The two Berliners are on the road for 14 days, and one important finding is that the wind always comes from the front. This has consequences for their ambitious trip planning, they are already lagging behind their schedule.
Another insight: more trying things out before setting off would have been great, but they didn't manage. Now they are struggling with a depth gauge that occasionally has dropouts. And they have completely readjusted the mast, including shroud tension, etc. ppp.
Your interim conclusion with regard to the spontaneous purchase of a boat: The ship floats, the elementary things work by and large, it does not seem to have been a bad buy.
They have now left the canals of West Friesland, the IJsselmeer, the Markermeer and the Noordzeekanaal behind them. After a very long day, Hölzen and Schlüter first reached Scheveningen and then The Hague on the North Sea coast. At the end of this episode, they report how they unexpectedly land their boat in the middle of a veritable folk festival.
Holland from all sides - the twelfth part of Michael Hölzen's Bootschaft-Segel-Podcast. Simply click on the play button with the arrow, and off you go. Or download the audio file using the selection menu on the right in the player so that you can listen to it later. The next part will follow in the coming week
And here it goes directly to Michael Hölzen's "Bootschaft" page with the option of subscribing to his podcast there or directly on iTunes
Podcast author Michael Hölzen
To the background:
The Berliner MichHölzen has been a passionate sailor for 15 years. It all started on the Wannsee, the first capsize, but also the first excursion on your own bow with a just acquired inland license - “priceless”, as he says. After that he never let go of sailing with all its facets, step by step he broadened his horizons.
This summer he and his friend Laurenz Schlueter would like to sail a very special trip that they have long dreamed of: around England. The two men are freelancers and can take a three-month break for the trip.
The problem: Hölzen and Schlüter do not have their own boat. And they don't want one either. Charter, borrow or sail somewhere is also out of the question for them. So what to do
Without further ado, Hölzen and Schlüter make a decision: You will become a temporary boat owner. In other words, only for the duration of the trip. In concrete terms, they buy a yacht shortly before the start of the trip, which they want to sell again immediately afterwards.
Will that work without ending up with a big hole in your wallet?
"Almost all sailing enthusiasts shook their heads when they heard about the plan," says Hölzen. And also various boat dealers to whom he presented waved them off. He did not let that confuse him.
In the meantime, Hölzen and Schlüter own a used First 30 from Beneteau. In just a few weeks they want to set off on the big trip.
As a full-time radio journalist, MichHölzen regularly reports on the trip in his own podcast called “Bootschaft”.
Podcasts can be listened to on the way to work, on the way to the ship or at home in the evening or at the weekend on the sofa. Or on a rainy port day in the boat cabin.