20240915

Dorestad Raid 2024: Anniversary Edition

Final version will be submitted to Dinghy Cruising Journal

Dirk put a very nice compilation of the participants on YouTube.

As the warning lights came on and the engine spluttered again Klarie and I knew that we would miss out on the Dorestad Raid. Somehow we nursed the car back home and dropped it off to be repaired. We were lucky that the owner of the garage offered to use his service van. We hitched the trailer to the car, got back on the road and arrived at the marina just before dark.
Our story was nothing compared to Josien's adventure: she capsized on the Ijssel river while sailing on her own keel to the Dorestad Raid. The Liteboat XP turned turtle and the cuddy filled with water through the hatch. With much of her gear gone overboard she singlehandedly righted her boat and pulled it onto the stony river bank. Her bailer and bucket were gone so she had to bail out the water with a thermos flask. She got underway again, finally reached the fleet of the Dorestad Raid and found a spot by the fireplace to dry her clothes.

The twentieth anniversary edition of the Dorestad Raid of the Natuurlijk Varen foundation attracted more interest than ever before.
For this special occasion the committee hired both the 'In Dubio' of Hannah and Leo Versloot and 'Avontuur' of skipper Odet de Graaf as motherships so that all 39 boats and their crews could be accommodated.
The sailing course of the anniversary edition was largely the same as the first Dorestad Raid of 2004 with the first leg along the fast-flowing Ijssel river between the Hanseatic cities of Deventer and Zwolle.
With old hands and newcomers happily blending in and the weather steadily improving through the weekend the Dorestad Raid of 2024 became a memorable and happy event.

Wednesday 11 September - Arrival

The motherships In Dubio and Avontuur were the first to moor in the Ijssel river in the driving rain. During the afternoon and night thirty-nine boats from the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Czechia were launched and moored to the motherships. Klarie and I were the last to arrive and join the welcome party on board the 'Avontuur'.

Thursday 12 September - Deventer To Noorderkolk

This first leg down the narrow Ijssel river was easily the longest with 40km. With only a light SW2 the river itself flowing at 3km per hour provided the main thrust. It was paramount to play it safe and avoid all obstacles, ferries and freight ships. Lack of wind and the strong flow pulled the entire towards Zwolle at the same speed.
On Hateflats we were once caught by a back-eddy and sailed backwards until I got the bow pointing in the right direction again.
Sander was less lucky with his Midget 13: he capsized and righted the boat only to find it disappearing under water. Sebastiaan and others stood by and were able to capture some of his gear that had drifted away. Fortunately Herman and Eliane were able to tow the submerged dinghy towards the shore, where Sander got the water out of the boat, hoisted sail and rejoined the fleet.
Once past the Spooldersluis lock at Zwolle it was relaxed sailing again. The wind had now veered to NW, the sun was out and we were reaching along the Zwarte Water. Soon we reached the Noorderkolk and tied up to Alain's Minahouet alongside Avontuur.

Friday 13 September - Noorderkolk to Beulakerwiede

The prediction was for a NW3 increasing to NW4. The 24km course took us mostly to the north which meant beating up the Zwarte Water and Arembergergracht and rowing along the narrower canals. The sun broke through the clouds when we left. The river was wide enough for short-tacking towards Hasselt. Klarie and I were able to retain speed during tacks by remaining on our seats. Gradually we crept through the fleet towards the faster boats. We passed Hasselt and reached Zwartsluis where we moored close to Josien and had lunch and a chat. After the Arembergersluis we were surprised to meet old friend and balloon skipper Wim van Beers.
Rowing up the Arembergergracht in the headwind was quite hard as the wind was now increasing to NW4. Once past Zwartsluis and into the Oostelijke Wetering I hoisted sail and we were off towards the picturesque hamlet of Belt-Schutsloot. Here I had to use the single paddle to navigate the narrow canals. When we reached the Belterwiede I hoisted sail again after putting in a reef. It was a very wet ride to get away from the lee shore but after a while we reached the sheltered water under the dyke separating the Belterwiede from the even bigger Beulakerwiede.
We stormed towards Ronduite and lowered the rig when we got to the bridge that opened to the Beulakerwiede. The bridge opened and Vita Brevis and Hatseflats quickly passed. Behind us Jean-Louis got stuck and got entangle with Sally Lightfoot pushing from behind. Cyclists and cars had to wait because the bridge could not be lowered until both boats had left the scene. The bridge operator became very agitated and started shouting. Meanwhile I let Hatseflats drift into the reeds and put in a second reef. While the shouting went on I quickly hoisted the rig, pushed the boat off and short-tacked Hatseflats away from the lee shore. We crossed over to the windward shore of the Beulakerwiede, tacked towards the Walengracht where we tied up along the Avontuur and joined the 'borrel' on deck. Another great day of sailing.

Saturday 14 September - Beulakerwiede to Ossenzijl

A short trip today: only 17km. We sailed into the Walengracht in a light W2. Many boats switched to rowing and were soon gone. Bubbels, Gjoa and Hatseflats stuck to sailing and made up the rear of the fleet. It got better when we turned into the Giethoornse Meer but then we slowly ground to a halt. Onno on Gjoa suggested we had run aground in the mud and soon we were back on track.
Today lots of rowing was on the menu with lunch at the Roomsloot to break the day. It was too narrow to sail so we rowed past a hamlet called 'Nederland' and finally reached the Kalenberger gracht which was rather busy with motorboats. I got into a nice rowing rhythm and passed a couple of raid boats that were being towed. Behind us Frits was keeping up and switched back from rowing to sailing. Finally we reached the bridge at Ossenzijl where we had to wait behind a rented motor yacht and were rammed by a frignthened gentleman who could not steer his electric powerboat in a straight line. We turned right into the canal towards Steenwijk where we moored next to Sally Lightfoot alongside In Dubio.
After dinner we walked to the nearby camping where the variety night would be held. The Idsinga brothers treated the packed house to a hilarious act about the pedal-assisted electric power mechanism on their boat. I played 'Mine Own King Am I' by Eric Vloeimans on my plastic Pbone and Gerben Jan played Hungarian dances on the violin. There were more songs and then the French sailors gave us Edith Piaf's 'Hymne a l'Amour' with Jean-Louis on harmonica. The evening was rounded off with the prize giving and then the tired sailors went to bed.

Sunday 15 September - Ossenzijl to Driewegsluis

The last 6km of our trip took us to the Driewegsluis. We rowed back to Ossenzijl, got the sails up and enjoyed the broad reach towards the Driewegsluis. Here we moored our boats and got on the bus to Deventer to collect our cars and trailers.
Sander and Joost worked together to get more than 30 boats out of the water in only two hours. Afterwards we had a nice dinner in the evening sun at the nearby restaurant.
Another great event and hats off to the skippers of 'In Dubio' and 'Avontuur' and especially to Tineke for organizing the complex logistics and Joost for focusing on safety, planning the day trips and holding the daily briefings for the entire fleet.