On Passage to Ijmuiden

I rig Stargazer in the pale predawn twilight. A south easterly force three to four gently rattles her halyards. We're leaving Oudeschild to catch the morning tide.

The sun rises astern and the promise of the new day beckons from beyond our bow. It looks as if there's enough east in the wind to make it out of the Waddenzee on one tack...and, with tidal assistance, down to Ijmuiden in no more than four or five.

We eat up as high as we can to windward. Threading the sometimes confusing buoyage. I think this one was a combined red port hand mark for the main channel; and green starboard hand mark for the ferry basin cut into the shore behind.

I put my trust in the depth sounder and sail on. We swoop out past Den Helder and down the Schulpengat, tiptoeing over the banks, cutting the corner. The tide is fully making as we re enter the North Sea proper, urging us on our way.

The sun is now high in the sky. Shrieks of pleasure drift out from the beaches, and adventurous cats skim seaward to greet us as we pass.

We duck inshore of the slowly gyrating blades of the Ijmuiden windfarm...

....and tack in past the stocky Ijmuiden breakwater mark.

Sunny summer Sunday afternoon boat-project work is afoot inside the harbour .

An iridescent feathered cormorant stands its ground resolutely, on a mooring cleat, ...

.....as I swing Stargazer alongside to tie up, in a secluded corner, beneath the sea wall.