And off we are….

Sunday 23/6/2024

54’25N 001’51E

cog 300

speed 8.3 kn

After 3 weeks of intense maintenance we cast off yesterday. We could have stayed another week but at some point, you have to draw a line. We bend on the new mizzen reversed into a spring line set the staysail and of we went on the last of the ebbing tide. In these 3 weeks we overhauled the Scania, had new bearing made for the rudder, a new shaft and bearings to take the propeller and a million other things. Sandfirden is the local Scania expert and was able to find new part for this old engine. They worked their magic and enabled us to set off with a safe feeling! Luyt the dockyard at Den Oever slipped the boat and made the new shaft and bearings. They also managed to get a new layer of anti-fouling on the bottom despite al efforts of the weather to prevent this. The SRF came in to fix loose ends all over the boat and make plans for future refits! All in all 3 weeks wel spent! A big thank you for all involved!


As we are crossing the first of the glacial land scape my mind is already in the Nordic lands. This glacial land scape lies 20 meters below us though. It is called the Doggers Bank and was left by a retreating glacier in the last ice age. Tecla knows the way here. This was her old fishing ground. Her she would lay behind her net called a fleet in Dutch. After a tide the kilometer long net would be hauled on board by the ships “donkey” a steam driven capstan. The herring would be cleaned and put into barrels and lowered into the ships hold.


None of that today! We are bound for Holy Island or Lindesfarne, the site of an old monastery and the first place for the Vikings to set off on their raids of England. It is very pretty situated and is only an island with high tide. The Vikings saw its potential and the fertile lands that lay behind it. On this trip we follow these old wakes. In a couple of days i hope to be in the old center of the world, Orkney. Maybe my favorite place to go. Untamed and wild but with a deep sense of culture and history. Can’t wait!!!

All is well. Gijs

Photo of the “Zorg met vlijt” on the Wadden see, behind de Zorg, the “Pelikaan” Next picture thanks to the “Pelikaan”

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