Week 37 An Abundance of Spider Poop

Week 37

Must be the Weather


Went to see the boat for the first time in a month (or more!). It always gives me a good feeling to be there, even if it is only for cleaning.
For the first time in our boating experience, we found that the boat was covered with spider poop and there were hundreds of them in and under every nook and cranny. Luckily, only on the outside. I had to look twice to determine that the poop stains weren't from seagulls or other birds. So, I scrubbed it all down and sent the spiders swimming away, at the same time pondering the need for a new paint job. I've given up all thought of ever having enough time or expertise to do the job myself.



Proving, as ever, there is always something new to learn.

As we were about to leave a neighbour boat came in and the owner started spraying (in all his nooks and crannies). I looked at him quizzically and he showed me the bottle "Spin Spray". (A spider is a Spin). So, there it was. I was not the only one with this problem.

Normally full of charter boats - they came back later in the day

....like this

Hottest September 13th on record

We had 31.2C. at Weather Station De Bilt The previous record was just under that in 1919!

The "average" temperatures (at De Bilt) in September.......(from BBC Weather).

Ben's Weather

Super typhoon Meranti is on course to wash out Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, with the weather forecast set to deteriorate by Thursday.
Tropical cyclone signal No 1, the standby signal, will be issued on Wednesday ahead of the storm, expected to be the biggest to hit the city this year in terms of ­intensity, with the possibility of strong wind signal No 3 being issued Thursday.
But a No 8 signal may not be issued, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
“The advice to the public is stay alert and take all cautionary measures before Thursday,” Lam Ching-chi, senior scientific officer at the Observatory, said.
“We expect the weather to ­deteriorate on Thursday, but the exact timing ... we have to take a closer look at the time.

Edit; Ben didn't get it..... Taiwan and China, but not Hong Kong.

Weekend boat trip to Boornzwaag (again!)

We had to catch up on the bookkeeping first! Fridays are supposed to be "days off". Finally left Heerenveen at 1445 hrs. arrived Boornzwaag at 1720 hrs. Just over 2.5 hours at ave 8.2kms/hr. (and a slightly different return route (in red)). The scenic route is a bit shorter but takes 15 minutes longer due to speed restrictions of 6kms/hr.



As usual, totally relaxing and not long before heading off to the restaurant.
If it's working this link should show where we moored; in fact Janny had it on and could see us as we approached.

http://www.webcam-harlingen.nl/webcam-friesemeren/pages/cameras/boornzwaag--langweer.php

On Saturday, after boat-cleaning, we walked the kilometre or so to Langweer. I'd never been there before and once again I was blown away by the boats, boats and more boats.... and just how lovely it was, even if just a bit too "touristy".

On the way, we saw a renovated windmill which is available to hire for a weekend (sleeps 8 people). €770 for a weekend and €1270 for a week. We like the idea for one of the brothers and sisters "getaways" but we would need the boat as well! The water is directly behind the windmill, in the photo below. It was probably originally used to pump water from the lower land into the lake.

Just a few photos from Langweer.

This boat is a Proliner 63 - 63 feet long - with a platform for the "rubber" dinghy, which has it's own 60HP outboard!

Just boats, but I like the photo.











and a dream apartment with it's own boat garage underneath!

Discussions begin..... on the new paint job.....

Even considering a change of colour. It seems that red fades rather badly in comparison to other colours. Ours is fairly bad where fenders have rubbed, the odd bash here and there and a few rust spots coming through. Janny rather liked a flat black colour that we saw - who am I to argue? (Although I will be guided by technical advice re coverage and cost). The cream (Oyster) colour above decks would remain, ...... or not??.

Planning for 2017

Normally, I would have finished there, but I spent a bit of the weekend thinking ahead to next year. There is a chance that Frank and Pam might head this way again with a view to having some time on the boat.

I still harbour thoughts of going to France with the boat but in the meantime I'm working on a plan for 2017...
the Elfstedentocht by boat.



Planning for this would be a good winter project. I'm staring at yet another long winter. So, part of my research will be about the route and the 11 cities themselves. In this way I hope to fill in some of those looong winter months.


The Elfstedentocht (11 Cities Race) is an ice-skating race in Friesland, ice permitting. ie In those years when the ice is thick enough for long enough. It is almost 200 kms long and was last held in 1997. This was the last year we lived in Birdaard and so we were lucky enough to to see the race go past our back door. The whole family stayed at our place and made it a very memorable event.

The 11 Cities are..
Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, Dokkum and Leeuwarden.

We'd probably go to Sneek first, so I'll start there with my research. One boat charter company says that it is 250kms and possible to do in a week by boat, but we won't have the same time restrictions.

Next week...

Sneek