“Steel before plastic!”
Fifteen enterprising BISC members braved the cold waters of the Markermeer in Holland on the weekend of 14-15 September 1996 to sample the delights of sailing in a traditional flat-bottomed Dutch sailing barge, or chalque.
For me the weekend got off to a good start by not arriving on board until late on the Friday night. By some oversight I had failed to warn my driver just how bad my navigating abilities really are, and we didn’t arrive at our start point, Muiden, until midnight! Ah well, we found our (small) bunks in the end.
De Vlieter, as she was called, is a 21 ton steel vessel built to carry peat, and first registered in 1903. She is one of many such barges still afloat on Dutch inland waters; the neighbouring vessel in Muiden harbour was built in 1893! The owners, believe it or not, still race these things against each other.
Although not a small vessel, De Vlieter was designed to make the best of a working life in shallow Dutch waters. With both lee boards up she has a draught of only one meter; when they are down the draught increases to nearly three meters. And with her folding bowsprit pulled up she can be fitted into quite tight spaces in narrow Dutch harbours. We were frequent spectators of intricate manoeuvring within harbour spaces that would have given me kittens.
Our skipper, Jan, lives on board for most of the year apart from the very depths of winter, when he retreats ashore to his girlfriend’s house in Sneek. Jan showed us some of the differences in handling such vessels when asail compared to modern yachts.
To begin with, tacking involves coming round slowly enough to allow the crew to take in the water sail (from boom down to water level, yes really!), bring down the topsail (above the mainsail), wind up one lee board, tighten up the running stay on the windward side, loosen off the leeward stay and move it forward, loosen the foresail (in front of the jib) sheet and take it round the front of the jib, bring the main boom across, let down the other lee board, rerig the topsail, rerig the water sail and tighten up all sheets.
After making one such tack successfully, you understand the importance of planning well ahead – 21 tons of steel boat takes some time to change course. You also gain a rather different attitude to modern pleasure yachts if they get in your way – in such circumstances the shout “Steel before plastic” can become a familiar sound.
I enjoyed my weekend aboard De Vlieter, especially when on a downhill run she was coaxed up to the incredible speed of 6.5 knots! I’ll go back again – one day …
Philip Hunt