The first meeting

“Tomorrow is the day,” we say to each other Thursday night before bed. It really is if we are going to have a planned delivery. Literally 9 months we know she is coming to us, always still unreal. We don’t have to make a nursery, but other things we really had to do as preparation. Especially coordinating remotely that Linde needs to be out of the water, handing over to the techs what we expect. Both in English which is not our natural language. In other words, an exciting run-up to those nine months. But now the time has come. “Yes, it’s strange, isn’t it?” we try to sleep.

Friday morning we have breakfast with the girls and then, instead of going to work in the car, we go for a walk in the direction of the city (about 5 kilometers). Halfway through we have a stop, I had long ago planned for the hairdresser and well, why not take an hour for that. A cup of coffee and on to the station.

That was a long time ago. We took the train together. We used to spend a lot of hours together. From Zutphen to Leeuwarden or Heerhugowaard. Talking about everything together. We’re a little surprised at how things work nowadays, traveling by train. We get into the stopping train to Apeldoorn. There we have to wait a while and treat ourselves to coffee + sweets. We both have the feeling that the adventure has begun for us. Work goes further and further away in our heads and thoughts go more and more to what the weekend will bring. We fantasize about the fact that we may have to make a trip like this someday in a foreign country because we’re in a bay with the boat and there’s no store nearby. What we are to believe from YouTube, that means you have to walk or take a bus/train/taxi/uber somewhere to the destination.

After the Intercity enters Amsterdam Central, we look around. “Do you know how we get to the other side?”, “no idea!”(secretly I had figured it out, ferry F4 across the IJ). Another short walk and then we are at the gate of Marina Amsterdam. Hans gave us a code and we type it in. The gate opens and we walk onto the pier looking for pier N. We turn right and there she is, Linde! It’s boiling hot and Hans is sitting on the cockpit bench looking around. I can already see myself sitting there 😊

We walk to Linde, get on board and together with Hans we take a look at the outside, then we quickly step inside to see if Linde is like on the pictures. Yes she is. It is very strange. It is as if we have been on board many times before. We recognize all kinds of small details. Damages, little strings here and there. Nets on the ceiling for fruit, fans on the ceiling everywhere because of the tropical temperatures of middle America , everything is like in the pictures. And like I said, it’s boiling hot in Amsterdam and how wonderful to have all kinds of fans on the ceiling then, what a luxury 😊

First we sit outside in the cockpit for a while. Lovely, again on the water. Normally we went with Casper the motorboat as much as possible from April, it is now mid June and this year we have been on the water more than once with a Valk. Looking at boats, marveling at the great differences in 1 harbor, wonderful.

And then the time comes. Business must be taken care of. In the past we would have had to walk down the street with a packet of banknotes, but now? On my mobile phone, a quick bank transfer and two minutes later Hans has the money in his account. It’s that easy. And of course, after that we have to let the official key transfer take place. We made a picture for Carla(Hans’ wife, who couldn’t come with us): all happy faces.

“So, have you brought pen and paper?” Hans asks, “I have a lot to tell you about Linde.” We thought about that beforehand and came to the conclusion that the most practical solution would be to record it instead of writing it down. In other words, Hans is the star of our private Linde course. With the camera in hand, we start in the galley and go through every locker on the boat.

Some are empty and others are still full. What is there is mainly technical. Spare pumps, cables, screws, fittings and whatnot. We also find things like a Drogue(kind of brake for through the water), an extra anchor, High-aspect jib and much more that might be needed while sailing.

But what especially stands out are all the extra spare parts. Hans has had to replace a few things during the years he has been sailing the seas. Sometimes as a preventive measure so you don’t throw away the “old” ones. But even if a large part is broken, you can still use parts of it. All logical, you never know. If you’re in a deserted bay, there isn’t just any water sports store. Then you have to be able to save yourself.

Our conclusion is that we probably won’t keep everything on board all the time. For the next few years, we won’t be in far-flung places. Parts are better kept on land, as long as we know what we have. Nice job to do in the near future.

Many closets will have to be emptied because the four of us will have to stay there. Two adolescent daughters need a lot of clothes on vacation and every hole/corner on the boat we have to use.

After two breaks, due to the heat, we have reached about ¾ of the boat. It seems wise to us that we first go out for something to eat. There are a few restaurants close to the harbor, so you should be able to do that…. you might think… Let’s just say that we didn’t feel like waiting more than 1.5 hours before a table became available. Alternative, drinks with appetizers 😊 Just as tasty actually. The fact that we are so busy looking for a place to eat and drink together means that we get to know each other well. Hans is a real bon vivant who has already experienced a lot on the water. A tip of the hat, it seems that he has sailed with a chicken on a boat from Madagascar to South Africa…. Wonderful stories.

After the snacks and drinks we are back on board, the last part of phase 1 of the explanation comes. Navigation area, toilet, everything we come across, Hans discusses and we listen attentively. How nice that we record everything, so much information that we would never have been able to remember or write down. No, really a tip for everyone. Take a camera with you when you go on the trip, GoPro is ideal, it’s nice and small. If you get the message, “there’s a valve in the back of this compartment behind that big hose”, you put the camera in the space and there you go, recorded forever.

So, we have had the whole boat and now it’s time to relax. Lovely this warm summer evening in the cockpit of Linde. I already fantasize how we will do this often as a family and later as a couple. What I experience is that a center cockpit (that means you steer a little more in the middle of the boat instead of at the back) is higher than other sailing boats. Sitting means that not everyone can look directly at the food on your plate as they walk by, while you yourself can look further and further because you are looking over the other sailboats.

It is time to go to bed. Tomorrow we have a long journey ahead of us. Amsterdam Lemmer. We still have to refuel and the first few miles to Enkhuizen we have a little head wind, so we have to motor. At half past seven we plan to cast off the ropes.

When we are in bed we look at each other “we did it, finally Linde is here and now we will sleep for the first time on the spacious double Auping bed!

Soon next part The first crossing