Lauwersoog Amsterdam

[sailaboutvic]

Here an happier thread after my last threads of boat troubles.
it May not be everyone cup of tea .

Yesterday we entered the lock at Lauwersoog Netherlands for our inland route to Amsterdam.
Last year we came the other way around entering Vlissingen .
The channel from seawards was a bit demanding at half tide breaking water just out side the channel ,
Tossing us about a bit .
chart warn of change in depth and for sure there is one part show depth of 8 to 10 mts but the buoys shows it going over .5 / 1.7 depth ,
We hoped out not to follow the chart and stick to the buoys , good job too as there was breaking waves as we go close to where the chart shows 10 mts depth .
Chart depth are total wrong in the channel. ,
Anyone thinking they could cut a corner would had been in real trouble thinking they had plenty of water.

after a 60 miles fast and at time wild sail from Norderney only having to use the engine leaving the port and entering the last part of the channel it was quite nice to stop .
Once through the lock we found a quiet spot to anchor just out of the channel with 0.7 under our keel .
It’s been a quiet night and for once there not been wind howling through the rigging not to mention the rain that we had the last four days .

To day is showing Sights of being dry fingers cross,
our destination could be a number of places but Leeuwarden looking most likely ,
26 miles with one lock and several bridges to navigate.

 

[RobbieW]

I learned some 15 years ago that Lauwersoog's entrance moves around a bit! Just looked at Navionics and it's very different to my memory

 

[DanTribe]

Here an happier thread after my last threads of boat troubles.
it May not be everyone cup of tea .

Yesterday we entered the lock at Lauwersoog Netherlands for our inland route to Amsterdam.
Last year we came the other way around entering Vlissingen .
The channel from seawards was a bit demanding at half tide breaking water just out side the channel ,
Tossing us about a bit .
chart warn of change in depth and for sure there is one part show depth of 8 to 10 mts but the buoys shows it going over .5 / 1.7 depth ,
We hoped out not to follow the chart and stick to the buoys , good job too as there was breaking waves as we go close to where the chart shows 10 mts depth .
Chart depth are total wrong in the channel. ,
Anyone thinking they could cut a corner would had been in real trouble thinking they had plenty of water.

after a 60 miles fast and at time wild sail from Norderney only having to use the engine leaving the port and entering the last part of the channel it was quite nice to stop .
Once through the lock we found a quiet spot to anchor just out of the channel with 0.7 under our keel .
It’s been a quiet night and for once there not been wind howling through the rigging not to mention the rain that we had the last four days .

To day is showing Sights of being dry fingers cross,
our destination could be a number of places but Leeuwarden looking most likely ,
26 miles with one lock and several bridges to navigate.

I'm following this with interest, it's a trip I hope to do next year. Leeuwarden is as far as we got last year before heading back to UK. Keep up the reports please.

 

[johnalison]

Dokkum is pleasant and has a dedicated yacht staging but you will presumably want to go further. Leeuwarden is a nice town. It’s about five years since I was there but the moorings have a shower block and I think an automatic ticket machine for the dues. After many years of racing through in a hurry we once spent a couple of days there to look around. There is a gin museum and a ceramics museum which had a temporary exhibition of erotic ceramics that my wife disapproved of, also good shopping. There was also a lovely organ concert at a nearby church with a stunning organ from about 1730. The only hazard is overhanging trees.

We preferred the passage on via Harlingen and the Ijselmeer but the larger canal to Lemmer is also possible but with more traffic. If you are trying to get into the Ijselmeer from Harlingen, don’t do it on a Sunday, when the whole of Holland is trying to return from the islands. We took an hour to get through but our friends took four hours shortly after.

 

[sailaboutvic]

I learned some 15 years ago that Lauwersoog's entrance moves around a bit! Just looked at Navionics and it's very different to my memory

Your not wrong ,
the white part ( 6/10 mts) is now less then a meter for most of it , as you can see the channel is now a lot further east over what was once less then one meter

 

[sailaboutvic]

It’s been a pleasurable day , sunny with light winds .
we did think of stopping in Dokken as it look a good stop over but we decided we go on to Leeuwarden as it was still early plus we seen Dokken some years back by car .
We was one of four boats heading in the same direction,
Traffic the other way wasn’t too bad unlike last year in July when we found at every bridge boats jocking for positions to race through ,
Is a very nice route with plenty of free stops on the way admittedly some in the middle of nowhere .
The last bridge out of Dokken there was a 5€ change and the first bridge into Steenendamsterburg there a €3 charge ,
it’s a shoe job , they hang it out from a rod to put the money in when you pass ,
Unlucky for us or should I say the bridge guy we was out of cash when we reach the second bridge so we give him what ever coins we had . All of €2.10 he wasn’t impressed .

The route is very pretty some nice old farm houses, wild flowers planted alone the banks miles of tow paths to walk or cycle.
Plenty to wild life ,Add to that banks to moor to .
With our 1.6 daft the less we seen was .4 under the keel although once it did go to Zero but I reckon it picked up some Grass ,
I did read somewhere boat with 2 mts should get through easy without a problem .
The only down side was we was still having speed problems under engine so we was using much more RPM then we liked.

Leeuwarden is quite a nice town we moored right in the centre,
€23 that includes tourists tax, power and water .
Several super market within walking distance.
Note the bridge closes between 1600 and 1800 , we just about made it with a few minutes to spare.
The 25 miles trip took 6 and a half hours .
one lock and 11 bridges .
All in all a very chilled out day , very different from last year coming from South , until we reach Amsterdam there was very little places to stop for the night without using a marina and the traffic was non stop ,
we not seen one commercial barge so far.

 

[johnalison]

The barges don’t seem to use the Frisian canals, mainly because they have larger canals they can use not open to those with masts. If you take the Lemmer route you will join up with them. Sneek is quite fun but I preferred the other route and the chance to sail. As I say, Sunday can be a bit fraught. We liked the SC in Harlingen which you can get to before the locks by turning left, or to port if you’re being fussy.

 

[MK101]

Another thumbs up for heading to Harlingen, which is a really lovely place. Small enough to be walkable or use the dinghy. Big enough to be more than a tourist town. And it has an excellent brewery.

The HWSV club just before the Tjerk Hiddesluis is a brilliant place to stop. And then it’s nice to get a bit more salt water under the keel on the way to Kornwerderzand. Watch out for rush hour closures for leisure craft at the sluis into the IJsselmeer.

If you love Friesland but don’t want to motor/tussle with barges all the way, you could think of going via Sneek then Heeg and through the Heegermeer/Fluessen. Out into the Ijsselmeer at Stavoren. You’d need to watch the depthmeter a bit but it’s lovely.

 

[sailaboutvic]

The barges don’t seem to use the Frisian canals, mainly because they have larger canals they can use not open to those with masts. If you take the Lemmer route you will join up with them. Sneek is quite fun but I preferred the other route and the chance to sail. As I say, Sunday can be a bit fraught. We liked the SC in Harlingen which you can get to before the locks by turning left, or to port if you’re being fussy.

Yea we quite like Sneek our route will take us to Stavoren to catch up with old cruising friends ,
we love anchoring by the locks there ,
then it on to Kempen where we spend some time in a local sailing club marina last year that made us very welcome which included an unbelievable rate for a month mooring .
while there we will visit more Med cruising friends who now given up the live Aboard life .
then it’s back into the Ijseelmeer and on to Amsterdam to visit more people we know before exiting out of Ijmuiden for the crossing back to the east coast .

I got an soft spot for Netherlands, the people are very friendly cost of living isn’t that bad , mooring fees when we do use them are reasonable, the down side is the motor boats not all but a porpoise have no idea of the rule and when it comes to bridges or lock they just want to barge in bow thruster going like no tomorrow and they look surprise when they realise you don’t have one .
I even tho of leaving the boat here last winter , but I had some work that needed doing so back she came .

conceding Leeuwarden is quite a lively town at night , bar , restaurant right across the town centre,
but by the water side you can here a coin drop just the odd chatting from boats near by.

 

[johnalison]

I was a past master in getting to the front of convoys, but it can be frustrating when you get to a medium height bridge that the motor boats can get through. Since we were always trying to escape bad weather, it was always incredibly windy, so jilling around at bridges was a necessary skill. A small lock in the Groningen section was perhaps the worst, with about 30 knots blowing across and horizontal rain, resulting quite a bit of damage, but fortunately not to us.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Another thumbs up for heading to Harlingen, which is a really lovely place. Small enough to be walkable or use the dinghy. Big enough to be more than a tourist town. And it has an excellent brewery.

The HWSV club just before the Tjerk Hiddesluis is a brilliant place to stop. And then it’s nice to get a bit more salt water under the keel on the way to Kornwerderzand. Watch out for rush hour closures for leisure craft at the sluis into the IJsselmeer.

If you love Friesland but don’t want to motor/tussle with barges all the way, you could think of going via Sneek then Heeg and through the Heegermeer/Fluessen. Out into the Ijsselmeer at Stavoren. You’d need to watch the depthmeter a bit but it’s lovely.

We would had continue down the seaward side of the Netherlands to Harlingen if it wasn’t for the SW winds and come in through Vlieland ,
its been a bit of a waiting game all the way from Cuxhaven, had slog at times so now we in land we carry on and have some chilling time before having to cross the North Sea to Ipswich .
you can guess what the winds will be by then .