Athene in the Baltic 1999

east of the next island Wangerooge. A good one well placed for the last north sea leg to Cuxhaven and the Kiel canal. it was indeed but full of German boats somewhat reminiscent of east head in Chichester harbour for all you south coast types and not at all the peaceful spot I had hoped. It served its purpose as we stormed into Cuxhaven the next day in time for lunch which we could not have done from anywhere else . Even with that head start we made the tidal slot up the Elbe by the skin of our collective teeth and I suspect some of our earlier companion boats finished up in Helgoland instead as things blew up into a stiff ENeaster Now for the holiday part to follow 2 Jeroen had to get back to work - keeping emergencies under control in Middleberg - and David joined for a three week stint before the mast - after a slow train journey from Hamburg. Nice to know German trains occasionally go slow too!. Skipper spent the morning chatting up the sailmakers apprentice in order to get a repair done to the main ahead of a long queue of Important Cuxhaveners .Luckily it worked and we caught the tide up to Brunspittal and swept into the already open lock. Full sail together with the required motor up the Kiel canal and things were going well until the Skipper got too casual over an early morning cup of coffee and scraped the canal bank. That was after a very peaceful night alongside the lock gates on the Gieslau canal turn off so no excuse. Instead of going straight for Holtenau we turned off into Rendsburg and a false start at a shipbuilders; where we were promised everything by 1500 and got Zilch' We moved on to the RVR yacht Club where Mike the HM had us out of the Water by 1700 . David who is a boy racer at heart determined on scrubbing down the now exposed hull assisted by Jim with buckets and the Skipper offering cool beer and sympathy , insisting they should not bother even if it would improve our speed by 0.0025 of a knot.

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