Changing plans due to rough sea | Step 26

Thursday, 13 July Weather: Sunny, 20 degrees Wind: SW 16-27 kts Distance: 30 miles (ish) Engine hours: 2.5 Departure: 06:15 a.m. Arrival: 2.15pm The alarm clock rings early, 05.00. Gaff feels 'the mood' already and is reluctant to walk. Clever little dog. We do a cheese cracker, set out some grab food and 2 thermos jugs of water and tea. At 6.15, very sweet neighbours got up to cast us loose and wave us off. The navionics had calculated that after sailing out between Terschelling and Vlieland, we could choose the cut-off route, but we'd rather not. Result: 5 miles further out with high waves and wind against. This costs us much more time than planned anyway, to the benefit of later sailing comfort (especially for the dog). After all, around shallows the waves are much higher and we are already going out before the patch, so the more comfortable the better. We decide, because of the upwind course with lots of wind, to unfurl only the genoa. Unfortunately, we still have current against us until 13:00 and then get m with us until Nordeney. However, this also results in us doing 'only' 6/6.5 kts of speed. Jokingly, every time we look to starboard we shout: 'look, there you have Terschelling'....hihi. We have a wonderful sailing day. The WJ is great. The sun is shining. We are doing 6.5 kts over ground on a single sail against the current and, despite the big waves from astern, it is fine. Still, as is our custom, just before a first alternative, we check the wind, forecast and route...where are we, what can we expect, how are we in it, what is the ship doing and what do we like. After all, it is and remains a holiday. We see that although the current has yet to come with us, we still have 11 hours to go and have already sailed for 5.5 hours. We see that the wind is only getting stronger, instead of decreasing as predicted, and we know that we will reach the approach to Nordeney, which you want to sail with full concentration when it's light, now in the dark, with probably even higher waves than we had anticipated. We decide to branch off to Ameland, have never been there before, so how nice to discover it. We call and the WJ is welcome. The route there is challenging because of sandbanks and shallows, but great because of the views and the seals on the slabs. Just before entering the harbour, we get wind gusts of 27 kts across and run just outside the channel just before the harbour entrance and thus a bit stuck. Fortunately, with a blow backwards we were quickly released and moored. That turned out to be a challenge, because we got 'help' who let the stern line slip.....sigh..... we soon pull those small bollards out with the WJ anyway, so that doesn't help when you have to correct with your engine...enfin.... Never a dull moment shall we say. We legguh and after a glass of wine we charge for 3 days (gulp....).... because we just want to chill for a few days. Since we met 29 years ago today, we eat a simple meal on shore at the harbour restaurant. Afterwards, a quick WJ sweeten up and snore in time.