Friday 13 April

This was a long tough day. Even doing the navigation in preparation had been difficult. Finding a route away from Breskens and Vlissingen was quite easy, as there is a major shipping lane to access these ports. Later in the route however, once we crossed the lane to move back inshore, there was no obvious path. There are countless sandbanks which run roughly northeast to southwest, but these end in dead ends, not unlike a maze. One route would have got us to our destination but with a detour of about 10 miles. Eventually I found a route, which would allow us to cross a shallow sandbank, so long as were were there in time for the tide to be high enough.

We started early, as we have on the previous few day, being up before daybreak and slipping out of Breskens as soon as it was light. This time we were unencumbered by the police, there were no signs of their boats. They had said that they move to different ports as there week progresses. There was no wind on the forecast or in reality, so we were expecting to be motoring all day. It was misty initially, but the visibility soon became worse and worse. Our navigation systems are good at telling us where we are, and so we can measure the distance to buoys etc. as they come into view. Initially we could see three quarters of a mile, then half a mile,  and then as little as about two hundred metres at times. The AIS system proved to be even more invaluable than ever, giving us warning of the ships in the busy waterways. We stayed for the most part just outside of the channel, where it was deep enough for us, but not for the big ships. A couple of times we saw only a vague shape as a ship passed a couple of hundred yards to our side.  We also saw an oil rig being moved, which looked particularly eerie in the fog.

Eventually we came to the point where we had to cross the shipping lanes just before it became a formal traffic separation scheme (TSS). The rules in these are more exacting, and we did not want to be subjected to them. As ever, crossing the lanes is like trying to walk across a motorway. The lane was about one and a half miles wide, and we do about one third of the speed of the ships, so you have to find a gap of several miles between them to be able to make it safely. We slowed and waited, with someone constantly checking the AIS. Twice we started to increase speed and turn but had to pull back as a new contact appeared on our screen. The third time was lucky and we scampered across as quickly as we could. 

We then went between the sand banks in glassy flat seas, slowed by the tide that was now against us. We had lost time earlier by having to slow and wait in the fog, but we still arrived at the shallow bank crossing in good time. I am always concerned when you have had to commit to a time and place which is tide dependent, and however carefully you have checked and rechecked the calculations, something might have been missed. On this occasion all was good, and we crossed the half mile shallow stretch with a reasonable depth beneath us and steadily improving visibility.

This was the first time that we have had to fly three different curtesy flags in a single day. We took down the Dutch flag, and replaced it with our newly purchased Belgian flag, while in Belgian waters, only to then replace it again with the French flag. The Belgian flag seemed a little wasted, as we didn’t enter a port and no other vessel came close enough to see it through the fog. Such are the traditions of the sea!

We were heading to Dunkerque. I have not yet seen the recent film of this, but the feats achieved here came into sharper focus as we proceeded. I had not appreciated the complexity of the sea offshore from the beach, apparently the longest sand beach in Europe, but this just adds to the admiration of what was achieved here, 78 years ago.

We arrived safely at another industrial style port with an oil refinery dominating part of the skyline. Although we were tired, there was still more to be done. We had noted that one of our navigation lights was not working, so a trip up the mast was called for, to check the bulb. This proved to be wasted, as the bulb was ok and the fault was traced to a loose connection below deck.

Distance covered today - 58 nautical miles

Total distance covered - 536 nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)