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 …

Current Events

Position: 49°43’07″N 2°00’14″W Time and tide wait for no one. Nor do currents. Our navigation skills grew fat and lazy in the Mediterranean, at least metaphorically, and the vigorous waters around Brittany put them back on the treadmill for some …

Brest

Position: 48°22’36″N 4°29’34″W Tonnerre de Brest! Twenty miles offshore and heading for Brest in the thick of a thunderstorm, Captain Haddock’s expletive, Tonnerre de Brest! (Thunder of Brest) became reality. Rain lashed the dodger and our radar circled colourfully, highlighting …