20240714

DCA Meeting on Lauwersmeer on 13-14 July

This first DCA meeting of the year came together after Sander had asked what DCA meetings were about. What better way to set up a DCA meeting so that he could see for himself?
As I published the dates there was quite a good response. The rain on Friday was bad but all 9 boats made it to Oostmahorn for an enjoyable meeting.

Sander - Midget 13 Vita Felice II
Hubert and Klarie - Norwegian pram 'Hatseflats'
Hans and Margreet - Custom composite ketch 'Weerlicht'
Ben and Yvonne - Stir Ven 'Jewell'
Marten-Jan and Everdien - Chebacco 'Alskar'
Jan - Chester Yawl 'Nessie'
Koos - Artemis canoe 'Wolf'
Rob and Brigitta - Drascombe Longboat cruiser 'Mermaid'
Albert and Rene - Postboat 'Sassie Lassie'

Friday 12 July

In a driving rain we launched Hatseflats at Jachthaven Lauwersmeer. Since the weather was not going to improve anytime soon, some of the other attendees had decided to arrive on Saturday morning. My waterproof jacket was fully soaked but it was not cold so I rowed Hatseflats to its box in the marina. As I reached the jetty, Hans came out of the Weerlicht and helped me mooring my boat.
Hans and Margreet were happy to leave the Weerlicht for a few hours and have dinner at our place 15 minutes away. As we made our way to the parking place Sander arrived in the pouring rain with his Midget 13 in tow. So we invited him as well.
We had a very enjoyable evening but it continued to rain so Sander stayed over at our place.

Saturday 13 July

As we arrived at the marina, Sander was busy putting his boat together. Ben and Yvonne were launching their Stir Ven Jewell. Rob and Brigitta were already waiting on board their Drascombe which Rob had sailed over the previous day. With the current W4 wind it would take a couple of hours to reach Lauwersoog, Zoutkamp or Dokkumer Nieuwe Zijlen, but the return trip would be extra tough with the predicted increase to 16 knots.
Everyone agreed that a trip round the Schoenerbult island would be nice and avoid the worst of the weather. We would round the island clockwise to avoid beating up the narrow shipping channel. Once past the main body of the island we were going to eat our lunch at 'Gin And Tonic Island' just off the Schoenerbult and then make our way back to Oostmahorn.
We donned our oilies because the sky was still cloudy and left the marina on a broad reach to the island. Everyone was sailing with at least one reef. Marten-Jan and Everdien led the way. As we were passing Oostmahorn we sighted Rene and Albert on their PostBoat and they followed suit. As the shipping channel turned to starboard we beat towards Gin and Tonic island. Under the shelter of the trees it was easy sailing as long as you religiously stuck to the shipping channel. I had missed one of the lateral buoys and promptly ran aground with Hatseflats. No harm done. We raised the daggerboard and continued our way. Soon we reached the lunch spot and moored alongside the grassy edge. It was a standing lunch for most of us but at least it was dry.
When we left the shelter of the island we were thrashing about in the waves which had built up on their way from Dokkummer Nieuwe Zijlen. On Hatseflats we were happy with our reefed rig, but had to sit back to keep the boat dry. We looked back at the other boats behind us and saw Sander parked halfway the island and the mainland. Fortunately Rob and Brigitta were looking if everything was alright. Soon, Sander got going again and the whole fleet was moving towards Oostmahorn. After a couple of tacks Klarie and I reached the relative quiet of the windward shore south of Oostmahorn. From now on it was plain sailing to the marina. After successfully rounding the island we decided to eat at Iterij by de Mune. As we were driving to Anjum it started to rain again.
After our meal, the rain had stopped and Marten-Jan walked his dog back to the marina.

Sunday 14 July

As we got back to the marina, Jan had dried his gear and had already gone home. Albert had not planned to sail and Rene found the weather too rough for his Viola. Sander had decided to pack up while it was still dry. So were left with 6 boats. The prediction was for more wind so we discussed our options. The consensus was that we might sail towards Dokkumer Nieuwe Zijlen tacking up the windward shore to avoid the worst waves. Everyone took two reefs to mitigate the extra wind. On Hatseflats I had to bail out the water of the previous night. I set two reefs and we rowed to a quiet patch in the marina where we could hoist the sail. As I hoisted the sail it got caught by a squall and we capsized. I asked Klarie to stay in the boat and started to right the hull. Soon enough the boat was upright with Klarie in it. I had a hard time pulling myself into the boat. The anchor well was filled to the brim and the water was just under the cockpit seats so the boat felt heavy. I decided to row our water-logged boat back to the trailer slip instead of starting to bail out. It was comforting that Hatseflats still felt stable but the rowing was quite hard. When we arrived at the trailer slip the mystery was quickly solved: both our buckets had gone overboard and were dragged by their lanyards.
I bailed out 15 buckets from the anchor well and about 40 buckets from the cockpit. So all in all we had been carrying around 350 liters of water after the capsize. Once the cockpit and anchor well were dry I found that the storage under the foredeck and aft deck were still dry.
In the past I used to capsize my International Moth many times in an afternoon and think nothing of it. My experience after two capsizes with Hatseflats in three years is that if you capsize with a cruising dinghy it is game over for the day.
As we decided to pack up, the other boats had returned as well. The weather was just too nasty.
There will be another DCA meeting on 28-29 September but the venue is still to be decided. So lets hear from you what you want!