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Dear HRC members, From now on, my blog ‘Round Northwest Europe with HR36 Kendu’ can be followed on my website  www.zeilbelevenissen.nl On this website you will find my most recently published blog ‘Dag Zweden’  and all my other blogs published on the HRC site. It is possible to subscribe to my blog. You can do […]

Kendu wins… …in the catergorie ‘Fastest (and only) single handed 36’. We are talking about the Hallberg-Rassy Rally where everybody wins 2023 which takes place on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 June. A great success as far as I am concerned. Not because I won – like every other participant – but because it is […]

Birthplace This week is all about sailing to Ellös. There, for more than 50 years, stands the Hallberg-Rassy yard where my fine little ship was launched in 1991. Every year, the yard organises the Hallberg-Rassy Rally ‘Where everyone is a winner’. Participation in that event has been the only fixed appointment in my itinerary since […]

Swedish style I have never done Swedish style before, so I find it quite exciting. So I take my rest and first have a good look at the situation, how the other boats are doing and what eyes or other attachment points are available on the rocks. I prepared my stern anchor when I was […]

Holiday ‘Seems like a nice little port on a nice little island,’ my father apps when I tie up at Sejerø on Thursday evening. It seemed the same to me now when I picked this destination on my route further north. Against my intention, I had to cross the Great Belt to get here, but […]

Camp Van Koningsbrugge In Helnæs Bugt, I stay at anchor for three nights. This anchor bay, apparently popular among Danes, is large but offers plenty of shelter in every wind direction. Despite it being a long weekend – it is Ascension Day – I am the only yacht in the entire bay as far as […]

Being naughty…! At Æbelø I moored at a mooring for two nights, from Friday to Sunday. I had seen the letters “DS” on the mooring but paid no attention to it. Later I read that those letters stand for ‘Danske Sejlunion’ and that the moorings are only intended for water sports enthusiasts who are members […]

Beginner’s mistake At 20:10, Marleen flies from Copenhagen back to the Netherlands. In fact, we have been saying goodbye all Saturday and when the time comes, it really isn’t fun. Suddenly she is on the escalator and the ‘Only Passengers’ sign makes it irreversible. It was a joy to be on board with just the […]

Off the beaten track In Gedser, we enjoy being in Denmark for the first time in our lives. The little port is simple but already really Danish. The port area is full of red, wooden cottages and it is super clean everywhere. Both the facilities and the entire harbour area. Marleen and I try to […]

To the other side I am delighted with the decision to sail through the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal (NOK) to the other side of Germany. The wind keeps blowing and Marleen and I have had our share of ‘challenging sailing’. So on the one hand it is a pity that we will now be motoring 100 kilometres, but […]

Getting used to it We are in Cuxhaven! That means a change of plans because originally I wanted to go to the Baltic Sea via the Limfjord. But the wind forecasts led to the realisation that the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal is a better option after all. From Helgoland, we therefore sailed up the Elbe instead of continuing […]

Crossing the barrier When I hear the alarm clock go off at 6 o’clock in the morning, I have been awake for a while. Outside, the wind is howling through the rigging and Kendu is tugging at the mooring ropes. And it is raining. Ruben has been on board for a few days and is […]

K#treis! I have just cast off the ropes after a week of maintenance in Kats and am now sailing up the Oosterschelde. Due to weather and wind conditions, no plans yet to head out to sea. For that, I am waiting for the right moment. But still, I am off now. It is Friday 31 […]

Latest maintenance Eleven and a half tonnes. That is the answer to the question I asked myself how much Kendu would weigh when she is hanging in the crane. According to ‘the brochure’, a Hallberg-Rassy 36 weighs seven and a half tonnes. And that would be an empty boat. So we can say that provisioning […]

Already a bit away I’m ahead of schedule! At least, that’s the feeling I have one moment. The other moment, I actually feel that there is still an awful lot to be done. I have always said I will start The Journey on 1 April. That’s going to be 31 March. So I am indeed […]

Letting go In the summer of 2022, I was in France at the little river ‘La Drobie’. Beautiful, mountainous surroundings where the little river makes its way to the sea with many waterfalls and pools. It is a life path in itself. All sorts of things live in those pools. Beasts moving on and around […]

The route and navigation “Oy, it’s really nice weather to sail home….” This thought will be familiar to any sailor. Situation: you have three weeks of summer holidays, have just spent a week on the English south coast and the conditions are fantastic for sailing back. Actually, you don’t have to go back until next […]

Stocking Many people ask me, “So, are you busy preparing now?” And then my answer is often that it’s not that bad. And it is because most things don’t feel like ‘preparation’ but more like part of the usual maintenance and ‘being nice to the boat’. Except for the provisioning issue. When it comes to […]

“….what better year to go on that trip than 2023?” That was Marleen’s conclusion when we had a brief but intense conversation about my plans for the future in late 2021. It was at a time when I was in doubt about possibly rejoining an organisation after being self-employed. My reasons: a nice team, nice […]