Last weekend I had the opportunity to go on a salt water trip with the Old Gaffers Association (OGA, http://www.oldgaffers.nl). The OGA the dutch branch of an originally British sailing association, and has approximately 100 Belgian and Dutch members. The event that was organized last weekend (one of the few events that wasn’t canceled because of COVID!) was a short trip from Lauwersoog to Schiermonnikoog, especially for small trailerable sailing boats. It’s a short trip crossing the Waddensea, which is a tidal area with many shallows and a tidal raise of approximately 2 meters.
I was joined by Roel, who came home a day earlier from vacation to be able to come along. Two other OGA members came along as well, so we were a crew of 4. Nice!
As we had to spend the night in tents which we had to bring along, we had too much luggage for the Ebihen 16. Fortunately one of the larger boats offered to take some of our stuff.
On the first day we used the low tide current to reach Schiermonnikoog. Winds were very calm, so we were able to raise the centre board and cross a large sandbank by paddling and using the barge pole. As we reached the island, we picked a spot east of the harbor, between several other vessels, to sail Flotsam on to the sand. After a nice destination-beer, we waited for ebb and made some nice pics. After pitching the tents, we went for dinner on the island.
The weather forecast for the way back promised a challenging sailing day: a rainy day with 4 Beaufort winds from the north east, with a small chance of thunderstorms. Fortunately the latter weren’t present at the time we had to leave the island.
For the way back we used the high tide current to sail back to the main land. I decided to put one reef in the main sail. It turned out as a very nice trip!
Frank, one of the guys of the crew (he and his brother also made a nice Ebihen 16, “Baleine”), made an excellent film, which can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/593282914.
Here’s the pictures:










