TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

It didn’t look like an auspicious start, as we sat in the marina at Levington on the 15th May, checking weather forecasts and listening to the wind whistling in the rigging. However, we got up at 4 am to take advantage of the tide, to find a moderate Southwesterly wind and a clear sky – so off we went. This was the start of a scorching run/ broad reach up to level with Lowestoft, when we turned East to cross the deep water channel and thence the Dutch coast reaching Denhelder by 0130 on the morning of the 17th May. Wind a bit more variable then so mixed motoring and sailing up and around the Friesian Islands. Lots of nervous anticipation about crossing the Jade and Elbe estuaries, but not bad, and Elbe well buoyed (as I suppose one might expect!). Getting through lock into the Kiel Canal was very easy, and we then stopped just inside the canal at 0750 on the 18th for a slap up breakfast. 49 hrs from Levington, at average speed of 6.2 Kt. We will be lucky to beat that again