New sailor, choppy conditions | Should we really go sailing today? [S3E14]

Our dear friends Luka and Annika spent the weekend with us to try out sailing. Luka loves the sport but Annika hasn't had much experience with it so she was curious to see what it's all about. But the weather gave her a very real welcome instead of an idyllic one. Will the boisterous IJsselmeer deter Annika from future sailing adventures or is this just the beginning of many adventures to come? And so after your first day of sailing kind of for real on magic carpet on the IJsselmeer what were your thoughts? I'm Maya and this is Aladino. Our journey began a few years ago when this boat fell off a crane. After four years of rebuilding her we named her Magic Carpet and we set sail to go around the world as slowly as possible. This season we're sailing in the Netherlands. Join us as we explore the history and strange natural beauty of this seafaring nation. From the canals of Amsterdam to the pastoral islands of the Wadden Sea, welcome to Magic Carpet in the Netherlands. New episode every Friday. A good adventure should start with a good meal. Our friends Luka and Annika had just arrived and we were all getting ready to spend a weekend sailing and exploring the local area. We had a few different goals. First of all we just wanted to have a good time and see something new but second of all we wanted to introduce Annika to the world of sailing. Her and Luka are thinking of embarking on a similar kind of lifestyle but Annika's sailing experience is still limited. So we were in for a weekend of all things nautical but first time for an early night in preparation for the next day. We are currently right here in a place called Stavoren which is in Friesland and right now we're deciding where we would like to go because the wind is coming from the west so like this and our experience has been that when the wind comes from the west and we're right here things actually get quite choppy here and unpleasant so we're just deciding if we want to go out into the IJsselmeer or if we want to check out some of these more inland lakes. I think we've decided we'll go out into the IJsselmeer because the wind isn't that strong so we'll have a look at how the chop is. I don't think it'll be too bad and if it if it is too bad then we'll turn around and we'll go into the lake because I think we want to have a nice day sailing. But I think if the chop is not too bad we're going to head up to let me find it again I think it's Hindelopen which is up here. Check out their surrounding area see what we see. It's an extremely short voyage from Stavoren to Hindelopen but we thought we'd plan for a shorter voyage just in case the choppy waters were a bit unpleasant. Should we wish to sail for longer we could always do that and then pull into Hindelopen whenever we felt ready. So with the plan in place we eased out of the harbour. Well basically I was saying I head out we react accordingly. Oh great. Yes. No I'm hoping I'm hoping that I can reverse as much as possible and then try to go out but since the wind is pushing us we might actually get close so maybe it's like going out and docking here again or something I don't know. Leaving this spot was actually quite tricky since the spot was given to us at a discount because it should actually be for a much smaller boat. Combined with our Vindas poor turning radius and pretty bad reverse performance it's a bit of work manoeuvring out. Yeah awesome. Well that's enough. Yeah. Will we make it? Thank you so much. Bye. Slowly and carefully with lots of hands helping we made it out safely. If I would have gone immediately we would have crashed into the boat or into the dock because we didn't have enough room. Did you see even now it was close? Having Luca and Annika with us is always a joy. Luca is keen to help with absolutely everything boat related and Annika is most comfortable with a camera in her hands which is a huge help for me. So there's a crazy amount of boat traffic out this morning. It's insane. It's like we suddenly found ourselves on a boat highway. We're all heading towards the lock to get out onto the Islemere so it might actually be a bit of a wait or a very crowded lock which to be honest I'm a little bit nervous about. I don't love the idea of that but anyway always new things to try so we'll see how it all ends up. Everybody wants to go sailing and now I'm more excited about it too. Seems like it must be perfect weather even though it's raining but I think we'll wait. There's just too many there even though I've seen them in the Netherlands boat to boat next to each other in the locks so it's not just on the wall but like sometimes they sandwich in between. So many boats. I have to admit even after going through over 200 locks during our inland journey through Europe this was a new challenge to us. The inland waterways are often surprisingly empty whereas here the locks were packed full of sailboats. Oh I see there's two locks so we can but we have to stay in the flow now in between the other boats and just approach slowly and decide last minute if we have stop if we have room in one of the locks or otherwise we just stay on the wall here and wait for the next one. It was actually kind of a relief to see the light turn red as we approached so we didn't have to try and cram ourselves in with all the other boats. When this little boat motored past with a broken mast we started to wonder how good the sailing conditions really were and why so many people seemed so eager to take advantage of them. As soon as the light turned green everyone rushed forward. Queuing doesn't really seem like a thing here. You just rush in where you can but somehow it seems to work out. So we try to go as far as possible. I think you take the last third one or the fourth. I think the third will be okay. Yeah yeah let's go as far as possible second even or third. Which one? No next one. I had the boat hook ready on the bow to catch the Ford bollard. And let it go forward Luca. Let it continue. Okay awesome. That's not what I would call inviting conditions and there's just such a huge rush. Everybody going out taking this lock right here to make it into the IJsselmeer and go sailing. It's pretty windy. We got around 20 knots. Yeah I suppose this is perfect sailing conditions here. And then the gates opened into the IJsselmeer. We nosed out of the lock curious what we'd find once we cleared the safety of the breakwater. Would this be a good first sailing experience for Annika or would it be the kind of day that puts one off sailing forever? We'd soon find out. So Annika what was your sailing experience before today? Before today my sailing experience was close to none because when I visited you before I was usually going with you under canals so I have never seen magic carpets mast up and I have never had any sailing experience except for sailing on a cirrus lake. We're sailing along at about six knots so going pretty good. We have two reefs in the main and we have a reef in the Genoa but we're still making hull speed so no use shaking out some of the sails. That'll just increase the weather helm. But yeah pretty good. It was definitely a bit rolly leaving the breakwater but now that we're a bit farther out from land having the sails up versus the engine definitely adds a lot of stabilization to the boat. What an adventurous day. I guess it's pretty typical Dutch. Everybody's looking forward to be shaken around a little bit. It can be fun and it can become uncomfortable. We don't have far to go but it's uh it's great to see it and get a taste. Is it? How does it feel to be steering a boat under sail again? Yeah actually pretty natural to be on a boat again and have a tiller in my hand. You are quite a natural at it. And Annika what's your thoughts about sailing so far? I don't know. Yeah I still need a little more time. Yeah. Because it is all very new and just the thought of that I could be afraid and that I should be afraid makes me a little scared. I mean I don't think you should be afraid. I think um you know there's things to learn. Especially when you're accumulating experiences. Exactly. And hopefully only positive experiences. The more of those accumulate the more everything becomes one super wow. Super wow. The more super wow it gets. The more super wow the better. The more often you want the super wow, right? Kite surfers. It just looks like a kaleidoscope of different kites. That's crazy. I don't know how they um don't crash into each other and get tangled. We have a kite instructor on board. We do. Would you tell us? Well in my experience as soon as you're on the water you really see who is going where and who has right of way. So it just looks really crazy but it's not. It's manageable. All right. I think I still think it would be crazy. Yeah no I get the same. If you know what you're doing of course. I get the same feeling. Yeah. Where is the endelopen? Like this right? Oh it's straight. Awesome. Sunday sail. There's our harbour. As we approached the harbour entrance we brought in the sails. The moment the sails get stowed away the motion of the boat always gets significantly worse. Without the stabilizing force of the wind the hull is left to roll mercilessly in the unpleasant chop. That usually means that on a choppy day the final motor into the harbour entrance is often one of the least pleasant parts of the entire trip. We docked in front of the harbour master's office and Aladino went to ask about moorage for the night. That's usually quite a straightforward process as people in the Netherlands speak perfect English and the harbours are usually well organized and fairly priced. All right spot 417 is ours. As we motored towards our dock for the night I was excited to ask Anika what she thought about the day after we had tied up. Here we are. We just arrived to Hindelopen. We managed docking just fine but they always give you the very exact length of spot. So this place actually is a little less than nine meters. Magic carpet sticks out a little bit. So you most of the times need to have your spring lines ready before you actually get the stern lines. Because if you just would loop over your stern lines over the bollards here as you come in you would hit with the bow. But we managed just fine because we have noticed that before. Sometimes they give you spots that are just enough or a little bit shorter. And so after your first day of sailing kind of for real on magic carpet on the IJsselmeer what were your thoughts? That I was so happy that I had an experienced crew with me. For me those were actually big waves. I was used to maybe a little wavy weather on a lake which is I think rather different. And they were coming from every side and they were really tossing the boat around a bit. I felt at least. So seeing that Maya, Ladino and Luca were so calm kind of made me calm as well. But if they had not been there I think I would have been freaked out quite a lot. But that makes sense. I mean even I don't like the chop really. It's not a pleasant chop and I mean I know enough now that we don't have to be scared of it but it's still not fun. Good to know. And after today are you inspired to learn more about sailing or are you kind of like hmm I don't know if I need to repeat this? To be honest I don't think I need to repeat this in particular but the dream of sailing and continuing sailing also comes with the lifestyle I can see that you and Ladino have and how comfortable you have made your little home and diamond and how how much it feels like like a life I would really want to lead. And I am very very keen on learning how to sail and on learning how to sail in calmer waters. Also seeing how a boat moves and in what way the sails work. It is very beautiful nonetheless so no matter how choppy it always looks very nice. It's just a little scary. Yeah fair enough fair enough. It was a it was a boisterous day I think. I'm happy you feel that as well. So we are now going out. It is evening but we relaxed on the boat in the afternoon. We made some food. We chilled. We rocked around the harbor and looked at boats. Now time to explore town. The sun is setting. It's a beautiful light. Won't you join us? Aladino and I have put on our finest for going out to town. Finest? Yes our Jacques Cousteau hats. Here they are in all their glory. Ready for adventure. Indeed. On to greater discoveries. And you can see land as well. Yeah you can see land too. Mr boat obsessed. Let's go to town. Let's go to boats. Wow that one has quite a... I'm going. Bye bye. Wow a radar wind generator. Things we have never before seen. Can you imagine dear viewers a radar and a wind generator on one boat at one time. Can you believe it? I can scarcely believe it. Those boats are seriously set up. Okay let's go seriously set ourselves up with some beer and some food. Beer. That's true you do have a beer. Wrong way Aladino. We will cross a really expensive boat. Is there a really expensive boat? There's actually many. It's for sale. Oh really? Yeah and it's almost a million. Which one? 900. It is over there. We will pass it when we walk. I looked at it 900,000 something euros. Yes. Wow. This is slightly over our budget. Oh over here is the Divalk broker. That's why. Divalk is a European boat broker that deals in very nice boats often. But yes nicely priced as well. So much wow around here. Look at this one. There are very a lot of boats. There's the Divalk brokerage. I love this Divalk showrooms and there you can walk up so you can see the deck or actually you can go for a tour of the boat. With all this you should be able to get a job for Divalk. Yeah Divalk is a broker that has got it figured out. Do you think so? I mean we've never dealt with them so I don't know how they actually are. I find them very professional. I even thought of if we sell our boat to contact and do it through them. Yeah no I like what they do and how they do them. Okay. I mean mostly also they have very nice boats and one thing that I really don't understand is when you see boat ads and the photos are so bad like a photo of a photo or stuff like that and I find you try to sell something and for a really high price especially put on some nice photos. Yeah. And Divalk goes through the effort. I don't know if they have a professional photographer which sails when the owner is on or if they even have a team who takes the boat sailing and then they take photos. But their photos are amazing for example and that's an important detail. Okay we shouldn't do too much of an ad for Divalk unless we demand payment. The sunset sky was an especially nice backdrop to view some of these beauties at the dock. This boat was built in 1890. That's incredible. And it's in extraordinary shape. Yeah. And also look at the sky. It's so pink. Isn't that beautiful? Just a streak of pink along the blue. Okay guys but we've stalled for too long we really should go to town. Maybe tomorrow we can have a look at the puffin. Yeah maybe we can get the keys from the brokers. I don't know if they would give keys to ragamuffins like us. They're definitely not going to give it to you if you call it a poofin. Because one day we want to poof poof around the world. Oh god. Finally we did make it into town. Seen for the first time at blue hour it was a rather magical little place. The street lamps which add so much character to European streets were glowing softly lighting the whole scene with gentle light. And so with that this episode ends. Join us next week for more sailing adventures with Luca and Annika where we enjoy a slower paced sail in some calmer waters. As always thank you so much to all of you for watching. Please don't forget to give us a thumbs up and leave a comment if you liked the episode. And an extra big thanks to our patrons for making all of these episodes possible. 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