This route would take me through some waters I had not been to yet, and some familiar ones too.
BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
I have just returned from a lovely three-day trip with Mrs. D. on Sirion. However, last week I also did a three-day trip by myself.
Mrs. D had some other things to do and attend, the weather looked nice, so I decided to take Sirion out on a three-day trip by myself. I decided to go to Brielle, via the Rotterdam harbour and return via Dinteloord. This route would take me through some waters I had not been to yet, and some familiar ones too.
The total distance is about 220 kilometres.
As soon as I had passed the Merwede lock at Gorinchem I found myself between barges and the local fast ferries. Busy waters here!
I spotted this yacht coming towards me. It is Willem Nieland’s design. A well-known Dutch yacht builder. His yachts are usually all aluminium. This one is the so-called Corvette. https://www.willemnieland.nl/motorjachten/
We have visited it and taken it for a test drive some years ago. At the time, we were still in the market for a semi-displacement two-engine sea-going yacht.
It was nice, but not as nice as we had hoped. Also, Mrs. D. did not like the untreated aluminium look at all.
So no Corvette for us!
I passed the same super yacht yard as shown a few post ago. Last time I passed it was still ashore, but they have launched her now. She doesn’t get less ugly, though.
As we passed here, I noticed another Drammer 935 sailing ahead of us. I overtook her. Both the other skipper and me taking a lot of images. We ran into one another and met up with the owners of this Drammer on our next trip!
Some modern Dutch architecture. No, it is not pretty, I agree
The Rotterdam skyline with various famous landmarks. The “hef”, the Euromast and the former Unilever HQ.
Passing one of the many “Maasbruggen”.
I had not noticed before, but they have an electronic read out for the height under the bridge.
I was sailing behind a sailing boat, about 12 meters or so. He kept to the middle of the river. At first I thought he did so to pass in the middle of the bridge to ensure maximum clearance for his mast. But he kept going in the middle and very slow too.
When you pass this bridge, you will also become visible to the Vessel Traffic Information folks. This sailing vessel did not have AIS, but the VTS happens to have a control tower that will see the vessels entering this stretch of the river. So as soon as they saw them in the middle of the river, they started calling them on the sector VHF. But got no response. I offered VTS to turn around and hail them. Thanks very much, much appreciated, they told me. Tell them to keep to the starboard side of the river, ask them for their destination and if they have a VHF radio, ask them to tune into the correct frequency.
So I turned Sirion around and soon found myself sailing along this sailing yacht. As soon as I tried to explain to them all of the above, they became very, vocally, abusive! F-this, F-that, are you looking for trouble and so on. I powered on and told the VTS guys. Well, thanks for trying, we have a police boat nearby, let’s see what they say to that! They told me.
Passing the Erasmus bridge and the passenger terminal. A not so large Passenger ship was docked. This place does hold special memories for me. None of them is particular good. This is the very spot, Sirion’s engine died on me, last time I sailed past! See earlier posts for that adventure.
Quite some frequency changes along the river. You will have these signs telling you which frequency to tune into. You might miss the sign, or it might not be visible, but is you have appropriate water charts it will be shown on those as well. By law, Vessels equipped with a VHF radio need to be tuned into the correct frequency, keep a constant monitor, and respond when called or when appropriate.
I might have shown this image of a Belgium tug before? Not sure. These Belgian tugs have a very distinct shape. I sort of like it. Not sure what this one is used for. I think it is some sort of clubhouse these days.
I love sailing through Rotterdam deep sea harbour, looking at all the sea- and ocean going vessels and everything associated with that.
At the Mamoet HQ and yard. Always, some kind of activity is ongoing!
RoRo vessel.
Couple of tankers
Just past “Vlaardingen” I had to make a port turn into the “oude Maas”. Which means crossing the “Nieuwe Maas”. One of the busiest inland waterways in the world. This intersection is always extremely busy. You will have sea- and oceangoing vessels, barges, tugs and some yachts coming from all directions going into all directions.
You have to announce your intent to the VTS sector station on channel 61. They will tell you when you can make your turn, what to watch for and so on. So constant chatter on the radio, between all the skippers and the sector operator.
They cleared me and told me to start my turn when perpendicular to the ‘Oude Maas’. As I was halfway across, I noticed three very large ships coming my way from the Oude Maas. I had heard them talking to Sector. They were all going towards the Europort, so towards the sea. Which meant I would have to cut in front of them to get to the correct side of the Oude Maas, reduce speed and drift in the middle of the busiest waterway in the world. As I was pondering what to do, the first vessel asked the Sector if they could go Starboard with Sirion. So the sector called me and I agreed. Then the second and subsequently the third vessel called, and I agreed to all three. Which meant I would be passing them on the “wrong side”. Normally, ships pass port to port, but in this case, it was starboard to starboard.
It happens all the time on busy, windy rivers. You have seen me doing it before. Never done it with seagoing vessels. As I was passing these three seagoing vessels, I also encountered two small yachts that were sailing along with the seagoing vessels. One of them called me on channel 10, the regular channel. He started telling me off for going across the traffic flow. I asked him if he was listening to channel 61, but he had no clue. I told him, You are in a VTS-controlled area; you need to tune into the appropriate frequency. If you did, you would have heard us all agreeing to this manoeuvre. This skipper started throwing all kinds of abuse at me as well. So I informed the sector and they, once again, were going to dispatch a police boat. Technically, this skipper was in violation and can be fined. More importantly, because he doesn’t understand the rules and therefore he doesn’t act accordingly, he is a danger to himself and others.
The last of the three vessels I passed starboard. When this one had passed I crossed over to the normal starboard side of the Oude Maas once again. Nobody is cursing at me!
To get to Brielle, you need to exit the river Oude Maas, enter a small lock and sail through a 15 km long canal, running parallel to the “Botlek and Europort area”
Botlek and Europort are very much massive industrial areas, with lots of refineries, containerterminals, chemical industry. However, none of that is visible from the canal leading to Brielle. Very pleasant and nice scenery all the way!
Brielle has several marinas. But the nicest is the one in the middle of town.
Brielle is an old “fortified” town. You can still see all the old city walls. And some big cannons guarding the harbour entrance.
After having had a chat with the harbour master and paying the mooring fees I walked into town.
Every village in the Netherlands will have multiple churches. But fewer and fewer people go to church. So some of these churches end up standing idle, get pulled down or repurposed. This one is now a GP practice. Very appropriate and more practical than relying on miracles I would say.
This guy was the “band” of a local cafe on the quayside of the harbour. They were having a party on the terrace overlooking the harbour. He would grind his organ, play a trumpet and steer his little (electrical) boat!
Main shopping street.
Read BHPian comments for more insights and information.
