Indian summer sailing

Officially, summer has been over for about three weeks now. But we've been given some beautiful warm, sunny autumn days to enjoy. And enjoy them we did! Last weekend, we sailed off for a club meeting with Euros, the student sailing association that built our boat.

With such perfect sailing conditions, we weren't the only ones on the water

We sailed along with Gromit, one of our boat's two sister ships. Gromit has no engine. The other two boats also sailed several years without an engine. But they were eventually outfitted with one when they were sold. When we bought Doordraijer, we didn’t feel competent enough to sail without an engine, so we fitted her with an outboard.

Sailing alongside Gromit

It was a great day for sailing. Warm, sunny, winds between ten and fifteen knots. On days like these, it gets really busy on the water. There was a race going on, with traditional sailing ships. We saw them pass the finish line, one by one, running wing-on-wing. Always an amazing sight.

Traditional racing

After a nice day of sailing, the club gathered in the old city harbor of Stavoren. Our small blue boat was moored alongside bright red Gromit. Next to each other, they looked like colorful boat candies. Time to eat, drink en exchange war stories. We had an amazing time and went to bed a bit too late.

Boat candies

The old town of Stavoren

 

The next day, we woke up with nice weather and perfect sailing conditions. Time to sail home again! We watched Gromit leave the small town harbor on sail only. Effortless it seemed. Inspiring to watch. We decided we would try to hoist our sails in the harbor and sail out too, using the engine only for getting away from our mooring spot and turning our boat to the wind. When we left the small harbor, we were already sailing. Stiff winds at first, relaxed sailing later. Some five hours later, we arrived at our own marina again. If only all weekends were like this!  

Gromit sails off without an engige

Little old house in Stavoren

Almost home