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Rike (Wauquiez Gladiateur 33 1979): Makkum to Dun Laoghaire 780 Miles 6th -14th May 2018

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Rike (Wauquiez Gladiateur 33 1979): Makkum to Dun Laoghaire 780 Miles John O’Rahilly Dark Winter evenings are made for researching boats, what suited the budget and sailing requirements with an aspiration to one day finding the right boat. It was while carrying out this wintertime pursuit back in 2015 that I first came across a Gladiateur 33 for sale in Holland. My search was rather uncomplicated, the primary selection was based on budget, then trawling through the various cruisers on line that I liked, and I reckoned would suit. Primarily I wanted to get back cruising having done very little over the last twenty years or so. The ideal boat was one that could be sailed shorthanded with my wife Barbara who enjoys sailing but it is not a sailor. The next criteria was a boat that was likely to be good in heavy weather and reasonably maintenance free as I definitely did not want a project.

One with reasonable accommodation and comfortable and oh yes one that could be raced white sail, an easy set of criteria one might say. With the search now on for a Gladiateur across the internet I found one for sale late January in Walton on the Nez on the south east coast of England.

With a flight booked to view in February, then rebooked due to snow she turned out to be a disappointment as she required too much work to get her to a reasonable standard. The following weekend of the 17th March and the 6 nations final my good wife drops the laptop on my lap with a Gladiateur for sale in Holland. This looked like the right boat. Between watching the match and deliberating over the boat it was quite an afternoon. An email to the Broker Dick Schmeinck of eSailing Makkum (mid Match!!) regarding rigging

and some other details I wanted confirmed resulted in an immediate reply. To my surprise the boat had new rigging along with Chart plotter, cooker and a list of other items which had been added or upgraded over the previous two years. Due to work commitments time was tight and when I asked when suited to view was told that there were people booked to view on the Wednesday and Thursday of that week. A rather expensive one day return to Amsterdam for that Bank Holiday Monday was bought with a 6am flight out.

The boat was as she was described and better, moisture readings were all good and so subject to survey there was very little thought required other than to make a reasonable offer. Following a phone call to the owner and a little negotiation I had agreed to buy. Dick was very helpful, assuring me the boat could stay there until the end of June at no charge and talked me through the paper work which was in English, explained the escrow and stages of payment. Armed with copies of invoices of all the work carried out, a rush back to the airport for the flight to Dublin, I was left with quite a bit to consider on the flight home.

Back in Dublin the task now started of arranging a surveyor. I found a great guy Theo van Rijswijk who I put in touch with Dick to arrange the survey when the boat went in the water on the 4th April. Theo was very thorough, and the boat came back with all the box’s ticked, in Theo’s view she was an exceptionally boat.

The engine was a big concern for me as it was the original Volvo MD11. Part of his survey was to take the boat on the water and put the engine through its paces.

As it transpired the engine ran very hot, but he explained to me in Holland that is the owner’s responsibility to correct as part of the contract. The only other issues were age related such as bringing the gas pipe to modern standards and an RCB required on the shore power. There were obvious items such as life rafts and

a better anchor to sort, but these were minor. So good to go, the route planning started in earnest, charts were borrowed and bought, and endless evenings spent calculating the best route. I had one of my oldest pals Gerry O’Sullivan lined up do to the trip back and so needed one other. Garvin O’Tool who I knew and who had taken up sailing some 6 years earlier was free, jumped at the offer. We planned to head over on the May bank holiday taking a week to get her back or at the very least as far west along the south coast of England as possible.

Barbara and I headed over for a long weekend on the 20th of April, the plan was to check the engine, complete the sale and then fit the boat out for the trip back.

I found myself filling a large duffel bag full of spares and kit that might possibly be required on the trip back to Ireland. Makkum is located at the top of the Ijsselmeer on the east just below the dike and entrance out to the Dutch Frisian Islands. The whole area is beautiful, a place I intend to return to go cruising in future. Makkum is full of boat yards, small marinas and most of the well-known boat builders and sail makers have bases here. It is also the home of De Vries Scheepsbouw (Feadship) who build super yachts, I believe 2 million a meter is a rough cost guide!! Rudolf Rike’s owner had arranged to meet us and take us out to test the engine and go sailing. This resulted in a fabulous three hours on the Ijsselmeer in great weather. We ended up having such a lovely sail we wondered whether we were foolish in not keeping her there. Rudolf was great, taking us through the boat end to end, explaining what was what and all the how-to do’s. The engine ran perfectly and didn’t run hot even after I ran the revs to the max for several minutes. The following two days were spent cleaning and fitting out. A trip to the local chandlery saw purchases such as ships crockery and up to date charts of the North Sea amongst

others.

Friday the 4th May quickly approached and with as many of the to do box’s ticked. Garvin and I met for an evening flight to Amsterdam laden down with the last of the bits of tools, shackle’s etc that I had in the garage and thought I should have with me. Midnight after a two-hour drive had us in Makkum and on board unpacking with a certain air of excitement and apprehension as I knew that despite all the preparation the unforeseen could still happen.

Saturday 5th saw us up very early as we had a long list to get through. SOLAS marine here in Dublin had given me some advice on life rafts and more importantly what brands not to buy. After much research the nearest Chandlery who stocked the life raft I wanted along with the anchor and other bits was a good hour drive back south. The Chandlery was one of those places you could disappear into for months, huge with every bit and part you could imagine. My order was ready for me and with the addition of a few extra’s we proceeded to pay only to discover that neither my Mastercard credit card or Visa debit card were accepted. Being told there was a cash machine nearby, blood pressure started to raise as this had all been arranged beforehand by email. Common sense prevailed, and the owner appeared bringing me to a back office where surprise surprise he had a visa machine, turns out they just don’t like paying the card commission! Car loaded, we headed back to the boat unpacked, stowed everything away and headed to the supermarket for provisions. By the time we had these all stowed it was time to drop the car back. The nearest drop off location was 40 min away this involved getting a train back to nearby Harlingen where Dick kindly collected us bringing us back to Makkum. With the day now spent, dinner was had in one of the town’s lovely restaurants with a cold beer leaving us ready for the bunks and the

next day’s offing.

Sunday 6th May we departed Makkum making for Amsterdam via the Ijsselmeer, beautiful sunny morning which hopefully boded well for the rest of the trip.

We left the Prins van Oranje marina @06:30 under engine heading to the Fuel station a diesel fill. These are unattended stations where you pay and fill, worth noting is they don’t take credit or debit cards only seem to take Dutch debit cards as was the case in the chandlery yesterday. Luckily the station was part of the bigger Jachthaven Marina and a quick conversation on the intercom promptly brought a very helpful attendant, cash was exchanged, we left with the 70l tank filled and an extra 20l of diesel in jerry cans.

Out onto the Ijsselmeer, we were blessed with 10 – 15 knots of breeze off the port bow in a flat sea allowing us to shake the sails out and get the feel of the boat.

We were quickly knocking out 5 to 6 knots in the most perfect conditions. The trip to Amsterdam would take us down the Ijsselmeer and the Ketenwaal canal, on to the Markemeer, from where the North Sea canal starts running through Amsterdam and out to sea. Best estimates put this part of the trip at 12 hours if we could maintain a speed of 5.5 knots. The wind however did exactly as forecast, died away as the day grew warmer and by 10:00 we had resorted to engine. This was now the test, had the overheating issue really been fixed?

With some trepidation we gradually brought the revs up to 1600 and she moved along very happily at a little over 5.5 knots. Exhaust smoke looked good, temperature gauge stayed in the green, so I began to relax!

Though that basically meant I would repeatedly check everything repeatedly every hour, “OCD or what”.

With the Autohelm being put to good use we motored down to Amsterdam in 22 degrees, shorts and teeshirts, little did we think this was just the beginning of the Summer.

Approaching the Ketenwaal canal, the challenge was identifying the correct passage which was not immediately apparent proving that the inland charts I had borrowed were slightly dated as there was a new route for sailing boats across the dyke. Passing through the canal at 14:30, time now started to move very slowly settling into the chug chug of the engine and eventually the distant horizon of Amsterdam came in to view. But it was not until 18:30 that we started the approach to the Schellingwouderbrug and then on to the Oranjesluizen lock taking us off the Markemeer on to the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam. Sixhaven Marina was my preferred choice which is a small club marina located directly across the Canal from the back of the Amsterdam train station. There is a free public service ferry that runs back and forth from the train station to near the marina every 20 minutes. We were in luck when we arrived in through the very narrow entrance (one boat at a time) we were met by the harbour master who directed us to our berth. This Marina is excellent, showers, fresh water, power but no fuel and all for the pricey sum of €17.90 per night! I would highly recommend a summer cruising in this part of the world. Our third crew member Gerry was flying in that evening around 22:00, so following dinner we headed to the station to meet him, back to the boat for a drop of whiskey and go through the plans for the next day.

Monday 7th May, we departed Sixhaven on a bright sunny morning and down the North Sea canal to the locks at Ijmuiden. This is such a busy stretch of water with large cruise liners coming up to dock in Amsterdam along with cargo ships and barges traveling at quite a pace. It feels quite strange to be in such close proximity to them all. We used this time for myself and Gerry to go through the route plan again, navigation and watch’s.

With Garvin on the helm, Gerry set about getting to grips with the Chart Plotter whilst I tightened rigging and any other bits I still had remaining on the list. By 9.30 we were entering the sea lock at Ijmuiden astern of a large tug which was slightly worrying, especially as we ended up on the receiving end of a strong back eddy just as we entered the lock gate and were it not for quick thinking crew, would have had pulpit damage. Once through the lock, the wind freshened quite a bit which was promising. We pulled into the marina for some fresh supplies, top up the diesel, cook up a brunch and departed at midday as planned. The wind however did not oblige and died away leaving us under engine down towards Rotterdam in a flat sea and good visibility. With the autohelm back at work and the chart plotter loaded, we replaced bulbs on the compass lights and settled in to our watches, with the plan for all on deck at Rotterdam. As we came down the coast off Den Haag we encountered some twenty to thirty deep sea vessels of all sorts moored, obviously waiting for their time to head in to port. Quite an eerie sight as were a couple of miles offshore and no sign of life.

We made good time to the famous Mass Cent buoy (MN1) and duly called up for permission to cross.

We were told to hold on station for a ship to exit, which was the only vessel we could see and after 40 minutes we called again to be told “Oh yes, sorry go ahead and have a good trip”. They had obviously forgotten us! Crossing Rotterdam turned out to be a bit an anti-climax after all the hype. With four hours on, four off, for Gerry and I, the plan was for Garvin to back up the watches where two sets of eyes were required. This stretch of water, once you

have the route planned is fairly straight forward, buoy hopping and keeping to the preferred traffic lanes, which we discovered at 02:00 the following morning are not preferred but more like obligatory.

There was a 10 square mile wind farm being built which we had noted on the chart and could see way off in the distance with channel marks for shipping.

We had planned a straight route which took us to sea of the shipping channel as there was no reason why not, only to find ourselves being hailed on the VHF by a guard vessel ½ a mile away requesting we alter course. To be fair he was very helpful as we did so and informed us of some buoy location changes and the best route ahead. On this stretch of water with the volume of shipping passing by close at speed, it was one of those rare occasions where we were happy to be under engine.

Midday on Tuesday 8th saw us off the Ruytingen Buoy and an uneventful crossing of the Channel.

Hazy sunny weather had visibility down to no more than a mile, so unfortunately the famous cliffs were only barely visibly. By 16:00 we were finally under sail with engine off and close hauled in 18 Knts which felt great. Watches sorted, we checked forecast and reviewed options of port choosing the Isle of Wight as the destination with Brighton as the backup. We had nailed the tide all the way from Amsterdam with great SOG’s achieved and now it was payback especially with the wind on the nose.

Back on watch at midnight I found the breeze starting to ease as we approached Beachy Head against tide, we plugged on under sail doing 4.5 knts but by 02:00 it was engine time. Having topped up with our last 10 litres before we crossed the channel I was fairly confident we had circa 15 litres at worst based on the top up following the trip from Makkum to

Amsterdam…. Well as the engine spluttered and died at two in the morning and the panic and cursing subsided we realised that we were out of diesel.

We deducted the tank could not have been 70 litres either that or we had burnt an excessive amount crossing the channel. Brighton it is, was the easy decision and so began the painful process of nursing along in light wind at two knots. By 7 am the wind started favouring us, went southerly, picked up to 14 knts allowing for a super sail. The Brighton Marina launch very kindly met us at the harbour mouth towing us in to the fuel pontoon where we proceeded to fill the tank, 50 litres not 70! Turns out the tank had been replaced but with a smaller one.

Without a second thought I was up to the chandlery in the marina purchasing two 20L gerry cans to back up the two 10 L ones on board giving us 110 litres to get home, no chances were been taken….

With the engine bled quite quickly we moved on to our birth and as the wind blew up to a good force 7 were very happy to be heading for showers and grub, promptly followed by sleep only waking at 8pm to grab dinner. I must admit to being so tired I could barely stay awake and abandoned the lads in favour of my bunk.

Thursday 10th, the morning saw us looking at a forecast of Westerly 4/5 gusting 6 and not much change, with it to go down until later that evening.

To make tide off the Isle of Wight and keep on track for getting home we pushed on into a good 20 knot breeze and a lovely lumpy sea. Rike behaved as I had hoped she would in those conditions and I quickly knew she was the right boat. With three slabs in and the jib rolled to the equivalent of a No.3 she moved nicely at 5.5 knots through the water, sadly this was against the tide but easy come easy

go. By midnight we were back to engine and sail but chucking along nicely, tide with us a scooting past the Isle of Wight with optimistic plans for a Pint in Falmouth. Other than the distant lights of Cruise liners and the odd cargo ship this was quite a dull night passage after the excitement of the North Sea. We were really on the slog part of the trip and Friday 11th was dull with the odd shower but the wind favourable and mostly under sail. By the afternoon off Start Point we realised that pints and grub were unlikely and at best it would be 3 am before we would be in Falmouth. So an early dinner and discussions were had as to whether we push on home or not. The forecast of SSE Gales in Fasnet and 5/6 off Lands End due by midnight brought all debate quickly to a close and a decision was made to head for Plymouth as other harbours although nearer involved messing with tides. The other thought was if the wind forecast came through and held we would run out of time to get back and Plymouth was not the worst place to leave the boat.

00:30 on the morning of Saturday 12th saw us enter the port of Plymouth with Reeds in one hand, Chart plotter zoomed to the max and eyes peeled trying to make out the navigation lights and channel buoys against the sea of lights ashore. We had selected the Plymouth Yacht Haven Marina as the destination as it was the closest and easiest to get to and came alongside at 01:30 with our collective eyes out on stalks. A beer and sandwiches on board never tasted so nice! We all knew this was the right place to be, as sleep was needed and the wind however never transpired. 08:00 saw us all beginning to rise and mutterings of showers followed by finding somewhere for breakfast which we duly did. We found a super little Caff nestled in amongst some warehouse

buildings where various options of heart stopping breakfast were available at very reasonable prices. This was a pleasant change given the Marina charged £39 for the night. We have calculated that midday was the time to leave as it gave ample time to catch tides off the Lizard and so we duly departed with favourable winds and forecast.

A pod of dolphins joined, entertaining us for some 15 minutes as we made for the Lizard under sail then motor sailing with a determination to keep the SOG up to 5.5 knts. Managing to nail the tide we averaged 7 knts SOG and were approaching the top of the TSS and the Bann buoy by 04:00. With the tide now not so critical and clear of hazards we were on the home stretch. 08:00 on Sunday 13th had us ticking along nicely under clear skies doing 6.2 Knts. Perfect sailing conditions, with those lovely Atlantic rollers pushing us along as we were joined by another pod of dolphins. Nearing the Tusker, at midnight we were back with the tide against us and juggling between engine and sail to keep the pace up so we could pick up the benefit of the tide as we moved up the coast. Around 04:00 on Monday 14th with a turning tide soon found us clocking 7 knots and with the pace back up for the final stretch home. 08:00 saw the last of the bacon and eggs for breakfast and Bray head in the distance. The most daunting leg was left, dodging the dreaded Lobster pots masquerading as empty milk cartons floating from Dalkey Island to Dun Laoghaire harbour. For some reason the place was littered with them and the last thing any of us wanted was a tow from the lifeboat with a rope on the prop. We were through the harbour mouth and alongside on our new berth in Dun Laoghaire at Midday exactly 7 days after leaving Ijmuiden and 8 days and a couple of hours

from Makkum with 780 miles on the log.

From the viewing on the 19th of March to arriving in Dun Laoghaire on the 14th of May, boat found, bought and back in under two months. What a Summer to have a boat in Ireland! Barbara and I spent the remainder of the summer enjoying several short cruising weekends and our two-week holiday from Dun Laoghaire to Kinsale and back at the end of June in the most superb weather. I’m not sure how this season can be bettered but we’ll have to try next year. My thanks to Gerry and Garvin for their support in getting Rike back and for managing me when required.

To my life long friend John, may you enjoy Rike for many more yeras to come. From Gerry