2026 Summer Cruise 15/08/26-18/08/26

 15/08/26 Goes - Neeltje Jans anchorage

Today was the day that we said goodbye to Esme who would be going home with our Dutch friends for a week or two of playing with horses. First up though was an early morning ride on Icelandic horses for her and Jazz. Meanwhile, Patrick, AJ and I got Laurin ready for the 8am bridge out of Goes. 

In order to keep Laurin in the Netherlands we need to "reset" our Temporary Admission "clock" in order to avoid permanently importing Laurin to the Netherlands and having to pay VAT. Very kindly the Dutch have implemented a system where we notify customs and then sail offshore to one of 2 navigation marks, take a selfie rounding it and then when we return send it to them along with a photo of our AIS track. They will then issue us with a "Temporary Import Porting Document" which is valid for another 18 months. We can do this for up to 10 years and then if we wish to stay we need to pay VAT on the current value of Laurin at that point. In reality this means we need to do the trip out to WP6 each year as we can never guarantee the weather late or early in the season to use the full 18 months. 

Last year we went to Roompot Marina with our Dutch friends and took advantage of their free swimming pool (with slide and wave machine) the days either side of our trip out. This time, without Esme on board, none of us were bothered about the pool so we chose to save some money and try out the anchorage near Neeltje Jans. We had taken a look before when the kids were very young and didn't feel too great about it, but now having anchored much more when we were in the Med we were keen to take another look. The journey there was uneventful (except for the bacon and egg butties using the last of "almost real" bacon I'd bought in Belgium), with us needing to motor nearly all the way. It still amazes me that a whole bunch of traffic is held up to let little old us pass under bridges. 

Once at the anchorage we were reassured to see a number of other boats with the same plan. It was not the prettiest of locations... rather more functional.... but it served a purpose and saved us some Euros. 

It was quite a breezy evening but as we had been anchored since almost lunchtime (teaching AJ how to calculate the correct length of chain) we felt secure in our holding. I was most dismayed to find that my go to anchor alarm app when we were in the Med had been discontinued.... RIP Drag Queen! In the end I couldn't find a good solution without paying, and once I get my free access to Savvy Navvy it will include one, so we settled for dropping a pin on my Navionics boating app when we anchored and then recording our track for some reassurance.

We dozed and chilled out for most of the afternoon then had dinner and an earlyish night.

16/08/26 Neeltje Jans anchorage to Vlissingen via WP6

I was a little anxious as I'd emailed the Douane (customs) in advance about our trip out to WP6 but unlike last year, had no confirmation. Regardless, Patrick was keen to get the trip out of the way so we left at about 7am, ensuring our AIS was on and that our track was being stored on our Navionics app. Despite a lack of wind, it was a little more  rocky and rolly than I anticipated but in the end was a pretty uneventful trip. 

We managed to sail once we had rounded WP6 and as it was the first time we had sailed along the Dutch coast north of Vlissingen, it was interesting to see new scenery. We finished the day in the small yacht club after the first lock into the Middleberg canal and enjoyed showers and a beer in the clubhouse. Once back on board, we saw some English boats arriving so went to say hello. They had chartered out of Suffolk Yacht Harbour... part of our old stomping ground and it was their first time in the Netherlands. We joined them on their boat for a drink whilst they took advantage of our "local knowledge".

17/08/26 Vlissingen to Mosselplaat

Early in the morning I sent all the information needed to the Douane email address and then followed up with a phonecall. Luckily there are about 4 phone numbers on the automated reply so eventually (third try) I got to speak to a real person. The lady didn't know so much about the Temporary Admission so said she would ask her colleague to deal with it. We did a quick supermarket run for milk and bread and then got underway. The Middleberg canal seemed more like a motorway with a fleet of Belgian craft obviously on their way home for the end of the holidays. We stopped at Jos Boone in Middleberg to fill up with Diesel, before heading  up to the Veerse Meer. We moored at Mosselplaat, imspired by our Dutch friends' mussel harvest from earlier in the trip and AJ and I set out with a bucket and boat hook. Once we had enough I set about cleaning them and putting them to soak in seawater ready for lunch the next day. 

We had a lovely dinner of pasta with ratatouille whilst watching others enjoying the Veerse Meer. One particularly overcrowded small cruiser appeared to be demonstrating "incorrect trim" with her stern almost under water!

18/08/26 Mosselplaat to Arneplaat

After a lazy morning we confirmed with Dutch customs that all was in order regarding our trip to WP6. Then smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for brunch and a discussion about plans for the day.... do we head back to the Grevelingenmere or stay on the Veerse Meer for another day. The thought of a possible mooring close to a take away so we could have chips with the mussels won over and we decided to stay on the Veerse Meer. We headed east through the sailing schools, marvelling at what a great area it must be to learn to sail. Kids were being taught in all manner of craft, but more importantly were on adventures to islands where they could catch crabs and have a picnic. Ploughing through "windsurfer alley" needed eyes everywhere and then disappointingly the jetty close to the take away was busy enough for us to give it a miss. We would have needed to raft up and it was pretty exposed and noisy. We all voted for heading inland and finding a quieter spot.

We enjoyed a gentle sail under headsail only down to Arneplaat and then I cooked the mussels in a Thai sauce for lunch. 

Once lunch was done, and Patrick had washed up... we discovered the galley sink was blocked! After much poking of random objects down the plug hole we concluded that the blockage must be in the seacock. AJ didn't need toooo much persuading to go for an after lunch swim and armed with goggles and a wooden spoon, managed to scrape a barnacle off the outside of the seacock which had caused the problem.

Arneplaat is a beautiful little island with a well protected little harbour. However it is only deep enough for us to moor up alongside the outer pontoon (but can use either side so we are still protected).

2026 Summer Cruise 10/08/26-14/08/26

10/08/26 - Stampersplaat to Den Osse

After a couple of days on Stampersplaat it was time for a marina day catching up on shopping, laundry and showers. We then rewarded ourselves with an obligatory trip to Jeanzz, our favourite Dutch restaurant.... no photos as there's only so many photos of Jeanzz ribs I can take!

11/08/26 Den Osse to Archipel via Brouwershaven.

After a lazy morning we motored Laurin round to Brouwershaven to have a chat with the guy who will be lifting her out at the end of this trip and doing some work whilst she is stored at Jachtwerf Brouwershaven for the winter. We wanted him to look at the broken skin fitting which Patrick temporarily fixed last year and suggest the most economical solution, and also ask his opinion about a few other jobs. Once that was done we had a nice sail to Archipel, another of our favourite islands where we rafted up alongside Lynan. It wasn't the ideal place to moor as we had a lot of swell in the evening and the creak of rubbing fenders meant we had a pretty broken nights sleep.

12/08/26 Boat BBQ Pizza on Archipel

Today we relaxed, swam, paddle boarded and then had "boat pizza" for tea cooked on the Cobb on the back of the boat. We finished of with S'mores before watching the eclipse and then sunset.

13/08/26 Archipel to Goes

A long day motoring to Goes with an occasional motor sail in the middle. Once safely tied up next to Lynan we had a VERY welcome swim in to escape the 35 Degree heat. It took a long time for the temperature to drop enough to even consider our BBQ and the fact that we had one Cobb between 8 of us meant that we were cooking and eating well into the evening. 

14/08/26 Goes

I got up early to go shopping before it got too hot, and in the meantime Esme and Jazz headed off to the swimming pool in Goes, determined to make a day of it. Whilst the rest of us were content with a cooling dip off the back of the boat, the girls were enticed by the lazy river and flumes at the pool. Once the shopping was done it was pretty lazy day, resting down below out of the worst of the heat, then braving the sunshine just long enough to climb over the back of the boat for a swim. 

Once they got back we headed into the town centre to the fair.... opting to buy a snack out rather than cook. 

First up the girls went on the Octopus... a tactical move getting the most vomit inducing ride out of the way before eating fast food which turned out to be a really smart move given the amount of Mayo the shop put on Esme's chips!

We then watched the girls go on a couple more rides... and I had the obligatory go on the racing camels before buying Churros and heading back to the boat.

2026 Summer Cruise 05/08/26 - 09/08/26

 05/08/26 Blankenberge and snooker golf

Martijn had fit the new fuel pump the previous evening so initially was contemplating moving on to Vlissingen in the afternoon, however Laurin (and crew) don't do well in lumpy seas so we suggested waiting a day for a (slightly) smoother ride which left us with a day to explore Blankenberge which was a new port to all of us and one that the Laurin's had hoped to explore anyway. Google had found a unique "snooker mini golf" about 15 minutes away, there was a Carrefour in town too, and a water taxi across the port entrance which meant that we could do a circular walk and also look at the sea state in case we changed our minds and decided to move today. First up we went to pay the harbourmaster and then started our expedition only to hear a rather large crash and see people running towards a big crane. Very quickly it became apparent that the crash was nothing to do with the crane  and that there had been a serious car accident on the road below. Patrick (as our most qualified first aider) took off at speed to see if there was anything he could do whilst the rest of us followed. Apparently a car had been driving erratically, narrowly missed some cyclists and then hit the tramlines, flipped and landed on it's roof. Luckily the ambulance station was just down the road and so they were on site before Patrick got to the car. 

We continued on, identified an Aldi which we could use later without having to carry groceries from the Carrefour around all day, and very quickly found the snooker golf. Everyone was thirsty by then so we all had a drink at the nearby cafe before the teenagers had a round of snooker mini golf whilst the adults enjoyed a second drink in the shade.

We then headed back along a very windy seafront where we were grit blasted by sand, confirming our decision to stay in port was a good one. Patrick chose to walk up to the end of the breakwater to look at the entrance at low tide whilst the rest of us caught the ferry as a shortcut back to the boats. A quick trip to Aldi and then an early night ready for a 3:30am alarm call for an early start to catch the tide.

06/08/26 Blankenberge to Mosselplaat

We'd decided to go early morning to make the most of the day, allow Martijn time at Jos Boone in Middleberg as he wanted to buy some new navigation equipment, and to hopefully get us moored up on an island on the Veerse Meer not only because it is beautiful, but also to save some money as mooring on the islands there is free. After the fun and games 2 days before we lent AJ to Lynan to be an extra pair of experienced hands.... and because Lynan sails better and AJ prefers this. 

Martijn had all ready put a reef in Lynan but we hadn't done the same on Laurin as if it's windy we usually just sail with headsain and mzzen... although with hindsight a reefed main as well would have been helpful. Sailing without AJ was more challenging, although nothing we haven't done before. We needed to be more thoughtful about leaving the pontoon and fenders took longer to get in. Once out of the entrance channel the seas were really lumpy for Laurin and for the first hour we only managed about 4 knots and that was with probably a knot of tide to help us. Esme joined us on deck just before dawn.

Things improved somewhat once we were past Zeebrugge and we were rewarded by a lovely sunrise and we hoisted the main. 

Despite our best efforts we missed the 8:38 "blue wave" at Vlissingen  by about 2 minutes so moored up at the waiting pontoon for a bacon sandwich and a rest while Lynan motored on to Middleberge and Jos Boone. We finally caught them up about mid day, fuelled up at Jos Boone and then motored the rest of the way up the Middleberg canal to the Veerse Meer where we managed to find some space to moor on Mosselplaat island.

07/08/26 Mosselplaat to Zierikzee

A lazy pancake morning followed by another trip down the Veerse Meer, through the lock and under to the Zeelandbrug to beautiful Zierikzee. We had a lovely walk through the town to stock up on bread and milk and grab an ice cream before spending a pleasant evening on board.

08/08/2026 Zierikzee to Stampersplaat

An earlyish start to make the most of the tide but sadly no wind until we got through the Bruinisse Lock. Once we were through there was a little wind from behind so we took the opportunity to get our spinnaker out. Our original spinnaker for Laurin felt cumbersome compared with the small kite and pole on our old boat Vreny so before we went travelling we got an asymmetric kite made with the brief that we should be able to fly it as a cruising chute as well. It never really flew very well without the pole so it very rarely got used as it really needs three able hands to drop it. Now the kids are older we've been meaning to get it out for a play but never really had the right conditions for long enough for us to figure out our jury rigged setup. Today was a good day to try. Not sure if the symmetric would have been better but that was completely buried under the forepeak so the colourful sail that the kids designed came out to play and we enjoyed being able to keep up with Lynan for a change.

We finished the day with a well earned beer on one of our favourite islands - Stampersplaat.

09/08/26 Stampersplaat

A much needed lazy day on board. Read a book, did some jobs, had a little swim once the wind direction changed and there were not so many jellyfish to dodge. Reminded me why we love this place so much. Then we were rewarded in the evening by the wild horses coming to the little harbour we are moored in. Perfect!

In the evening we had a long awaited viewing of "Epic the musical" much to the girls' delight which AJ was forced to sit through as part of a deal made earlier in the year where he promised to watch it if Esme ate certain foods. We only managed half of it so will have to continue another day. We finished the day with a little stargazing at the beautiful dark night sky.

2026 Summer Cruise - 31/01/26 to 04/08/26

 
I've been a bit delinquent in blog writing and contact from an old friend who would love to see pictures of our travels has given me a gentle nudge..... so here goes. We have been on board lots since we brought Laurin over to the Netherlands.... perhaps I'll go back and post some pictures but for now I'll focus on this trip. 

As we had northerly winds forecast early in our trip we decided to make the most of them and head for Oostende with our Dutch friends. Although Martijn had been in the past, the rest of the family hadn't so we were looking forward to sharing one of our favourite places with them. Unfortunately this meant moving a little quicker at the start of our trip than was probably sensible. We cleared customs at the ferry port reasonably quickly, got to Laurin and unloaded the car. I then left the rest of the family to unpack and start to get her ready whilst I went shopping for groceries. There was very little room to move on Laurin once we'd loaded  all the food and drinks on board and it was baking hot so we ate ice creams and then started to tackle the carnage. Eventually things looked a little more ship shape and we agreed to meet the Dutch at Wolphaartsdijk the next day. 

01/08/26 Den Osse to Wolphaartsdijk

Day one didn't go exactly to plan..... all ready to go... kind of... and when we turned the key to start the engine all the electrics went dead.... both engine and domestic. Doh! We'd had the same problem at Easter and everything had sprung to life when I waggled the battery cable to our common negative switch in the engine bay. We'd got some new terminals and a new tool but chose "not to mess" with it during our trip at Spring half term as everything seemed to be working and we had guests on board. This now came back to bite us. This time no amount of wiggling the cables would get it started and there was a crazy amount of black powder on the switch so we got out the new tool and fit a new terminal. In less than an hour we were back in business and on our way. Next up, it was the Dutch's turn to have engine troubles but eventually they were on their way too and we both somehow managed to make it into the same lock at the entrance to the Verese Meer. At this point Martijn explained that Lynan didn't seem to want to idle. His engine was either in forwards, backwards, or stopped. Once we got into Wolphaartsdijk alongside the hugs and Radlers, we also brainstormed possible causes and solutions to the engine problem... and with some tinkering managed to increase the idle speed to something that kind of worked.

02/08/26 Wolphaartsdijk to Vlissingen

Onwards to one of our old favourite yacht clubs at the south entrance to the Middleburg canal. We had a bit of a nice sail on the Veerse Meer... even Esme got involved. It was a lovely day and it reminded me a little of 2 years earlier when we delivered Laurin to her new home in the Netherlands with our friends Steve and Dee on board. The Veerse Meer was one of the only bits of the Netherlands they got to see.

AJ did a great job of helming through locks and bridges and soon we were in Vlissingen. There had been changes at the club and they now used QR code based payment which was nice and easy. A quick restock of fresh food at Lidl and we were ready for the coastal trip down to Oostende the next day.

03/08/26 Vlissingen to Oostende

An early start to catch the tide and then a lovely trip down to Oostende. Not much wind so a lot of motoring but we did get a bit of a sail in towards the end. 

It was great to be back at the Royal North Sea Yacht Club and the kids were pleased to see Simon was still harbourmaster..... they still remember him feeding them sweets after their first North Sea Crossing on Laurin.

Sadly there was no space at the Royal North Sea Yacht Club for Dinner so after a rest for some, and a swim for the girls, we took a walk along the seafront to find another source of Moules!

04/08/26 Oostende to (unintended) Blankenberge

The following day we had time for pastries and a spot of shopping before a lunchtime departure which was supposed to be for Vlissingen... and perhaps catching the "blue wave" up to Middleburg. The Blue Wave is a scheduled convoy of boats through the bridges between Vlissingen and Middleburg which happens about every 2 hours.

Unfortunately we very quickly had a call from the Dutch to say their engine had given up completely! There was very little wind so they changed to their light headsail and made slow progress while we stood by and waited for Martijn to investigate. What he found was the low pressure fuel pump was leaking considerably. A number of phone calls later, Martijn had found out that North Sea Boating in Blankenberge (7 miles away) was the only place he could find a spare pump.... but it closed in just over an hour. We quickly took Lynan under tow whilst figuring out the rest of the plan. 

More phonecalls to a marina at Blankenberge and it was arranged that Martijn would pay for the pump and the harbourmaster would collect it for him. There was a hammerhead pontoon free which I could tow them on to. We discussed alternative plans for getting Lynan alongside the pontoon.... I was assuming we'd switch to an alongside tow at some point in or before the harbour entrance which would allow much better control in close quarters but Martijn hadn't done this before and preferred the idea of me towing him behind and doing a loop to pull him alongside the pontoon, where the harbourmaster would be waiting to catch lines. I was a bit concerned about not being able to control Lynan's speed but Patrick suggested Martijn could drag buckets if needed to help with this. With hindsight, choosing the right time to switch to an alongside tow would have been challenging and there really didn't feel as much space in the entrance channel as I'd thought. The  entrance was a little more "exciting" than I'd hoped as there was a lot of cross tide and I was ridiculously grateful for us oversizing our engine slightly when we refitted Laurin over 10 years ago. In the end I almost had to ferry glide us in complete with Lynan towed behind. luckily the breakwater sheltered us from the tide just before the channel got too narrow for the both of us but not before some locals gesticulated wildly causing me to second guess our approach. It soon became clear that there was a LOT of tide even once we approached the marina and so Patrick soon figured out that Martijn's plan for me to do a wide loop and pull him neatly to the hammerhead was clearly not going to work. I had to once again ferry glide us through the entrance and then kind of slingshot Lynan in getting her as close as possible before dropping the tow line. Luckily Martijn is an awesome sailor and managed to glide Lynan onto the hammerhead. A couple of pirouettes later and Laurin was tucked in in front of her. Big sighs of relief and hugs all round!