Veerse Meer to the Markermeer, Mast Up

[Emjaytoo]

Anyone done it?

Planning a fortnight's trip for next year and looking at going to the Markermeer. We've got Brian Navin's Cruising Guide To The Netherlands, but the route from Rotterdam looks pretty tortuous. Can we get to the Markermeer and back in a fortnight?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[sailorman]

Anyone done it?

Planning a fortnight's trip for next year and looking at going to the Markermeer. We've got Brian Navin's Cruising Guide To The Netherlands, but the route from Rotterdam looks pretty tortuous. Can we get to the Markermeer and back in a fortnight?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Far better to go straight into Ijmuiden then "Do" the Ijsselmeer as well.
we have done Harwich, Ijmuiden,Ijsselmeer, mast route south,Oostende Harwich, in 3 easy weeks
The Nieuwe waterweg is very busy & really best avoided, we have been in once due to a gale force winds at around mid-night & the Maas Entrance were superb, talked us in & found a berth in the Burgsluis ( Pilot Stn) overnight all foc.
there is no real point entering the canal system when for the sake of a few miles you can enter the North Sea Canal

 

[MoodySabre]

Ahem. Emjaytoo is based on the Veersmeer.

 

[sailorman]

Ahem. Emjaytoo is based on the Veeresmeer.

Well old chap wtf did he not state that fact in the first place .
Then he should exit the Roompot Sluis & go up the coast to Ijmuiden with a stop over in Scheveningen if need must, simples

 

[Stork_III]

Well old chap wtf did he not state that fact in the first place .
Then he should exit the Roompot Sluis & go up the coast to Ijmuiden with a stop over in Scheveningen if need must, simples

See his location: Us: Kent, Emjaytoo: Holland. shown in OP banner.

 

[sailorman]

See his location: Us: Kent, Emjaytoo: Holland. shown in OP banner.

if i was that clever i would have been in the pink panther

 

[aluijten]

Anyone done it?

Planning a fortnight's trip for next year and looking at going to the Markermeer. We've got Brian Navin's Cruising Guide To The Netherlands, but the route from Rotterdam looks pretty tortuous. Can we get to the Markermeer and back in a fortnight?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Going from "het Veerse Meer" to "het Markermeer" involves the usage of the route called "Staande Masten Route".
Alternative is to go "outside" via the Roompot lock, the North Sea and going "in" at IJmuiden.

The latter is faster but can be difficult because of the weather.

The inland route is as follows
- Veerse Meer
- Zandkreek lock to the Oosterschelde
- Up north to Krammer locks
- Volkerak
- Up north to Volkerak locks
- Hollands Diep
- go east to Dortse Kil
- Dortse Kil to Oude Maas
- Pass Dordrecht and head for the "Noord"
- Close to Rotterdam head for the Hollansche IJssel
- Follow Until Juliana Locks close to Gouda

You are then well on track via the "Staande Mastenroute"

The link below gives you a PDF with lots of information.

http://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/images/Staande Mastroute 2012_tcm174-327341.pdf

There is also a booklet from a Dutch organisation (ANWB) that describes the route in detail from the point where you enter the "Hollands Diep" complete with chartlets to support you.

http://www.georgekniest.nl/Catalogu...B+almanak-en+kaarten/ANWB+Gidsen/product.aspx

The route is fairly easy although with a draught > 2 meters you should be cautious on some canals.
There is always a small risk that one of the many bridges you will need to cross is out of order, especially out of season.

Once you get near to Amsterdam there are two routes you take.
- The nightcrossing through Amsterdam
- The dayroute via Haarlem

The first is a bit faster but also more stressful. Basically a convoy of yachts is led through Amsterdam in the middle of the night. The northbound convoy starts at 01:00 AM.

The second takes longer but is also easier.

Next you will be on the "IJ" that leads via the "Oranje" locks to the Markermeer.

Most of the route you will be in a group as this is induced by the opening times of the bridges you will need to cross.

I've done it quite a few times now and I must say when you do this occasionally (every few years) it's quite nice. Too often and the bridges drive you nuts....

The total time required is:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht-Haarlem 1 day
Haarlem-Markermeer 0.5 day

Alternative:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht - South of Amsterdam 1 day
Amsterdam the consecutive night
Afther this a few hours to get to the Markermeer

The schedule is pretty tight as there are a few bridges with very limited opening times (i.e. Gouda railroad bridge).

Cheers,

Arno

 

[MoodySabre]

Thanks Arno - this on my do list too.

 

[sailorman]

The Niew Meer @ 04.00

 

[westhinder]

Going from "het Veerse Meer" to "het Markermeer" involves the usage of the route called "Staande Masten Route".
Alternative is to go "outside" via the Roompot lock, the North Sea and going "in" at IJmuiden.

The latter is faster but can be difficult because of the weather.

The inland route is as follows
- Veerse Meer
- Zandkreek lock to the Oosterschelde
- Up north to Krammer locks
- Volkerak
- Up north to Volkerak locks
- Hollands Diep
- go east to Dortse Kil
- Dortse Kil to Oude Maas
- Pass Dordrecht and head for the "Noord"
- Close to Rotterdam head for the Hollansche IJssel
- Follow Until Juliana Locks close to Gouda

You are then well on track via the "Staande Mastenroute"

The link below gives you a PDF with lots of information.

http://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/images/Staande Mastroute 2012_tcm174-327341.pdf

There is also a booklet from a Dutch organisation (ANWB) that describes the route in detail from the point where you enter the "Hollands Diep" complete with chartlets to support you.

http://www.georgekniest.nl/Catalogu...B+almanak-en+kaarten/ANWB+Gidsen/product.aspx

The route is fairly easy although with a draught > 2 meters you should be cautious on some canals.
There is always a small risk that one of the many bridges you will need to cross is out of order, especially out of season.

Once you get near to Amsterdam there are two routes you take.
- The nightcrossing through Amsterdam
- The dayroute via Haarlem

The first is a bit faster but also more stressful. Basically a convoy of yachts is led through Amsterdam in the middle of the night. The northbound convoy starts at 01:00 AM.

The second takes longer but is also easier.

Next you will be on the "IJ" that leads via the "Oranje" locks to the Markermeer.

Most of the route you will be in a group as this is induced by the opening times of the bridges you will need to cross.

I've done it quite a few times now and I must say when you do this occasionally (every few years) it's quite nice. Too often and the bridges drive you nuts....

The total time required is:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht-Haarlem 1 day
Haarlem-Markermeer 0.5 day

Alternative:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht - South of Amsterdam 1 day
Amsterdam the consecutive night
Afther this a few hours to get to the Markermeer

The schedule is pretty tight as there are a few bridges with very limited opening times (i.e. Gouda railroad bridge).

Cheers,

Arno

That says it all.
The only thing I could add is that we did it this summer with a draught of 2.1m, without any problems.

 

[Emjaytoo]

Going from "het Veerse Meer" to "het Markermeer" involves the usage of the route called "Staande Masten Route".
Alternative is to go "outside" via the Roompot lock, the North Sea and going "in" at IJmuiden.

The latter is faster but can be difficult because of the weather.

The inland route is as follows
- Veerse Meer
- Zandkreek lock to the Oosterschelde
- Up north to Krammer locks
- Volkerak
- Up north to Volkerak locks
- Hollands Diep
- go east to Dortse Kil
- Dortse Kil to Oude Maas
- Pass Dordrecht and head for the "Noord"
- Close to Rotterdam head for the Hollansche IJssel
- Follow Until Juliana Locks close to Gouda

You are then well on track via the "Staande Mastenroute"

The link below gives you a PDF with lots of information.

http://www.rijkswaterstaat.nl/images/Staande Mastroute 2012_tcm174-327341.pdf

There is also a booklet from a Dutch organisation (ANWB) that describes the route in detail from the point where you enter the "Hollands Diep" complete with chartlets to support you.

http://www.georgekniest.nl/Catalogu...B+almanak-en+kaarten/ANWB+Gidsen/product.aspx

The route is fairly easy although with a draught > 2 meters you should be cautious on some canals.
There is always a small risk that one of the many bridges you will need to cross is out of order, especially out of season.

Once you get near to Amsterdam there are two routes you take.
- The nightcrossing through Amsterdam
- The dayroute via Haarlem

The first is a bit faster but also more stressful. Basically a convoy of yachts is led through Amsterdam in the middle of the night. The northbound convoy starts at 01:00 AM.

The second takes longer but is also easier.

Next you will be on the "IJ" that leads via the "Oranje" locks to the Markermeer.

Most of the route you will be in a group as this is induced by the opening times of the bridges you will need to cross.

I've done it quite a few times now and I must say when you do this occasionally (every few years) it's quite nice. Too often and the bridges drive you nuts....

The total time required is:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht-Haarlem 1 day
Haarlem-Markermeer 0.5 day

Alternative:
Veere-Dordrecht 1 (long) day
Dordrecht - South of Amsterdam 1 day
Amsterdam the consecutive night
Afther this a few hours to get to the Markermeer

The schedule is pretty tight as there are a few bridges with very limited opening times (i.e. Gouda railroad bridge).

Cheers,

Arno

Thank you very much Aluijten! That is really helpful. I think we will spend quite a bit of time over the winter planning this trip. The night convoy sounds really exciting. Why does it take place? Is it to do with bridge openings?

 

[sailorman]

Thank you very much Aluijten! That is really helpful. I think we will spend quite a bit of time over the winter planning this trip. The night convoy sounds really exciting. Why does it take place? Is it to do with bridge openings?

see my photo, we had just started south, the rail bridge is still raised in the back ground. is only opens twice a day late at night

the other problematic one after Gouda is the Schiphol M-way bridge.
Ah also Alblasserdam was a problem at one time

 

[Stork_III]

see my photo, we had just started south, the rail bridge is still raised in the back ground. is only opens twice a day late at night

the other problematic one after Gouda is the Schiphol M-way bridge.
Ah also Alblasserdam was a problem at one time

Alblasserdam bridge has much reduced opening times since 2011. Make sure you plan with up to date info, and don't ignore adverse currents in Dordtsche Kil and Oude Maas.

 

[aluijten]

Thank you very much Aluijten! That is really helpful. I think we will spend quite a bit of time over the winter planning this trip. The night convoy sounds really exciting. Why does it take place? Is it to do with bridge openings?

The main reason is twofold
- At the south there is a bridge in a motorway that is of major importance to the Amsterdam traffic.
- The railroad bridge in the north, serving quite a few trains during daytime.

So basically they open the first twice every night (around 01:00 for northbound and around 05:00 for southbound) and the railroad bridge only once for both flows.

The bridge in the "Noord" at Alblasserdam should be working OK by the summer of 2013 as they have overhauled it this summer a.f.a.i.k..

The bridge at Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport) should be back on track as well.

You can try to access
http://www.vaarweginformatie.nl/fdd/main/berichtgeving/scheepvaart/zoek?tabIndex=1

This will give you up to date information on the inland waterways. I'm not sure how well the English translation has been made.

The night trip trough Amsterdam can be quite busy (20 or more in the high season), potentially leading to scary moments when the whole convoy needs to wait for the next bridge to open in a very tight spot. The way this works is that a person on a moped accompanies the convoy over the road, opens a bridge, everyone passes, closes the bridge and drives to the next bridge. So after you've passed the bridge it'll take some time before the next one opens. This may be longer then the time your boat needs to get there.

It helps if you have a easy-to-maneuver boat.

Cheers,

Arno

 

[sailorman]

when we got to the Schiphol bridge we had to wait ( south bound) until around mid day, we had a kip as it is a very long day.
we had a great time over all on the night passage as is was hot & sunny & real party atmosphere, folk in their gardens sunbathing & waving as we passed.
In Dordrect we used the MoBo Club marina nxt to the church. it was playing the 1812 overture when we arrived
we have also done the Haarlem route twice south bound. once because we wanted to the other the North Sea was fog bound

 

[Cantata]

.....we had a great time over all on the night passage as it was hot & sunny......

Eh?

 

[sailorman]

Eh?

it was an 18hr day starting around mid night the following day was hot n sunny

 

[david_bagshaw]

Others have well covered the route, and bridges. I would add though, there is no depth problem in the section being talked about, although we draw 2mtrs under way (motor boat) the barges draw probably 3 and more. The shallower bit is up north nearer Groningen.

As an example the area near Alphen aan den rijn is being dredged at the moment and we were never in the slightest concerned as to it becoming shallow,travelling it regularly over the last 25 plus years.

As an aside the route travels across the edge of Brassemeer lake which is 17 mtr in parts, outside the channel ! along with going through many pleasant dutch towns and villages.

Time wise don't get the tides wrong in the Dordtse kil and nord, north bound 6hr after hw hook of holland to 1 hr before. south bound 1 hr after to 5 hr after. south streams somewhat weaker than north ones, and dependant on rhine water flows. Further details in the deel 2 from ANWB

 

[davidfox]

You sit in the new meer adjacent to the Dutch equivalent of the m25 and all of a sudden a couple of guys on mopeds turn up and the bridge opens and off you go, the typical Dutch way is everyone goes flat out to the next bridge and then mills around demonstrating great boating skills avoiding each other. I took it pretty slowly but we had a 42ft yacht. The most important thing is when you get to the end just before you enter the river, it is pitch black and your night vision is shot because you have just gone through the city. As you go through the last bridge it actually opens up into a sort of basin, because your vision will be shot, you probably wont realise this, tie up here! anywhere, lie alongside a barge whatever, do not be tempted to enter the river unless your vision has returned to normal as it is very disorientating and very scary especially when you have 3 mites asleep below and ferries aiming at you. We went into the river and made our way on the chart plotter to the Orangesluise where we tied up on one of the pontoons, you are not allowed to, but I wasn't going any further!
Good experience looking back.

 

[Emjaytoo]

You sit in the new meer adjacent to the Dutch equivalent of the m25 and all of a sudden a couple of guys on mopeds turn up and the bridge opens and off you go, the typical Dutch way is everyone goes flat out to the next bridge and then mills around demonstrating great boating skills avoiding each other. I took it pretty slowly but we had a 42ft yacht. The most important thing is when you get to the end just before you enter the river, it is pitch black and your night vision is shot because you have just gone through the city. As you go through the last bridge it actually opens up into a sort of basin, because your vision will be shot, you probably wont realise this, tie up here! anywhere, lie alongside a barge whatever, do not be tempted to enter the river unless your vision has returned to normal as it is very disorientating and very scary especially when you have 3 mites asleep below and ferries aiming at you. We went into the river and made our way on the chart plotter to the Orangesluise where we tied up on one of the pontoons, you are not allowed to, but I wasn't going any further!
Good experience looking back.

Great advice from all, thanks very much.