20250428

Entre Terre Et Der 2025

Despite last year's long trip I decided to return to this years' meeting at the Lac du Der. This time with Koos and Rene.

Thursday 24 April

We started at 0800 and drove via Zwolle, Venlo and Maastricht towards Liege. We left the motorway before we got to Arlon and continued west along D-roads. In hindsight, we should have continued towards Bazeilles-sur-Othain but Koos and I were not sure where to turn off. The going was slow but we were not in a hurry as we drove towards camping Ferme Mont Moret. The last part of our journey was an off-road experience of some 5km alongside farmland. With our extra weight and the sailing canoe on top of Hatseflats on the trailer I was quite worried about damaging the underside of the car. Finally we arrived at the camp site with authentic farm buildings and the luxury glamp tent that Koos had booked. After dinner in a nice Indian restaurant in nearby Vitry-le-Francois we turned in early because it was getting chilly.

Friday 25 April

After breakfast we made our way to the Lac du Der and arrived early enough for an afternoon sail. We met our French and Dutch friends as they were arriving in the afternoon. Once all 45 boats and 83 sailors had arrived at the scene it was time for drinks. After dinner we joined the AGM of the Seil Association which announced it would serve both the Seils and other voile-aviron boats.

Saturday 26 April

The water level was very high and the lake was even larger than in June of the previous year. It took us a couple of hours to sail across to our lunch spot at the Plage de la Cornee du Der. The new sail helped a lot in the light conditions. We were now a little faster than the Ilurs, two of the Seils, the Silmarils and two of the Goat Island Skiffs. Koos and the Violas were quick, as well as Pierre with his GIS and Emmanuel with the Silmaril XL. The two Liteboats were also quicker once they had fixed the problems with their their jib furlers.
After an enjoyable lunch at the beach we made it back to the marina at Champaubert-Giffaumont. At the 'apero' we added some Dutch flavour with Beerenburg (which we promoted as medicine for sick sailors), liquorice, stroopwafels and beer.
One of the after-dinner talks was interestingly about the history of the Liteboats, with many pictures taken from last year's Liteboat meeting in Friesland.

Sunday 27 April

It was a bit windy so I took a reef for the morning sail. Again Hatseflats performed well. The fuller cut of the new sail meant we had more 'pull' despite the reef. After lunch we intended to go sailing again, but there was no wind, so we gave it a miss and got Hatseflats and the Artemis sailing canoe sorted on the trailer. In the evening we joined 30 others for an enjoyable dinner at the Pirogue Blueue at the lakeside.

Monday 28 April

After breakfast we decided to drive back through the countryside towards Liege. We stopped at Bazeilles-sur-Othain for lunch. The exact spot where we had lunch last year! After lunch it was a long slow trip back to Dokkum where we arrived at 1930 hours.