Bird of Passage

Stargazer punches east, shouldering through the short swell, hard on the wind in 21 knots of breeze on a steely Lowestoft morning. 

Staccato rain squalls rattle off her protecting windscreen, mingling with spray blown back from her bow. Stargazer lopes along, under double reefed main, reeling off the miles in her long legged way.

The day mellows as we settle into the rhythm of our passage. By the time we cross the first of the shipping lanes, the evening sunshine has turned the North Sea a Caribbean blue. 

     I shake out the reefs for the night,as the wind drops to 16 knots. Stargazer lopes on over the swell. 

A weary bird of passage joins us for the night, nestling down in the sprayhood - which I've put up for the coming night watch. Our passage making breeze is out of the north east (the direction we're headed) and has a keen edge.

The night passes under a riot of swirling galaxies which mesmerise the eye and feed the mind. The wind dies at dawn, becalming us in the entrance to the busy Off Texel Traffic Seperation Scheme (TSS). I fire up our new engine to carry Stargazer out of the path of the shipping.

The sun climbs higher, chasing away the chill of the night, and bringing a welcome return of the wind. This time from the south east. Stargazer frees her sheets and all is good with the world. I sit contentedly in the cockpit, warming my bones, drinking my coffee, at peace with the world and at one with the sea.

Ahead, a forest of buoyage between low sand banks, shimmering fresh and golden in the morning sun, marks the Schulpengat. The entance to the Waddenzee, the waters protected from the North Sea swells by the necklace of the Frisian Islands.

Deeper in to the lee of the islands we sail, past Den Helder to starboard, through the Marsdiep and on through the Texelstroom. Clapperboard churches peer over grassy dykes. Sheep graze. A calm order prevails, or so it feels.

To port, a cluster of orange-red roofs and two pier heads, made from a latticework heavy baulks, mark the entrance to the diminutive Oudeschild harbour. I swing Stargazer's bow into the narrow approach channel, 26 hours and 140 nautical miles out from Lowestoft.

We have made our landfall in the Frisian Islands.

Stargazer follows in the wake of Dulcibella, seeking her Riddle of the Sands.