A Mini Adventure

When I found out that my friend was sailing across the channel and up the coast in a ‘very small’ boat, I was excited for him and his chosen companion, but very jealous.

When he told me he needed a return partner and asked if I’d like to come, I didn’t hesitate to accept – the only catch... I’d never sailed before. “Not a problem, I’ve done sailing courses. I’ll teach you as we go,” Steve replied. Great then, let’s do this...

Both of us were up in Utrecht with some friends filming for the first week. During this time I started to ask how small the boat was. However, no information was being disclosed and I was told to wait until we arrived in Zeebrugge. We hitch-hiked down from Utrecht and, luckily, were taken straight to the harbour and I caught my first view of our boat. Steve had said it was small and now I finally realised what he meant. The brand was an Express Pirate 17, a compact weekend sailer dating back to the 1980s. Nonetheless, for 5m in length it was spacious enough to sleep both of us very comfortably and even accommodate an oversized fridge. We plugged it in immediately and popped in a case of beer to keep ourselves ‘hydrated’ for the adventure.

At the local restaurant in Zeebrugge, which I discovered stays open 24/7, we met two sailors that were in disbelief of my friends journey from Ramsgate across the channel and up to Zeebrugge in just 19 hours. A journey, he told me, he did not want to repeat as the rapid sailing was very stressful – not to mention the final three hours of stormy weather that threw the boat around like it was nothing. Subsequently, rough weather and lack of time thwarted his original plan to travel up to Amsterdam.

Crippling seasickness, crippled rig