Picking the best of a very poor weather window, we braced ourselves as we headed out into the River Scheldt, a busy stretch of water that serves as the main shipping route for vessels heading to Antwerp. Exiting the sea-lock we turned Ruby May head to wind, and while I held our position Hodge moved forward to the mast to sweat the main halyard while I tailed it from the helm position. It’s a routine we’re very familiar with, sailing double handed you get very used to multi tasking. Early evening was fading into a dusk, and outside of the safety of the in-land waters and sea lock twenty-five knots of wind made its presence known.
We often sail South or West from our home port of Eastbourne, so for our late Autumn cruise, Hodge and I decided it to shake it up a bit and head East along the North coast of France and Belgium. Vlissingen in the Netherlands had been on our ‘list’ of places to sail to after I was set it as my passage planning exercise during our Offshore Yachtmaster examination many years ago. We’d always wanted to ‘close that circle’ and execute the passage, and now it was finally time.
Being October, finding a weather window was much like finding a needle in a haystack. Tough. And that was to be the ongoing story of the trip. Studying the various forecasts and synoptic charts the week before, it was looking like we would be able to get to the Netherlands with a favourable wind direction (if a little strong) but coming home would be our challenge. With this in mind our plan was to do one big leg to get as far along the coast as we could, then we would be able to hop our way home in small chunks whenever the weather would allow.
This weekend, Hodge and I were privileged to have the opportunity to sail on an original Thames Sailing Barge, the 120 year old, Edith May. Lovingly owned by Tiller and Wheel, Edith May is a stunning wooden barge, originally used commercially for transporting grain.
