20220603

Blustery NE in Oostmahorn

Today we sailed in a very blustery NE wind from Oostmahorn. We sailed out of the marina at full speed with 2 reefs. Once we were out of the harbour the waves pushed us towards the lee shore so I was determined to gain some height. With two reefs we were certainly not overpowered but we had to sit well back in the boat to keep the bow out of the breaking waves.

I felt that two reefs were just right, with three reefs I doubt that we could have sailed away from the lee shore. I had never experienced such a strong onshore wind in Oostmahorn so I wanted to know how Hatseflats and ourselves would cope. There were no other open boats out on the water. The few cruising yachts that were around crashed through the waves but were not in trouble.
I would rather not tack in these waves so we sailed towards the western part of the island which were much more sheltered. Once we got there the waves and wind subsided. We tacked easily and reached back to the harbour entrance. We sat well back but this time we were riding the waves instead of boxing against them. As we stormed towards the marina I deliberately pointed a bit too high and ducked into the harbour entrance at the last moment. Once inside the breakwaters it was still windy. I got the rig down and we rowed back.
After I had hauled out Hatseflats I met with Klaas Jan Hoeve, one of the co-founders of Zeilen magazine and now semi-retired. He had brought a Corsair 24 for sailing on the Wadden sea.
While I was busy with the boat and trailer one of the locals complimented us on our performance.