Amsterdam sail 2020

[wheelie]

Hi Everyone,

We went to the 2015 Sail festival in Amsterdam and although we had an awesome time had to watch from shore in the evening when the canals/rivers are full of boats cruising around. We are going in 2020 and considered taking our boat, but as I start fretting whenever someone gets within 5 metres of us, have decided this is not an option. Therefore it would be fantastic to either;

a) get onto one of the boats ( with a few beers) that cruise around in the evening
or
b) temporarily buy a small boat and tow/launch it there specifically for this weekend

So I wondered if anyone has done this, knows where to start looking, apart from a Google search, or has any (helpful) comments/advise.

Many thanks, Ady

 

[EricJ]

Hi Ady,
There will be boat trips offered via accredited operators. This will all be available via the Sail2020 website nearer the time. The organisation strictly checks that only accredited operators take people for a tour on a commercial basis. You are allowed to take your friends and family on your own boat up to a certain size for free, but for anything over a certain size and any commercial tours have to pay a fee.

The sail-in and sail-out are of course the nicest to watch from a boat, but this can be stressful with your own boat. In 2015 I went past the moored tall ships with a small boat (19 ft) and this was fairly easy, especially if you pick a quieter time like in the morning.
A temporary boat may also work but keep in mind it gets a bit bumpy in a small boat with so many boats on the water.

Definitely a great event every 5 years.

 

[wheelie]

Thanks for your advice EricJ, I'll keep a lookout on the website. It's safe to say 2015 was one of the best weekends of my life.

Cheers, Ady