North Sea Crossing

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geoffcollins

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Hello Everyone...

Planning the year's sailing and am considering bringing our boat back from Stockholm to the UK this year. Ideally I'd like to make the passage as late as is safe. Is there a month that things get much more rough or should I plan to do this in the Summer?

Cheers

Geoff
 
We've sailed back from the Baltic quite a few times in recent years, mostly in August, and it has always been a struggle. Not once in six times have we been able to sail freely round the Dutch coast and almost always encountered gales or strong headwinds forcing us to motor through the Dutch canals.

I think the lesson from this is that it's better to come back either in high summer or wait in the hope of quiet autumn weather.
 
Probably safer in summer, but as others have said the weather is a lottery. One year we sailed to the Baltic from Holland in June/July, motored much of the way there but forced to go inside for a time by F6, then back out to motor to Cuxhaven. Coming back weather bound in Cuxhaven for nearly a week, then a nice sail for two days, then all the rest of the way on the Staandemastroute. Emerging at Ilmuiden on glassy seas, motored to Scheveningen, where the temperature in the harbour was mid 30s.

The pilot says do not leave Cuxhaven to go down the Elbe in more than a westerly force 4. Believe it!
 
vyv_cox said:
The pilot says do not leave Cuxhaven to go down the Elbe in more than a westerly force 4. Believe it!
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Seconded.

I came back in September just after the weather broke (a few years ago). Not a good move. Still Helgoland is an interesting place.

We got ito the canals at Delfzil because of the weather ant popped out at Ijmuiden, although you could always go further don if it is bad.
 
I bought a boat in Stockholm area in 2003 and sailed her through the Kiel Canal and across the north sea into Great Yarmouth. I'd planned it for several months and went for mid/late June. The shipping forecast was always right in direction but overstated in intensity until it was time to cross.

Approaching the point of no return the headwind picked up and decided to give us a good pasting! Well in excess of the forecast.

2 of the crew were completely weather incapacitaed, simply waiting to die (I can laugh, now), this left just 2 of us to helm; an hour each was all we could manage for about 12 hours until the arriving land gave us a bit of a lee.

At one point I put out a Ch16 all ships, just for comfort, to at least let others know that we were there. It's a pretty lonely place when your signal reaches no one.

Still, I had confidence in my well equiped and able boat and I had confidence in the other able bodied crew.

We all learned a lot from that trip. Meanwhile, I'll stick to the Irish Sea because it can be relied upon to always give me a F4 beam wind and calm sea wherever I'm bound! ;)
 
geoffcollins said:
So excuse my naivety, but how deep are the canals? Are there bridges to contend with?
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The Staandemastroute, as the name suggests, is a series of canals and lakes in Holland that can be navigated by yachts without taking the mast down. It runs the length of the country from Vlissingen in the south to Ems in the north. There are many opening or lifting bridges. There is sufficient water in this route for most yachts, although some in the north may be maximum about 2 metres.

The Kiel canal carries large ships and is plenty deep and high enough for any yacht.
 
geoffcollins said:
So excuse my naivety, but how deep are the canals? Are there bridges to contend with?
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Many of the canals take commercial traffic so are reasonably deep. No idea what the worst bit is - if you PM Louise Busby she probably knows.

There is a fixed mast route from Delfzil to Ijmuiden, or even to the Schelde. Plenty of bridges but they lift/move. You can also get onto the canal at Lauwsersoog which gives you another option.

The canals are quite time consuming, but beats being stormbound for a week. Also many of the towns are worth a visit.
 
geoffcollins said:
So excuse my naivety, but how deep are the canals? Are there bridges to contend with?
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We are planning to sail back from Sweden next summer and had been investigating the Standemast route as a bad weather alternative. There is quite a lot of information, some of it in English, at http://www.staandemast.nl/

There is also a good blog by Bob Harris From the Netherlands through the Wattenmeer to Baltic Germany, March 2007
Here Bob says: "Leeuwarden to Dokkum is the shallowest part of the Staande Mastroute and the minimum depth we saw was 1.7m in soft mud." Unfortunately, as we draw two metres, the mud would have to be very soft!
 
Official dutch guide to the Staande Mastroute can be downloaded from here in Dutch, English and German.

As Karouise says, no holding tank, but no blackwater into the waterways either. Public toilets are available in most havens but only marinas with over 500 berths are required to have pump out facilities and not all do.
 
There`s no poo police (yet) in Holland, so I wouldn`t bother very much about having a holding tank.
Maximum draft is officially 1,80 meters.
A very nice alternative in strong winds is to go from Vlieland over the "Waddenzee" to the locks at Kornwerderzand. Then into the IJsselmeer and via Amsterdam to IJmuiden. No problem at al with a draught of 2 meters and a lot of nice scenery.
 
overstag said:
There`s no poo police (yet) in Holland, so I wouldn`t bother very much about having a holding tank.
Maximum draft is officially 1,80 meters.
A very nice alternative in strong winds is to go from Vlieland over the "Waddenzee" to the locks at Kornwerderzand. Then into the IJsselmeer and via Amsterdam to IJmuiden. No problem at al with a draught of 2 meters and a lot of nice scenery.
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Or Kornwerderzand >the North Holland Canal ( Stop over in Alkmaar )> the North Sea Canal that might be quicker
 
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The northern entry into the North Holland Canal is at Den Helder. You won`t get there from Kornwerderzand. Apart from that, I really believe that the IJsselmeer area is far more interesting, with all its quaint little towns and harbours from the 16th and 17th century, then the NH canal.
If you want somewhere to ride out the storm it`s an alternative.
 
I can see why you would like to sail as late in the season as possible, but then you have to resign yourself to battling headwinds for most of the time.
Probably the best month may be June. We often get a period of stable northerly to easterly winds in June, which may last a week up to even two weeks. This is associated with a high pressure system that normally brings warm and sunny weather over the North Sea, ideal for such a passage. Be prepared to grab the opportunity.
If you are lucky, you may get such a week in September as well, but that is far less certain. I would not count on it if I were you.
 
overstag said:
The northern entry into the North Holland Canal is at Den Helder. You won`t get there from Kornwerderzand. Apart from that, I really believe that the IJsselmeer area is far more interesting, with all its quaint little towns and harbours from the 16th and 17th century, then the NH canal.
If you want somewhere to ride out the storm it`s an alternative.
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[If you want somewhere to ride out the storm it`s an alternative. ]

thats what we done rough on the outside:mad:
 
I think from all the earlier posts that the one thing you cannot be sure about at any time of the year is the weather. I suggest you do not hurry and have plenty of days in hand in case you need them.
The standing mast routes are great as an alternative to coming around and down the Dutch coast - many glorious towns & other places to visit en route - but please please consult the Wateralmanak vol 2 (current one!) for bridge opening times. Nothing is worse than to get to a (usually railway) bridge after it has just opened only to find that that was its last opening of the day!
Depth should not be a problem if 2 m or less but take care near canal banks for hidden objects e.g supermarket trolleys, logs etc.
Air draft is critical on many standing mast routes - do not be fooled into thinking it does not matter cos its a standing mast route. So know precisely what your air draft is and keep to routes that will accommodate it!
The Dutch coast from Den Helder southwards to stellendam is quite boring.If you are in a hurry and the weather is ok use it, but otherwise I would always go via the inland waterways.
Michael Minnitt
 
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