Murv's European cruise

[Murv]

Having enjoyed a full Year of reliable boating, the decision was made to venture a little further afield this Year.
After completing my coastal skipper practical at the tail end of Winter, and brimming wit new found knowledge, eyes were cast towards the distant shores of Europe and a plan slowly hatched...

Chatting to some cub members, a couple expressed an interest in tagging along who'd done lots of European cruising and would we like a hand with route planning etc?
Eventually, they did the planning and routes, and a few other boats ended up joining us.

So, without further ado!

Departure date was the last Saturday in July, upon which of course, strong winds raged and and we ended up with a frustrating wait for a weather window.
Frustrated and after months of planning and prepping, we stayed a night at the marina, and then moved a little further towards the coast at Queenborough and spent the day exploring deadmans island and the local pub from dingy and trot boat.

That evening, and early the next day, the weather calmed and we were off!

Last view of Blighty for a few days...

Due to one of the boats having some engine issues, we ended up following the coast around to Vlissingen. Or, that was the plan until one engine failed. And then the second one so a very slow tow ensued.

Heading through Belgian waters

And an overnight stop and refuel at Breskens before the short trip to Middleburg the following moring

Middleburg was packed. I think the limit was rafting 3 deep where we were, they were up to 5 the following day!
I have to admit that manoeuvring out was fairly stressful in a brisk wind and confined space

To be continued...

 

[Murv]

After a couple of days sitting out the 50mph winds, we broke free and headed to veers mere

And some far better weather!

Then, onto Goes!

A very large lock!

Beautiful place, Goes, we had a dingy safari and bought approximately 4 tons of cheese in the local market...

To be continued...

 

[Murv]

Heavy rain threatened the next day, so the decision was made to press onto Brugges
And, the definition of "large locks" was redefined again.

And some fairly substantial shipping, you don't get this on the Medway!

And into Brugges in a very pretty, and insanely cheap, mooring!

From here, there were issues with the sea lock so we headed out of Ostende to Nuiewport.
No images of the sea crossing as it was distinctly towards the top end of a moderate sea and we were all too busy hanging on...

To be continued...

 

[Greg2]

Great post and pics. Brought back some very happy memories of our last cruise in that area

 

[Murv]

Heading towards Ostende and a 3 hour wait for the bridge to lift due to them holding us back for the lock

And after the brief, but slightly hairy crossing, into VVW Nuiewport

Next morning, onwards and upwards to Dunkirk

No words for this...

And then a fairly uncomfortable couple of days rafted beam on to the swell waiting for the winds to calm once again!
There were a couple of calmer evenings though

Then, and only a day later then planned, another weather window and blazing skies to get us back home

And back into home waters

All in all, a very intense, hugely enjoyable brief cruise.
We burned vast amount of diesel, bought huge amounts of cheese, somebody broke down, then managed to get his own rope around a prop, somebody fell in, and a fantastic time was had by all!!

 

[pks1702]

Super post Murv and some really great images :encouragement:

 

[Momac]

Thank you for posting this . And pleased to see you made it there and back.
I hope to make the same sort of trip some time - to much the same places .

 

[shan]

Looks brilliant! Maybe skip the falling in the drink though...

 

[scubaman]

Super post Murv and some really great images :encouragement:

+100!

Thank you for posting.

 

[kashurst]

superb, what a great trip - looks like the new boat is running really well
who ever picked the weather did a great job

 

[Newbroom]

Brilliant post Murv. Well done

 

[Murv]

Thanks all

The weather wasn't brilliant, but didn't spoil the trip and I think we had it a little better than home.

 

[oldgit]

Well done Murv......but just think how much fuel you would have saved with a nice set of outdrives. .

Ps. You are now fully qualified to bore everyone to tears on dark winter evenings in the clubhouse with just how much water was coming over the flybridge during that ( at least Force 11) you were caught out in just off Dunkerque.

 

[Murv]

Well done Murv......but just think how much fuel you would have saved with a nice set of outdrives. .

Ps. You are now fully qualified to bore everyone to tears on dark winter evenings in the clubhouse with just how much water was coming over the flybridge during that ( at least Force 11) you were caught out in just off Dunkerque.

Force 11? That was a 12, at least!

And, yes, I would have saved well over 1000 litres of fuel with outdrives, but as you know it's more fun when you can actually make it off the pontoon!

 

[oldgit]

Force 11? That was a 12, at least!

And, yes, I would have saved well over 1000 litres of fuel with outdrives, but as you know it's more fun when you can actually make it off the pontoon!

A fact that owners of outdrives become aware off all too soon.

 

[oceanfroggie]

Wonderfully interesting cruise log and super photos. Thanks for posting. Love these sort of threads.

 

[Murv]

Thank you kindly!

Just finished the quick stats in case it helps anyone in the future.

Boat: Fairline turbo 36 1989, displacing IRO 9 tons with full fuel tanks, empty water tank, 4 persons on board and enough junk to sink the arc royal despite my best efforts...
Engines: Volvo TAMD61A's (5.6 litre 6 cylinder CAC turbo diesels)
Total engine run time was 51.4 hours.
Fuel burn approximately 1327 litres averaging 26 litres per hour. But, a big average as it's between 9 litres per hour inland cruising and 54l per hour at planing speed.
Frustratingly, I can't get the exact figure for a refill after the run back as I'm running the tanks down for cleaning, but it's a decent guess.

Mooring fees: 1 Euro per metre at Brugges (but you pay extra for absolutely everything else) to around 26 euros for a 12m boat at VVW but everything included.
Fuel was 1.10/L at Breskens, but an eye watering 1.40/L at Dunkirk.
All of our documents were in order, Schengen forms, ICC, ATIS radio, proof of ownership, fuel receipts, insurance etc etc. And, we weren't boarded once, anywhere.
The only time documents were needed was to purchase the Belgian inland waterways license (40 euros per quarter) which required the SSR and proof of insurance.
Also worth noting that ATIS drops ship to ship channels down to 1W max, so not a lot of use for communicating between boats widely spaced out.

Water and electricity were widely available everywhere, but it was certainly worth having some 50 cent and 1 Euro coins as some were on meters.
The islands of veerse meer obviously have no electricity, but do have toilets and rubbish disposal facilities. Worth noting that generators are frowned upon, local seem to rely on solar and wind.
But, a bit of common sense and courtesy saw us having no issues running a suitcase genny on a very long shore power cable away from the moored boats after asking the other boats if they objected to it during daylight hours.

Hope that helps somebody!

 

[SP2]

Great thread and well done on the successful completion of your Dutch cruise. So very reminiscent of 1975 for me when my father upgraded to a reliable boat (Ocean 37) and we did this trip (got as far as Rotterdam before having to come home to Medway Bridge). We were able to do the coast both ways rather than dip down to Brugges. Repeated the same in 1976 with friends with a Broom 35.

Hopefully you found the Dutch to be very hospitable and friendly. My step grandfather was a Master on the Holland America Line so my mother had a little Dutch that she liked to try out in the markets (although they seemed to prefer we spoke English!)

Sorry about your weather. I can still remember being anchored in the Haringvliet in just over a metre of water on several days on our 1976 trip during "that summer". We could only stay cool by swimming... I now live in Wales and that is such a distant dream.

Your appetite will now be very much wetted and you've got a great boat for many more adventures which I will enjoy reading about. What a huge sense of achievement!

 

[Momac]

Thank you kindly!

Just finished the quick stats in case it helps anyone in the future.

Boat: Fairline turbo 36 1989, displacing IRO 9 tons with full fuel tanks, empty water tank, 4 persons on board and enough junk to sink the arc royal despite my best efforts...
Engines: Volvo TAMD61A's (5.6 litre 6 cylinder CAC turbo diesels)
Total engine run time was 51.4 hours.
Fuel burn approximately 1327 litres averaging 26 litres per hour. But, a big average as it's between 9 litres per hour inland cruising and 54l per hour at planing speed.
Frustratingly, I can't get the exact figure for a refill after the run back as I'm running the tanks down for cleaning, but it's a decent guess.

Mooring fees: 1 Euro per metre at Brugges (but you pay extra for absolutely everything else) to around 26 euros for a 12m boat at VVW but everything included.
Fuel was 1.10/L at Breskens, but an eye watering 1.40/L at Dunkirk.
All of our documents were in order, Schengen forms, ICC, ATIS radio, proof of ownership, fuel receipts, insurance etc etc. And, we weren't boarded once, anywhere.
The only time documents were needed was to purchase the Belgian inland waterways license (40 euros per quarter) which required the SSR and proof of insurance.
Also worth noting that ATIS drops ship to ship channels down to 1W max, so not a lot of use for communicating between boats widely spaced out.

Water and electricity were widely available everywhere, but it was certainly worth having some 50 cent and 1 Euro coins as some were on meters.
The islands of veerse meer obviously have no electricity, but do have toilets and rubbish disposal facilities. Worth noting that generators are frowned upon, local seem to rely on solar and wind.
But, a bit of common sense and courtesy saw us having no issues running a suitcase genny on a very long shore power cable away from the moored boats after asking the other boats if they objected to it during daylight hours.

Hope that helps somebody!

Useful information - thank's.
What charges such as mooring fees , charges at locks , inland waterways license were payable in the Netherlands.

 

[adey]

... eyes were cast towards the distant shores of Europe and a plan slowly hatched..

Didn't you start off in Europe?
Seriously though, great report.
Your boat is a lot more economical than my Azi 37 with the same engines. I get just over 1mpg at cruise.