Raising the Q Flag

Position: 56°02’58.1″N 12°41’08.5″E This week we raised the Q flag. The Q flag is the international maritime flag that represents the letter Q (Quebec in NATO-speak) and whose meaning has flipped in the past 200 years. The simple yellow jack, …

Denmark – Mark 1

Position: 57°39’03.9″N 10°24’33.1″E Denmark’s Jutland peninsula is, along its western shores, essentially one big sand dune. And it’s on the move. Steady winds off the North Sea push the perfect white sands eastwards. Ever eastwards. Some of the bigger dunes …

Laboe

Position: 54°24’37.0″N 10°13’33.1″E The small seaside resort of Laboe hugs the coast about 11 kilometres northeast of Kiel. This is a family place full of day trippers from the city. Surrounded by fields of wheat, the long line of white …

On an Even Kiel

Position: 54°17’42.6″N 9°41’24.6″E Transiting the Kiel Canal is oddly relaxing. Despite huge cargo ships bearing down on you in both directions compared with Holland things couldn’t be calmer. No one can travel faster than six knots and container and tanker …

Kiel Haulin’

Position: 53°52’26.1″N 8°42’29.6″E After crossing the Ijsselmeer, the towns of Lemmer, Stavoren, and Haarlingen are your three options for continuing on the Staand Mastroute (SMR) across Friesland. Our ultimate goal was the route’s farthest starting/end point, Delfzijl. To get there, …

Halfway to Haarlem

Position: 52°22’40.3″N 4°38’18.1″E If only this was the beginning of a recently discovered manuscript by Ralph Ellison we would all be enriched! Sadly, it is not. It is our thoroughly engaging tale of getting halfway to (the OG) Haarlem. Leaving …

IRL

Position: 52°00’41.5″N 4°42’38.8″E For the past eight years or so, I’ve been meeting weekly with three other chaps to solve all of the world’s problems. Our online chats last about an hour and long predated Covid copycat meetups. We have …

The Staande Mastroute

Position: 52°22’40.4″N 4°38’18.0″E Negotiating the English Channel and the northwestern edges of France and Belgium required us to pay more attention to the depth sounder than we had anticipated. The Channel is shallow. Between Guernsey and the Straits of Dover …