Festival day 2 – Friday 27th May






Ostend harbour entrance


We have a bone to pick with Navionics.
Ostend had some major construction work some years ago to create the 2 big new breakwaters in the picture above – the old pierhead is on the right. We have a paper chart (or as some might say a PROPER chart) dated February 2015 which shows this new configuration and the new buoyage but the update to our electronic charts, purchased at some expense only weeks ago, shows only the old twin piers.
What other updates might be missing? Dare we assume this is the only error on our electronic chart?

Ostend beach

Castles in the sand
There's the beach (above), and then there's special sand for sculpting – an exhibition is being prepared here but almost more interesting is to watch it taking shape. We glimpsed through the windows a busy sandy scene looking for all the world like something from Ancient Egypt.

Some people never grow up

The reason we are out here looking at the beach and the breakwater this morning is that we are expecting our friend Mike on his 7m motor boat. We know he is somewhere between here and Dunkirk but there's no sign of him yet through the haze so we retire to the Royal North Sea Yacht Club for coffee and watch the tall ships come and go as they take festival visitors out for a sail.

Gaff schooner "Jantje" sailing in, taken from the Yacht Club window. Look closely and you might see the reflection in the window of an enormous jack-up ship behind, quirkily named "Vole au Vent"


Eventually the lure of the Belgian beers wins over and we try the Festival sponsor's beer Brugse Zot (Bruges Fool).

East coast gaffer with Brugse Zot


And eventually - look who's here!

Mike arrives in Ostend on 7m Tempus








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