  King hit a rock just off the entrance; this is when we learned that the Mother Ship uses water depth, not under the keel depth.  Always a good thing to know.  As we were cooking dinner, when an angry German fisherman knocked on the boat to tell us the anchorage was private and that we must leave…..now.  While it is questionable that the area was private, and if it was his, we decided that staying was not in our best interest.  We hauled anchor and moved Ostinato to a place wide enough to stay overnight in the river.  Amusant was not asked to leave.  The only thing we can figure is it was our American flag as Amusant has a Marshall Islands flag.  As disturbing as the incident was, I must say that it was not the norm.  We have been treated exceptionally well everywhere we have visited.

We are no longer seeing marinas that can accommodate anything but very small boats so the next few

nights we anchored, tied up with Amusant rafted to us, to an “at your own risk” dock and overnighted at Kriegenbrunn schleuse with the big boy barges.  Remarkably, there was never a concern that we wouldn’t find a place. We are making 5-6 locks a day averaging 4-5 knots.  The all time high of 7 schleuses in one day was accomplished by following barge Denise all day.  Denise’s captain was kind enough to get the schleuse master’s OK for us to spend the night at Kriegenbrunn schleuse with them.

When there is only room for one, we raft

At Bamberg (Km 384) we moved into the Main-Donau-Kanal, starting the Km count at 0 again.  Here we began our assent to almost 1300ft above sea level.  This included 11 locks going up, some as deep as 24.70 meters and a total of 5 locks, mercifully, going down, to Kelheim, the end of the man-made canal. At Schleuse Eiback (Km 73), we begin to see our first floating bollards.  These have been heaven sent but just to make sure we don’t get too relaxed, most are on our port side.  Ostinato’s steering is on starboard so not our favored side to enter the locks.

No floating bollards

A hard days work going through these scheluses

Location of the Nuremburg Trials

August 7 Nuremburg Km 65.2 - Arrived early morning, tying up at MYC Nuremburg.  Washing machines, showers, public transportation within walking distance.  Everyone can finally get some clean clothes and take a nice long shower!  We spent 2 days exploring the city that is famous for the trials of Nazi war criminals that came at the end of WWII, a sobering experience.  The night before we were to depart, the bilge pump began running continuously.  I was snug in my bunk when the noise woke me.  Upon turning on the light, I discovered water was seeping up through the floor boards.  Not a good thing.  KIIIING!  The next hour was spent working on the bilge pumps and mopping up the floor.  We are sitting much lower in the water now (even lower than normal!) due to being in fresh vs salt water so we originally thought our intake valve was below water.  We emptied some of the water from our tanks that we had added earlier in the evening to reduce our weight so when the water stopped pouring in we decided that we were ok till morning when a better assessment could be made.  That lasted till 0300 when the bilge pumps started cranking again.  Water was again back flowing into the boat. King pulled out the check valve he had just purchased in Lelystad and had it installed in 30 minutes.  All quiet once again.  Mop up the floor.  Back to bed.  King, note to self:  order more check valves…..

Beching was a beautiful and off the beaten track

We spent the next night on the town wall at Beching.  No davits to tie onto, no problem, the town had a nice metal fence that worked quite well and, fortunately, no one seemed to mind.  Towns like this are my favorite part of the trip.  Tying on and taking a walk to discover what lies behind the ancient stone wall that encloses its inhabitants.  Beching was a particularly nice stop; a walled city, with restaurants and music, without the millions of tourists that typically haunt these lovely places.  Because Ostinato looks a bit strange, she attracts the curious.  That gives us an opportunity to talk to locals a bit.  Of course, King’s favorite part is they had great coffee ice cream.


Aug 10 – Saal 48.54 N 11.55 E.  Today we arrived at the end of the Main-Donau Kanal and the end

Joker kept us entertained on many nights.
The guys did a LOT of table talk!

of time with our great crew Pat and Frank Hankins.  We had perfect timing for all of the schleuse today.  The longest wait was 15 minutes, most were ready for us as we arrived.  The landscape is beginning to change again.  The castles are back on the hillside.  It’s been an adventure getting here. Tonight we have time for one last game of Joker.  I have to admit the guys have had more than their share of wins.....but not all. Tomorrow we give Ostinato a scrub top to bottom, defrost the fridge and dig out the clean linens for new crew.  But before Bill arrives, we have planned a little side trip to Prague for a few days.  See you when we get back!

Ostinato crossing the highest point of the Main-Danau Canal
It's all down hill from here!

Here's a few more.  I plan to post one in a few days of just castles....if we find Internet again.

Thumbs up in Koblenz

On the Mosel

Ostinato at Fun Marina from the Castle in St. Goar.
My camera decided it would be B&W for a bit

Mac did graffiti on every lock

A beautiful castle view out my bedroom port in Wurzburg

Another view from the bow of Ostinato

Viking ships are everywhere.  We caught this while we all waited to go into the scheluse.

Water was so turbulent we almost lost our connection to the bollard

The current near St. Goar

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.

Now what to do with 55 ft of mast!

Pat and Frank on day 2 ......don't even look jet lagged

Taking down the flags before the mast is removed.

Outdoor view of the World Cup on the Rhine.  Germany vs Argentina

Big boats bring along all the toys including a play ground for the kids

Fighting current early in the trip. Speeds as low as 1.6 k 

Amusant, aka "The Mother Ship", catches us in Zundorf

And the Band Played On

Crew, Karen and Bruce head back to the UK

 Belgium's coastal tram
A great way to explore the coast 

June 9 - Only 5 days in Belgium. Certainly not enough time to take it all in but.. we do our best!  A tram runs up and down the coast connecting all the beach towns between Knokke and Adinkerke.  Nieuwpoort was in the middle.  We chose to do the trip to the East, getting off occasionally to have lunch or a snack.... basically eating our way along the coast.  Our crew, friends from our Atlantic crossing, Karen and Bruce, had to fly back to the UK on Wednesday so we rode the tram with them to the Ostend train station before saying goodbyes.  They headed to Brussels while we hopped the train to Bruges.  It was love at first sight!

Looked like a couple of nice guys

beautiful canals

forever searching for that lost contact

You have to love a place that has a french fry museum

June 12 - Of course, we couldn't leave Belguim without visiting the headquarters of the EU in Belgium. It was also a great opportunity for us to meet Daniel, the staff who is working on proposed changes to Schengen.  I've droned on about our problems with Schengen in previous Blogs so I will spare you the bill analysis.  Let me just say that King has hopes for the draft legislation which provides provisions that will allow non EU citizens to apply for a year's stay and is doing what he can to find support among cruising groups.   Yep, he's found a cause.

 EU headquarters in Brussels

On recess but still impressive

June 13 - The winds looked like they would be increasing and turning to the north so unless we wanted to put down roots in Nieuwpoort, it was time to depart.  Off to the Netherlands.  We decided to do the southern Standing Mast Route beginning at Breskens, across the Westerschelde to Vlissingen where we would enter the first of many sluices (locks) that would take us through Zeeland, the Northern Delta, Zuid Holland and on to our destination, Amsterdam in Noord-Holland.  We had considered traveling this route last fall on our way to London but could never determine if the sluices were wide enough or the bridges tall enough.............we still weren't 100% certain but we had the time to turn around this time if that became necessary.  We learned early on the cost of not joining in the early morning convoys.  Instead of cruising through each sluice or bridge with the congo line of sailboats, we would be required to tie up, or worse, do donuts, waiting for a large working boat to request an opening.  Actually, people took great pains to assist us as we moved along, providing us copies of charts and written directions and interpreting what was being said on the radio.....as in "the bridge will not open for 2 hours" and reminding us that channel 10 is the calling frequency here....not 16! Which is why we didn't know that barge zipping up behind us was yelling at us!  Just as well......We saw him coming.

We overnighted in Middelburg, a beautiful park on the Veese Meer, Willenmstad, and Dordorech,

Go Holland!

before being captured by Gouda.  Yep, where the cheese comes from.  Before I move on to Gouda, let me say that we learned about World Cup Football excitment in Dordorech where we were tied up in town on a narrow canal.  Each time the Netherlands scored, the entire town let our a roar.  This was repeated in Gouda and Amsterdam where we spent games 2 and 3.

June 20 - The trip between Dordorech and Gouda was pretty miserable every bridge we approached was just closing or refused to budge.  Consequently, when we arrived in Gouda, we were not surprised when we heard there might be as much as an hour wait to get through the sluice because of a local celebration.  We tied up with the other yachts along the waiting pontoon and prepared to settle in.  Eventually, you could here music and as the sluice opened out popped an orchestra in two small boats rafted together, playing a toe tapping marching number, followed by decorated canal barges and yachts carrying smiling dignitaries.  Oh, how I love a parade!  Then the sluice closed. Everyone appeared a bit surprised, including the parade participants.  The orchestra floated around a bit then headed toward us...."could they tie up?  they would play for us."  "but of course!"  and so we were treated to a rendition of "Sweet Caroline".  Now, I'm no Neil Diamond fan but I have to say that was a treat.  Before departing, they played a few notes of the American National Anthem and then, they were off.  It was a mad dash to get into the lock!  All the decorated boats along with all of the waiting cruisers raced for the sluice, jockeying for position.  We didn't make it.  Another hour wait, but ahhhha what a sweet concert we had enjoyed.

Ostinato serenaded in Gouda as we waited for the sluice

We eventually found a spot along the wall in town and as we were tying up one of the members of the orchestra stopped by to say hello and invite us to come to their concert later that day.  It ended up being a weekend of free concerts throughout Gouda.  So....maybe out timing wasn't so bad after all. We enjoyed the town and the people here so much that we spent a 3rd day to celebrate my birthday.

June 24 - All good things must end and so it was time to depart.  This involved getting through a bridge and a sluice in time for the 10:30 opening of the RR bridge.  We were there at 8:15.  You don't want to miss those RR bridges!  Our luck has changed!  The bridge opened at 8:30.  YEA!  Off to Leiden.

Trying to keep the mast out of the trees in Leiden's park 

Why Leiden?  The Pilgrims lived in Leiden prior to their journey to America.  William White, one of King's relatives, was among the group.  Also, a leading researcher on the Pilgrims lives in Leiden and manages a tiny Pilgrim museum. It simply became a great opportunity to have an interesting chat. Getting there was the first challenge.  Leiden is not on standard the Standing Mast Route so the guide books....the ones in English that we could actually read at least, were of no help.  Of course that does not stop King when he has a mission.  We squeaked through sluices the size of pin holes.  I stand on the port side calling out how much space we have as we squeeze through each opening bridge.  As they become progressively smaller and smaller, our fenders drag across the cement walls...on each side.  YIKES!  Even the bridge tenders came out to watch. The question is...Will we be able to get out once we get in?  Of course, why was I worried....we were rewarded with a lovely tie up in a pretty little park. And yes!  King got to meet with Professor Jeremy Bangs to discuss pilgrim history and learn details about his ancestors.   He could tell us where William White and his family had lived.....standing on the corner where the house had been was a lovely treat. As we were in the museum, a lady from Michigan joined us.....relatives! another of Whites descendants.

A no passing zone.....It seemed like "forever"!

June 26 - Back through the skinny bridges.  We are headed to Haarlem, our last stop before Amsterdam where we will meet our Rhine crew, Patty and Frank Hankins.  We got up early at 0600 to make the early morning bridge opening so we wouldn't get trapped by the morning "rush hour" which closes the bridges to boat traffic.  We moved along quite smartly arriving at the first RR bridge at 9:30.  You have got to be kidding! Next opening.... 12:30!  Thankfully I have a good book to read, so I settle in for the duration.  Surprise! A government sponsored convoy boat arrived about 30 minutes after us and began organizing a tiny convoy of 3 sailboats, magically opening each bridge as we approached.  The only problem was that it moved at a mind numbing 3 knots which drove King crazy.  However, after a large container vessel, who wanted to pass ahead, tangled with the female captain of the convoy lead boat ....and lost....he decided to behave and follow suit.  You didn't have to know Dutch to know the canal barge captain had lost the battle.....badly.

Friend Margaret who, along with her wonderful husband David, first got us hooked on the idea of

Cruquius Polder...I'm thinking you had to be there.

doing the canals in the Netherlands, sent me a note to make sure we stopped at the Cruquius Polder Museum on our way to Haarlem.  So we pealed off from the convoy at the Cruquiusbrug.  First, they made it easy by offering free dock space for yachts.  We love free.  The staff's enthusiasm for the museum is infections. Our €4 provided us with our own personal tour guide to view the first (and still functioning) pumps used to reclaim the land. Pretty impressive and with global warming, certainly knowledge we may need in the near future!  I also got to tell Huub, ABYCs resident Netherlander that "yes, we did stop at the Cruquius Polder....and it was way cool!"

In Haarlem, Peter, an OCC Regional Rear Commodore, came by to share information he had gathered for us on a location that can remove our mast for the trip up the Rhine.  He came bearing gifts of charts, books and lots of great information.  It was like having Santa Claus visit in June!  Thank you Peter!

A busy morning at the L9
between Haarlem and Amsterdam

June 28 - time is running short.  It's time to get Ostinato to Amsterdam.  Only a day left to visit Mr. Kingsley's hair dressing salon and get the boat presentable for crew prior to Patty and Frank's arrival on the 30th....assuming the "Standby" god's smile on them.  Thankfully, the trip was non eventful so nothing exciting to report.  Mr. Kingsley did a lovely job on my hair, per usual. Afterward we moved into high gear changing oil and impellers, the making of beds and seeing how many clothes I could stuff into the very expensive washing machines.  I think is was a new record.  At 22:00, I finally mopped myself into a corner by the couch and crashed and burned.  Are they really arriving at 5:55!

Willenmstad was nice but a bit tight for the wide girl

Our favorite bridge 

Every orchestra needs a conductor.....

The Dutch really love their bicycles!

We are going in there!?

No description needed!

That bull looks excited to see us

A look at what would be left of the Netherlands w/o the dikes

This Blog is in memory of our wonderful friend David Hide.  Thank you for your generous sharing of knowledge about sailing in the Netherlands and your unreserved offer of friendship to two strangers from the State's.  You will be missed.  We love you Margaret!