Southhampton to the Kiel Canal

We spent our last evening in Southampton at anchor. It was our first night at anchor on Positive Waves and something we'd all been looking forward to. Fresh off watching a circus in Treguier, the kids were excited to rig up their rings and cirque de soleil-style silk and do some stunts. The next morning we motored back to the Hamble River and picked up our repaired dinghy. 

Arctic animal bath time.

It was drizzling when we left the dock, but we were happy to get moving, even though it was just 50 or so miles up the coast to Newhaven. The wind was forecast to be 10-15 knots but ended up being around 4 knots so we had to motor the whole way. Motoring is no fun, but we were happy to be on the move and getting closer to the Kiel Canal. The kids watched Pippi Longstocking and played Legos. Hans caught a couple little mackerel which he filleted and we had for a snack when we arrived.

Newhaven was very industrial and working class. Directly across the river from the visitors' dock was a massive massive pile of scrap metal that three cranes were loading onto a barge. From 6AM to 9PM every day we were there, including Sunday. There was also a ferry terminal for a couple car and passenger ferries from France that arrived twice a night, around 9PM and sometime around 3AM. Thankfully we didn't get any wake from all this commercial traffic, but it was definitely not peaceful. But across the street from the marina was a path up to the cliffs with a walking trail that went right along the edge the cliffs and the sea. We spent the majority of the two days we were in Newhaven on the cliffs and at the sea. And thankfully we found a pub to quench our thirst.

We set sail for the Kiel Canal on Monday, August 17. The passage took us from Newhaven, straight up the English Channel past Dover and along the coast of the Netherlands until the Elbe River which eventually leads to Hamburg. The trip was 447 nautical miles and took us about 3.5 days. It was challenging, that's for sure. In retrospect, we left with not enough knowledge, foresight, or planning for the currents and the shipping lanes. At one point we found ourselves in a shipping lane, sailing along happily and checking the charts and the weather to decide our next waypoint when the Dover Coast Guard hailed us on the radio and asked our intentions. Apparently we were not allowed to be in the shipping lanes. We altered course, but not quickly enough for their liking and they hailed us again and informed us that we were in contravention of quite a few additional rules. We switched sails and scurried out of the shipping lanes before they could slap us with any fines.

We saw a hovercraft as we were motoring out of the Solent.

Eastbourne, UK

The sail continued with multiple sail changes, multiple course changes, strong counter currents, and sloppy seas. At one point we had a option to stop at a marina in the Netherlands for a night to rest but the kids said they were fine to continue so Hans and I had to buck up and keep sailing. If the kids are happy, everyone is happy. We had a few gorgeous hours of sailing along the coast of the Netherlands where the current was with us and the seas were less lumpy.  But all good things must come to an end and the wind slowly died and we decided to motor for quite awhile to reach the entrance to the Elbe River with an incoming tide. The tide runs at almost 2 knots so we had to be at the entrance on an incoming tide. The tide gave us about 1.5 knots of speed all the way to the Kiel Canal so it was worth it to make sure we timed our river entrance correctly.

Freja's preferred spot whilst on passage. Smiling for the camera, but generally feeling seasick and bored the whole time.

One of Matilda's preferred spots whilst underway.

At 2:30 in the morning when Kristen was on watch she was overtaken by first the Hendrika Margaretha, a cargo ship about 80 meters long and at the same time was passed by the Christopher, about 120 meters long. But then! Holy shit! along came a pilot boat at about 20 knots escorting the Cosco Scorpio along the river. 263 meters by 50 meters. I literally almost peed my pants. It was the most surreal, frightening, and awe inspiring moment to be overtaken in the middle of the night by such an insanely massive ship.

This is what my AIS/radar/chart looked like. 

This is what passed me at 2:30 in the morning. 

After that, I quit. I woke up Hans and went to sleep for a couple hours. Hans woke me up around 5:30 in the morning when we were just outside the Kiel Canal. We called the lock master and he signaled us to enter Lock #1. Our longest passage was complete!