The last 300 miles, Denmark to Holland | Step 14

Preparations Departure for NL: 15.00 hours Weather: sunny, cloudy late afternoon Wind: 12-18 kts SW In particular, we prepare this day for our departure to the Netherlands. The crossing over the North Sea to Vlieland is 235 miles. Quite a bit. So we check the wind again, which according to all weather models should become westerly and later NW from 15.00 onwards. We check with our nautical friends what their stance is on GTL diesel, as that is the only thing available in Thyboron, as we would like to top up the WJ anyway. We decide to do the same just before departure. Other than that, we prepare grab fodder, make tea and seafast everything. Eat a hot meal and check the rigging. At 15.00 we go outside. Just before a shower (very handy ...hahaha). We set the sails in the bowl before sailing out. Unfortunately, the wind is not yet westerly enough, so we have to sail a course out to ‘gain height’ and that is quite against high waves, so we have to use the engine. So we are already shaking nicely. And....a bow-plank does not survive. After 2 hours, we turn around and can sail slightly better high to the course. We more or less immediately start the 3 o'clock on and 3 o'clock off watch routine and Patty goes to sleep first, as she was up a bit too early that morning and hadn't taken a nap in between..... And so we sail into the night with, unfortunately, the engine on because the wind is insufficient and the waves too high for comfortable sailing. Patty is still having some trouble coping well with the WJ's lurching behaviour. As the night progresses, the engine can finally be turned off. The wind becomes more favourable (westerly), so the WJ, despite the waves, reaches speeds of between 5 and 7 knots entirely on sail. Fine! The high waves remain, however, so we roll off a bit. We are accompanied by a white Jan van Gent throughout the sail, by the way. We sleep in our bed during non-watch times and that really makes all the difference. We don't eat hot food, but we live on constant nibbles like biscuits, carrots, apples, bananas and crackers throughout the trip. We hardly meet, except at watch handovers, where we update each other on course and any particulars. Not much happens, as it is a quiet course with no traffic systems. In the night, Patty is called by a guard-ship to ask if we want to sail around a ship that is doing a cable repair. During the night the wind picks up tremendously to in the 20 knots. We are happy about it because the WJ is in her humour. She is spinning around 9 kts of speed and so the waves are better cut too. We are happy that the promised wind is taking us nicely forward. Real sailing. Towards morning, the wind became very calm, that too according to the forecast....the sea also became a lot smoother with it and we like that too, because we are approaching the traffic systems over the Wadden Islands and they are always challengingly crowded. In the watches, it works out that Robin takes care of both systems and Patty the 20 miles in between (easy!). Root is busy, but also finds it a welcome change from the hitherto ‘uneventful’ pace. The wait for the barges (because those big merchant/container ships have priority) eventually causes us an hour's delay. We note a small tear in the ‘sunbrella edge’ of the jib due to some chafing against the spread during the calmer winds anyway. Not shocking, but does require attention. And so there is a board loose on the bowsprit from high wave biting on departure. Also not insurmountable. Patty, incidentally, gets a little more sleep time during the voyage to recover a bit from (consequences) of the hangover. So the morning to Vlieland, the last 40 miles, are quiet and calm and the sun rises beautifully. The Jan van Gent greets us again. In the sunshine, we sail to Vlieland.....and take a ‘we-are-there-selfie’. When we call the harbour, there is an enthusiastic response to the WJ's arrival. She is a familiar ship and gets her ‘familiar spot’ in front of the harbour office. As we sail in, fatigue still appears to take a small toll as we scrape off some paint...so be it. We'll fix it tomorrow. We spend the rest of the day cleaning up, walking along the beach to beach bar ‘Oost’ for a drink and a snack and on board reading, watching Max's race, sitting in the sun and, of course, enjoying all the ships entering the harbour. In particular, the steering skills of the brown fleet always has our admiration. We then have dinner at Dining and are in bed by 11pm....