Lowstoft

We reached midpoint between IJmuiden and Lowstoft at 0600 on
Tuesday...! The weather was beautiful with the crew fallling into an
easy routine.
Our previous try early on Sunday had shattered on heavy seas, head-on
wind and our self imposed trip limit of 24 hours to reflect our small
and unexperienced crew.
After reaching the shipping lane, we retired to Texel and pondered our
options. We decided leaving with the tide again on Sunday to make a 14
hour nightly dash across the IJselmeer to IJmuiden to benefit from the
fair weather and southerly winds forcasted there for late on Monday.
This worked fine and provided a good night sailing drill for the crew.
We departed IJmuiden around 1900 on Monday night. It was a beautiful,
quiet night, with perfect 10-12 knot S winds and a calm fluorescent
sea - a dream ride.
The second half of the leg had wind increasing to 20 knots which made
for a 'sporty', but smooth arrival through the Stanford Channel into
Lowstoft harbour around 1530 local time - a 21 hour run.
Lowstoft itself is no high point. The town is clearly past it's
glory... Still, we feel pleased about our sailing and the team is
doing great. We went into the first pub in full sailing gear and
enjoyed cod & chips...