Friesland for the first time - Hindeloopen

Geography lesson:

We Brits have a habit of referring to this country as Holland. This blog tries to say the Netherlands every time, although it's a bit of a mouthful, because Holland is only part of the country. (Scottish and Welsh readers will sympathise).
We started our voyage through the Netherlands in the province of Zeeland with all the lovely inland lakes. In Hellevoetsluis, Dordrecht and Edam we were truly in Holland, in the province of South Holland, and then Haarlem, Amsterdam and the west side of the old Zeiderzee are all in North Holland. It was called the southern sea because it was named by the Friesians to the north (or perhaps because it was their name for it which stuck).

We have never been to the province of Friesland on the eastern side of the Ijsselmeer but our time has come and on the advice of Aleid we plan to go to a smaller place rather than a larger one first.

Sunday 2nd July – Enkhuizen to Hindeloopen
10.30 am cast off
The wind would have been perfect on Saturday but we weren't ready to go and it's supposed to be OK today too – but of course the wind has shifted. So it's on the nose, and it gets stronger, not lighter as forecast. We sail it anyway, one reef in the main, and we make 3 big long sweeping tacks across the Ijsselmeer. It's lovely to be bouncing along at 7 knots even if for two thirds of the voyage it seems to be in the wrong direction. That's windward sailing!
Bouncing is the key word there: the Ijsselmeer is very shallow, our instrument is showing only 4 metres below the keel, sometimes less, and the waves here are famously short and sharp. Seasoned sailors have told me this is the one place where they get seasick and sure enough it works its spell on me. I'm mostly susceptible in rough water early in the season while I'm finding my sea legs, and usually it's when we're sailing downwind: there's something about the wallowing motion that can catch me out. The best prevention I've found is not to drink vast quantities of wine the night before. Ooops!
I last fine till about 2pm when the deck log records: “Sue pukes in the bucket”. It's not a great feeling I must say, so I'm glad that by this time we are sailing past Stavoren and bearing away slightly straight towards the village of Hindeloopen.

15.20 safely tied up in the smaller municipal old harbour, not the big marina.

Clear what the Harbour Master's favourite colour is.

Harbour master's house


Typical Hinderloopen painting style, applied to the shutters

All roads lead us back to the dyke


View over the dyke - on our way in we counted over 40 kite surfers

Wheee!!! If this sport had been around when Howard started wind-surfing he'd have tried this instead for sure

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