In this publication7 photos · 3 videos
Through the Wadden Sea. Part 10. Groningen – Borkum
Heading back
12 August 2025. An ideal plan: leave Groningen at 9.30, cover twenty-four canal miles to Delfzijl by 3.06, when flood turned to ebb. Then thirteen Ems miles with following stream and easterly wind. Almost a textbook exercise.
Left at 9.50. First test, yesterday’s closed bridge. Phoned; wait. Half an hour later, a woman with a bag reached the control hut and raised it. We wished her a good day. Leaving town, an enormous ten-lane road bridge stopped all traffic for our nine-metre yacht, huge spans rising. The Netherlands respects its waterways.
A lesson from a barge
Twelve bridges behind, Delfzijl lock ahead. A barge entered first. I drifted outside while she berthed, then followed when things looked settled. Suddenly, she engaged her engine. Churning water flung us at the wall like a toy. All I could shout was ‘Oh God!’, before the crash.
Two women came from ashore to check us. They explained we should have waited for the next lock cycle rather than followed the barge. They suggested we leave first to avoid her prop wash again. Very welcome advice.
At the pontoon, damage inspection. Topside scratches, easily sanded and painted. A chip at the bow, repairable with filler. The pulpit fared worse: bent forty centimetres, almost torn out. It apparently absorbed the blow and saved the hull. Remove, straighten, reinforce the mounts. Most importantly, the hull was sound.
The Ems
Sail up, northwards. Little wind, engine added. Quiet until the turn into Borkum’s fairway. Headwind and strong current: two knots, full engine, boat pitching, hard to hold course. Zigzags to stay within the channel, shoals beside us, motorboats passing with wash. A cocktail of stress.
Main lesson: enter here only with a favourable stream.
Evening ashore
Rafted alongside a yacht. Town five kilometres away; no energy left. A shore walk, wild hares, then buckwheat and tinned meat: food tested by storms and locks. Shower, instant sleep. An eventful day.
#passage
Heading back
12 August 2025. An ideal plan: leave Groningen at 9.30, cover twenty-four canal miles to Delfzijl by 3.06, when flood turned to ebb. Then thirteen Ems miles with following stream and easterly wind. Almost a textbook exercise.
Left at 9.50. First test, yesterday’s closed bridge. Phoned; wait. Half an hour later, a woman with a bag reached the control hut and raised it. We wished her a good day. Leaving town, an enormous ten-lane road bridge stopped all traffic for our nine-metre yacht, huge spans rising. The Netherlands respects its waterways.
A lesson from a barge
Twelve bridges behind, Delfzijl lock ahead. A barge entered first. I drifted outside while she berthed, then followed when things looked settled. Suddenly, she engaged her engine. Churning water flung us at the wall like a toy. All I could shout was ‘Oh God!’, before the crash.
Two women came from ashore to check us. They explained we should have waited for the next lock cycle rather than followed the barge. They suggested we leave first to avoid her prop wash again. Very welcome advice.
At the pontoon, damage inspection. Topside scratches, easily sanded and painted. A chip at the bow, repairable with filler. The pulpit fared worse: bent forty centimetres, almost torn out. It apparently absorbed the blow and saved the hull. Remove, straighten, reinforce the mounts. Most importantly, the hull was sound.
The Ems
Sail up, northwards. Little wind, engine added. Quiet until the turn into Borkum’s fairway. Headwind and strong current: two knots, full engine, boat pitching, hard to hold course. Zigzags to stay within the channel, shoals beside us, motorboats passing with wash. A cocktail of stress.
Main lesson: enter here only with a favourable stream.
Evening ashore
Rafted alongside a yacht. Town five kilometres away; no energy left. A shore walk, wild hares, then buckwheat and tinned meat: food tested by storms and locks. Shower, instant sleep. An eventful day.
#passage
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