First taste of a tidal sea!
I'm out of the canal! Going fast riding on the ebbing tide until I miss judged the moment to take down the sails and drifted to far on the tidal stream. That was silly !
Back in moving waters at last!
Not quite super salty yet, but getting there.
The departure from Brunsbüttel was rather fun. Every one left the marina in 2 waves: a first one early in the morning with all the boats going toward Hamburg with the flooding tide and a second one, a bit before 1pm, with everyone going towards Cuxhaven or the open sea. And somehow, all at once, we started the engines, got next to the lock, tided up inside and left.
I was the second one to set up the sails in our little group.
What a fun navigation that was ! Not every day that one goes 8 kts going upwind! Fine, it wasn't my quality as a sailor or my boat's performance that was the reason for it, but the good 2.5 kts of the ebbing flow. Still, that was fun!
It was also my downfall, though. I waited too long to start the engine again and take down my sails. By the time I was done, I had drifted on the tidal current more than 2M past the marina's entrance. Going against the tide on the engine was almost hopeless at first, until I managed to cross the channel and get a bit closer to the shore and the wave breaker where the stream was a bit less fast. It took me almost 2h on engine to fight against the current and reach a mooring place in the marina…
Once safely moored and a bit rested, I went out for a walk and some grocery shopping before looking at the charts for the next day and … playing a bit of music of course.
I'm in the lock! Bye bye Kiel canal!
Whoooheee! Out and sailing! That felt good to move without engine at last!
Nothing better than going 8kts, close-hauled in a sunny weather. (OK, maybe going 9kts!)
There was a funny “marsh” separating the marina from the town.
Someone has a nice collection of channel buoys.
