Whitby to Blyth - Day 38

Sunday 9th September 2012 - Whitby to Blyth - Day 38

Approach to Whitby Swing Bridge

We were up at 07.30 to make preparations to leave and go through the bridge at its first opening of the day.  The bridge master opened 1/2 of it at 08.30 as ourselves and one other small yacht passed through.
A quarter of an hour later and we were passing the north cardinal mark with full main, genoa and Popeye (auto-helm) engaged.   Our course was 320 degrees and with a freshing south westerly wind we fitted a preventer to the boom to stop any   occurrence of an accidental gybe.  It was not a steady wind and we kept ourselves amused adjusting the genoa settings and engine revolutions to maintain a speed of around 5 knots.

Bore Song

By the time when reached the southern end of Tees Bay we were past by this new Finnish Ro/Ro vessel Bore Song doing 18 1/2 knots and she was impressive.  For our Sunday lunch we dined on mince and onion pies and beans. The galley oven once more put use, as it had spent most of the time as storage space.  We crossed Tees Bay, passed Sunderland, Souter Point and the Tyne Piers and could see the wind turbines at Blyth when a quarter of an hour away from the piers, the engine high temperature alarm sounded.  The wind had shifted to the north west and heeling over, we had exposed our sea suction and lost the sea water flow into the pump.  The engine was stopped, all sail stowed and the boat was on more of an even keel, sea suction filter checked and pronounced clean.  Engine started and we were off again.

Back home

Amazing how these things happen when you falsely think it is nearly all over.
It took us half an hour to enter the piers and find our way to our home port pontoon.
The 51 miles covered had taken us 10 hours and very pleasing to have achieved our goal.





In conclusion, this was a very satisfying voyage and the inland lakes of Holland are a wonderful cruising area.   The north sea crossings are tiresome but the arrivals make it worthwhile.  For such a poor summer the weather we experienced was very good and not a lot time was lost in trying to hid from it.  The engine problems were our only delay. We had to miss out two of the Frisian islands, I had  hoped to visit.  The marinas are a joy in relation to their UK counterparts, for a start, they are half the price averaging 12 euros a night which includes the electric,  The facilities are excellent and most had designated kids' play areas, barbecue places and a great laundry.
Each town has its own unique architecture and to me the clean narrow winding cobbled streets with the small fronted shops were a delight and I cannot work out how the cobbled roads and pavements have very few weeds growing through them.  Every restaurant we visited had excellent meals and wonderful service with no hassle as to how long you good stay.  The bars were a delight though we could not get away with some places, where they are still allowed to smoke inside the premises.
Amsterdam is a magical city and caters for everyone's  tastes. I was amazed by the number of visitors and most of the time the city centre appeared to be packed and the night life was the biggest attraction.

Facts & Figures:-

Days on board                   38
Total distance miles          940
Hours underway              243
Night hours                        42
Engine hours                    174
Fuel consumption litres     140
Average speed knots        3.9

Crew:- Days on board

Alex Tweddle (skipper)       38
Jack Evans (RNYC)           15        Blyth to Amsterdam
Alfie Dower (RNYC)          11        Blyth to Amsterdam
Bill Smith (Tallships)            15        Amsterdam to Amsterdam
Jack Evans (RNYC)           12        Amsterdam to Blyth
Dave Kirkman (Tallships)     4         Amsterdam to Lowestoft
Dave Durrant (Tallships)       5         Lowestoft to Blyth