AHOY! Netherlands Sailing

We rented a boat with two couples as well as one friend from Rick’s work and sailed in the canals of the Friesland area of the Netherlands. We drove the boat ourselves and the boys had a lot of fun trying to meet the challenge of getting the boat under bridges with only about a centimeter of clearance above and not much clearance on either side. Rick served as main navigator since he is known to like and be good with maps (and thus has stubbornly refused to buy a GPS to keep us from getting lost in each European city we travel to).

It was off-season so the weather was not great but we basically had the canals to ourselves. The route we took allowed us to enjoy a mixture of town & country. We moored a couple of nights in natural areas (one night we even had an island to ourselves) and we also spent some time walking in some of the towns along the way.

This was a fabulous trip!

THE BOAT

Here are a few pictures of the boat that was our home for 4 days, The Mistral. It was pretty cozy, but well-organized.

CRUISING
Clive was head captain, but we all took turns driving. When it came time to moor, all hands were on deck.

It's important for captain and navigator to stay well-hydrated!

JUST SQUEAKING BY

Here are some of the bridges we had to go under.

This was actually pretty nerve-racking at first. But, it got easier as time went on.

Approaching the bridge

Getting Ready

Under we go...

A happy captain

Here we go again





SOME SCENIC SHOTS

THE SHIP IS AMBUSHED BY PIRATES!
Really the crew just had a bit of cabin fever and had some fun in the spirit of Halloween

While pirates were taking over the ship, Vladimir was having his own fun

BBQ

Rick and Clive taking advantage of the free facilities. These urinals are all over the Netherlands. Another reason why men have it easier than women.