Date: Sunday 27th May
Distance : 127 miles.
Weather : Fair, SW 13 knots
Nigel was late, of course. Not because he was late driving down from Stafford, Oh No. He was late because
he had stopped at the best resturant in Harwch for 'breakfast'. After 15 minutes waiting around in mystification, a phone
call revealed all.
We left Harwich around 10AM, and were at the North Shipwash by 12:15. It would probably been a reasonable
spinnaker run straight across to Ijmuiden if only the Spini hadnt been twisted in the sock, and, nervous about not being
able to get it down, we let it be. (It took 30 mins on the pontoon later to sort out the twist)
14:00: We
were crossing the Gabbard, and Nigel was sleeping of his breakfast....
15:00: Not a thing in sight. Nigel wants to know if anyone fancies anything to eat?
19:00, across the shipping lanes and time for something to eat. Nigel's cooking...
Midnight : The North Sea is littered with Oil and Gas rigs. The Ninjin field is a complex off of Holland.
We passed close to the most Northerly rig of the complex, but Pat swears it was moving. These things are lit up like
christmas trees, but it is still surprising the amount of traffic passing close by, outside the lanes, at night. If I was
on one of these rigs, I'd feel a bit vulnerable.
06:00
Ijmuiden. One of the ironies of sailing, is that many of the destinations are hardly romantic landfalls, particularly around
the UK and Europe. Still, the power stations can be seen from a long way off. A curious feature of the Dutch coast are long
foam streaks on the sea. You can see these things from a plane. I wonder why they form?
