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Had a Wonderful "Sun Downer" on SV Ideaal
with Catherine & Perry (and of course Bob enjoying the treats provided!) What do you do to keep busy while you are waiting for deliveries that you need? We found plenty and then some! One thing we are realizing is that with having extra time we were able to do a few of the sewing projects that we had been putting off. As our sewing machine is quite heavy, takes up the large table in the cabin and also requires tearing apart the storage area to get the machine out in the first place, we don’t seem to get it out as often as we’d like. In other words, we don’t just “pop it out” for a quick sewing project.
Between the rainy, windy days and the constant wait for packages to arrive we knew it was time for sewing. One thing about sewing on the boat is that you typically have to make up your own patterns as they are made to order items. After doing a few small patching jobs on shorts, etc. we got into the projects we had in mind. We had a bag at the bottom of the mast that we used to keep the lines in to keep “things tidy”. After years of being in the
sun, it finally bit the bullet and died. Bob had bought the material for it while in the US, BUT when we got back we found that one of our bike covers had disintegrated as well so were trying to figure out what we were going to do with limited rip stop nylon. Janice remembered she had a supply that she uses for making courtesy flags so after raiding the supplies came up with a blue that would work. Bob really wanted the black material, but when given the choice of blue, a very bright yellow or red, he relented and decided blue would do just fine. The black that was originally bought for this was just enough to make the bike cover instead. That will help protect the bike for a little longer. The name of the game is always “be flexible and creative”. Luckily Janice doesn’t need any of the blue for new courtesy flags for this year so we are OK with our flag supply as well, but it did go on the list of things to pick up the next time we are in the US.
One of the things that had to be done
this season was our 3 year inspection of our life raft. We got it back and it is all OK for 3 more years (or until we use it which we hope is never!) With it being out up on deck and in the sun all the time we decided that having a cover for it would be good protection. Fortunately we brought some extra sumbrella material that matches the rest of our canvas so we were able to make a cover out of that. It didn’t seem like it would be too much of a project, but it took longer than we thought to get it to fit well enough – we have a drawstring on the bottom to be sure it stays on when on deck, but easy enough to come off quickly if we ever need to (again, hopefully not).
Bob bought a new tool in the US to bring to the boat – a multi-tool which we have found invaluable both on the boat and at the house. With extra sumbrella Bob decided to stitch up a tool wrap to keep it in which was a pretty easy on to “whip up”.
As we
Notice Anything Different with Our "Dozen" Eggs?
We are metric here, but they do sell 6 eggs too ... had not used the dinghy or outboard motor for quite some time, we needed to check them. Bob put some air in the dinghy and we were happy to see that it was holding air. The next task was putting on the outboard motor. We were both elated that with just a couple of pulls, the motor started right up! Of course we needed to run the engine for a little while so we took a dinghy ride through the marina and out into the harbor that evening as it was very calm. We went near the grebe nest (but not too near) so got a better view of her sitting on her eggs under the dock – see no young yet. She definitely does have quite a few to sit on – so many in fact that her body doesn’t cover them all and she moves around from time to time to give them the needed warm. We have counted 11 eggs and there may be more. It would be nice to see the young before we leave, but as Bob says that would mean we have definitely been here too long if it is time for them to
A Few Dutch Aak in the Marina
with some of the magnificient details hatch!
What do you do when the drier at the marina laundry doesn’t work? Well, after putting in 2 tokens and the office closed to buy any more, you take them back to the boat and of course put up lots of clothes lines throughout the boat! We had quite a load of laundry so it definitely took over the boat – even over our bed at night – we definitely chose our socks for that location as they were short enough to sleep under! Naturally it was a very humid night so the heater and dehumidifier helped with this task and in the morning we had dry clothes again. Fortunately that doesn’t happen too often, but again necessity rules again. We never had problems with the drier before; we just were unlucky to have it break down when we had a large load in. That is what we get for letting the laundry build up too much. At $8 per load you make sure you have a full load to wash!
We had received the computer we were waiting for from the UK. Bob started to install it, however, found out from the software company that we
Fashion Statements Everywhere
even at the Lelystad train station! use for our navigation that it could not be installed on Windows 10. Even though Bob had mentioned this possible problem to the computer company they felt it would work. Bob thought he would just uninstall windows 10 and install Windows 7 again, but in talking to the company that built the computer they stated it isn’t that easy of a task, so back the computer went to the UK and they built us another computer. Another wait…
With extra time again we decided that to save time later we would take a day and travel to Amsterdam by train to visit the Resistance Museum. We read someone else’s blog and from what they said it sounded like a good destination. When we were in Amsterdam in previous years we had taken in many of the more well known museums such as the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and others so decided that we would have a leisurely day taking in only 1 museum and then strolling around the City. (if you want to see more photos from Amsterdam check out our blogs from Aug 22-29, 2013 & Oct 1-6, 2013). My apologies first, but you will see some
of the photos from the museum that provide more of the history clearly described – hope it isn’t too much but thought it covered many of the important details of this period of time in the Netherlands.
With all the rainy weather we had been having we picked the perfect day to go to Amsterdam – it was sunny but not too hot therefore very pleasant for wandering around a wonderful City. Having been here twice before we at least had a little bit of understanding of where we were headed, but with all the canals that run through this city it can be a little bit of a challenge getting to where you want to go. We made it to our goal of the Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum) in good time giving us a good part of the day to take in all that it had to offer. The admission price of only 10 euro’s included an audio guide in English and free storage locker for our belongings. After spending most of the day there we found that it was well worth the admission and then some. It is very well laid out and we learned more than we
Free Entertainment on the Dock in Lelystad
The music kept everyone moving with their chores - a nice treat! could imagine about this difficult time in the Netherlands called ‘The Resistance Period” which spanned a five year period from May 14, 1940 through May 5, 1945. These are the dates that Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands. The museum did an excellent job of setting the stage by explaining what the Netherlands was like during the 1930’s prior to the takeover by the Nazi’s as well as the period after the occupation through the 1950’s. People had to make very difficult decisions and many question their ancestors about this period of time. The exhibit did an excellent job of making the visitor think these choices through themselves and wonder what they would do in the same circumstances.
Netherlands at the time was divided into what they call 4 pillars – the Protestants, the Catholics, the Liberals and the Socialists. Even though they were 4 distance groups we were told that prior to the Nazi take-over they lived side by side without conflict. During WWI the Netherlands remained neutral. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the Dutch knew a war was coming, but felt that they would be immune to it. It was not to be. When the Nazi’s first
arrived they did not treat the people of the Netherlands badly and therefore many felt they would remain neutral during WWII. They did not realize that the Nazi’s would eventually invade. There was a division among the people of the Netherlands as to how they should react to them.
After Germany’s loss in Stalingrad, the demands on the people of the Netherlands for food and material to help the war effort increased. Germany demanded young Dutch men to become laborers in Germany. This caused the Dutch to realize they had to make a stand and the Resistance began to take serious active measures against their German occupiers. As in all occupied territories the Nazi’s response to this was mass executions of Dutch citizens. At this same time the isolation and deportation of Jews which most of the Dutch thought of as Dutch citizens, strikes by labor unions such as railroad workers were called with great effect.
The Resistance was very helpful in returning allied pilots that had been shot down and in hiding Jews and Dutch men that were avoiding deportation to Germany work camps. One of the early steps the German’s took was in collecting radios from
the population. At the museum, there were several examples of small hand built crystal radios that were used by the Dutch to keep track of allied movements. Right after D-Day the Dutch expected the allies to liberate the Netherlands, but that did not occur for another year. During that winter, the German’s took almost all food produced in the Netherlands and caused a massive famine in which many died. With many of the Allies pushing across the Rhine to continue the fight, Canadian forces concentrated on the Netherlands and were instrumental in the liberation of the Netherlands which occurred with Germany surrendering on May 4, 1945.
Another smaller section of the museum was dedicated to the Pacific effort in Indonesia during the war. This area covered the experiences of the Dutch in Indonesia, first fighting off the Japanese and then dealing with the Indonesian Freedom movement.
The museum was well worth a visit as it gave a clearer picture of this period of time for the people of the Netherlands.
The next day we had a pleasant surprise in finding that Catherine and Perry from SV Ideaal had returned to their boat for the weekend from the
UK. (yes, the British put extra U’s in words, not A’s – they bought the boat in the Netherlands which explains the spelling) They very nicely asked us out for a sail on their boat, but had to decline in order to continue working on the many things we were trying to finish up before leaving Lelystad. We did take them up though on their kind offer to have “sundowners” on their boat. We found out we were very honored to be their first guest to be entertained on their boat – they got a gold star for the evening!!
We seemed to keep finding things to work on or to purchase while waiting for our computer to be replaced. We decided to order a new hand held VHF so that was another thing to wait for but it came quite quickly. We had been noticing recently that the temperature on our freezer was not holding and were concerned as we didn’t want to have that not working and loss the food we have in it. Another time to talk to the “guys” at the marina and found out that there was a “refrigeration guy” to talk to. In
talking to him we were fortunate to find that he was very familiar with our refrigerator/freezer system and knew what the problem was. We just had to order a part!! Lucky for us he was able to order it and we received it the next day. The following day the computer arrived and Bob started the installation. He ran into some problems with it talking to the chart plotter and couldn’t seem to get it worked out. The marina guys to the rescue again right in the nick of time – we got the fix the evening before we wanted to leave – got the software to work and we now were ready to leave the dock.
We arrived in the Netherlands on May 4
th and on June 4
th we left the dock at Lelystad after filling up our tank with diesel and saying good-bye to the people at the Flevo Marina. The sun was out but once we got out on the water, it started to become overcast but we didn’t care, we were on our way and the start of the 2016 sailing season!
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