Wind in the back
This weekend I went on the sailing trip organized by the sports and games committee. Together with 41 fellow Stormers, we travelled to Sneek in Friesland to pick up our boats. My previous experience with competitive sailing allowed me to be a skipper this weekend. This made me responsible for one of the 8 boats in our fleet. After loading all our luggage below the deck, we raised our sails and sailed away.
On the first day, the wind was quite strong and the temperature was mediocre. Personally, I really enjoined this weather because I have always liked sailing in strong winds. The Stormers on my boat didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, due to the amount of water splashing over the deck. The heavier the wind, the more waves there are, and the more speed you get. The combination of these things makes it so that a lot of water can splash onto the boat. After doing a quick round on the lake we headed towards the harbour where we would sleep. We arrived as one of the first boats, so after changing into some dry clothes we helped with cutting some veggies for the pasta salad. After having dinner with everyone, we put the tent on the boat and prepared our beds. We made a fire and had a nice campfire night where we relaxed and sang some songs.
We woke up around half-past 8 and had breakfast on the grass with everyone the next day. We raised the sails again at 10 and started our journey to the next location. The weather was very different from the day before. It was sunny and a lot warmer, but sadly the wind was way less. Luckily it was still strong enough to get to the destination just by sailing. In the afternoon about halfway on our journey, we stopped at a small village to go to the snack bar and eat some nice deep-fried junk food (they even had vegan snacks!). We also got some ice cream and continued sailing towards our sleeping place for the night. After arriving a bit late due to the soft wind, I explored the island (where we were sleeping) with some Stormers. We had some nice wraps for dinner and made another fire. Before going out into the local club that night we played some flunkybal and some watched a bit of the song festival. We went to the club in a water taxi and had a great time. Everyone got back safely and went to sleep.
The next morning was rough for some, but I was feeling fruitful again and excited to go sailing. The wind also picked up a bit compared to the day before and the forecast said it would be a hot sunny day. The weather prediction was correct, so we had a great sunny sailing day. Our destination was the harbour where we got the boats because it was time to home again in the afternoon. It was quite busy on the water, logical on such a nice day for some watersport. All the boats arrived safely and about on time. We cleaned the boats and took a swim. After drying in sun were headed back to Utrecht again.
I had a great trip and I think everyone enjoyed it a lot. I am sure that I will sign up again next year and I can highly recommend it to anyone.
Ship ahoy ;)
