Sailing south to the Netherlands

Last stop in Norway (Mandal)

For our last sailing along the Norwegian coast from Farsund to Mandal, the weather was overcast. We passed the notorious Lindesnes lighthouse in a foggy atmosphere.

Located at the south tip of Norway along a river, Mandal initially developed around salmon fishing and the timber industry. With white-painted wooden houses and a nice pedestrian area in the center, it attracts many tourists in the summer. Beaches, forest and nature are just next to the town. Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain during our stay in Mandal. But on the sunny day, we tasted the vacation vibe and even had the opportunity to play “pétanque”.

Start bashing into the wind

The passage from Mandal (Norway) to Den Helder (Netherlands) is 350 nautical miles. It took 3 days and 3 nights. Finding a weather window that will match for the entire duration of the passage is difficult. We looked at the forecasts for several days: too much wind or blowing from the direction or too long periods without wind. At some point, we took the decision to set off with the best available compromise.

We left Mandal with rain and increasing wind. Our weather routing tool had identified a path to optimize use of the S – SW wind that would turn to W and N – NW. Well, we were not able to reproduce it in the real world. We started our journey sailing into the wind and had to tack much earlier than planned when coming too close to the Danish coast. We had to tack more than once which slowed down our progress. As expected, bashing into the wind with confused waves left from the previous windy days caused a rather rough start. The good news is that Silvia did not get seasick. We also had a beautiful sunset and could watch the stars in the dark of the night as the moon set early.

Dealing with squalls

The next morning was foggy, and the visibility limited while we made our way along the fishing areas of west of Denmark. We started the engine when the wind died. By noon, the sun was out. In the afternoon, the winds shifted to W which allowed us to sail again on a direct course this time. In the evening, the winds started to pick up in gusts. A squall was approaching, and Silvia had to wake up Yan. We took down all the sails and hid in the doghouse while it passed. During this travel, we dealt with changing weather systems several times. It can deceivingly start with a stunning sky scenery and maybe even a beautiful rainbow. But while appreciating the view, make sure to get your boat ready for what is about to come.

Our trajectory was too far off shore to see coastlines but we had amazing sky sceneries.

Breaking our speed record

On the third day, we crossed the Deep Water north of the Netherlands with the engine. Then, we sailed in between oil platforms.

The winds were steadily increasing. We took a reef in the main sail then replaced the Genoa with the Jib. With this adequate sail setting, the boat was well balanced. With 25 knots of wind on a beam reach, our speed progressed to over 9 knots. This is the fastest speed for Fabule so far.

At the same time, we had to time our arrival to Den Helder. We wanted to arrive by daylight and could benefit from some sleep before the arrival manoeuvres in an unknow harbour. Moreover, in the Schulpengat, the approach to Den Helder, the currents started to be favourable at 8 am. Therefore, after breaking our speed record, we went into slow motion for the night: we sailed downwind in ”loch / fjord style” under genoa only.

Arriving in Den Helder (Netherlands)

Den Helder is located at the north west tip of the Netherlands’ mainland. The arrival represented a complete change of scenery for us. After the mountains and the rocky coastline, we approached a flat coast with sand. After 3 days at sea, we safely moored at the Royal Netherlands Navy Yacht Club.

Even if this crossing served us a few curved balls, we managed well. It shows that we have acquired experience since we started living on Fabule 6 months ago. We are aware that there is still much more to learn. This is the beauty of this journey, where you can always go a little further. For now, let’s just celebrate what we have accomplished so far!