Zeebenen gezocht

6 September 2015

Saturday we went sailing again with young people who are thinking about a career in the maritime sector. Twenty-four boys and girls in the age of 14 and 15 years old on board for 36 hours. Of course you hope that the weather will be ok, but that’s not the case! 
We started with a tour on the MS ‘Rotterdam’, which was moored on the Wilhelminakade. The bridge, the cabins, and the logistics behind it everything was shown. 
After this, everyone came on board and it was time to go sailing. First we sailed quietly down the New Waterway along the various ports. Meanwhile, we were busy sea fastening and reefing the sails because at sea we expect strong wind. Until the Maas estuary everyone kept strong, but once at sea the faces were quickly pale.
The idea was to sail between the wind farms at IJmuiden, but when we reached Scheveningen only a few were not sea sick. So the choice was easy, we entered the harbour of Scheveningen. Here we have a nice dinner and soon everyone was feeling good again. 
After dinner we watched a film about the ‘Peking’, the ship sailed from Hamburg to Chile in the 1930’s around Cape Horn. 
After that everyone went to bed and this morning investigated the ‘Oosterschelde’ thoroughly: how much fuel can we take, how does a radar work, how do we prepare a trip, what is a VHF, and so on. Divided into three groups, all participants walk around on board and the crew is there to help answer the various questions. 
After this we started sea fastening again for the way back. We left around 9 o’clock this morning. Fortunately, the wind decreased a bit and we are sailing with a broad reach course to Hoek van Holland. We’ll see if the young stomachs will hold it better today.