Baby Has So Much To Do

Our new sailing yacht

It’s been almost a year since I started to look seriously for my first own yacht. Those of you that know me closer know that this is a childhood dream for me and something that became more concrete ever since I came to the Netherlands. Sailing lessons and a lot of theory classes in the winter months have been part of my life for a while now and it’s all been great fun but in the end it’s all not enough until I have the boat to put it to use. During my cycle excursions I made a stop in Uitdam last September and met an older Dutch couple who had a chat with me while I was sitting down and resting for a while at the beach close to the harbor. They told me they have been sailing all their life and decided that this would be their last season because it becomes all too physical for them in their age. I said, I am actually looking for a boat to buy and would like to take a look. They invited me to go for a sail with them and we had a nice afternoon together. I was quite surprised to see that they actually owned a proper regatta boat which isn’t quite what I would expect for a couple their age. The boat was amazing and sailed even in light breeze amazingly fast. We said good bye to each other and I promise I would come and take a look at it again once it’s out of the water in autumn to see the hull. I went there again by myself and kept thinking about the boat even though I did look at a lot of other ones in the following months. Yesterday evening I found the boat online for sale at www.botenbank.nl and talked to Cherrie about it and she just looked at it and said, well with this name it’s got to be the right one for you, call them tomorrow and ask if you can see it. I called and the older lady told me that she does remember me of course (funny German accent of mine) it hadn’t sold yet because they spend several months in Spain for the warmer climate and just returned. She said her hubby is at the boat right now with 3 or 4 appointments of people that all want to buy it. She said; just go there, my hubby knows you and it won’t be an issue that you called only just now. So I went there and there were indeed several other people. I just said hi and that I would wait at the parking lot so that they can talk business. Once they where gone I told my old friend that I have been here a few times in the last months thought about that day in September and somehow just knew this is my boat. It’s been on my mind all this time and I think I’m supposed to have it. I told him I would be honored if he would come with us in spring to sail if he sells it to me so that saying good bye will feel alright for him (it’s been in the family for a while). He was happy about the offer and said, that would be great and he would show me all I need to know about the boat. A handshake between man and things where settled. No one else got to see the boat anymore and a dream came true for me. I own my first yacht...

For those who care to know some details:

Beneteau First Class 8

Design: Groupe Finot / Jacques Fauroux
Building year: 1994
Overall lengths: 8.50 m
Length hull: 7.85 m
Lenths Waterline: 7.10 m
Beam maximum: 2.49 m
Draft: 0.70 m / 1.75 m (swing keel)
Displacement: 1400 kg
Ballast: 515 kg
Berths: 4 persons

Sail area:
Main sail: 20.30 sqm
Light Genoa: 18.50 sqm
Spinnaker: 49.00 sqm

The rudder and the keel are raise able which makes it possible to cruise even in shallow waters like the Waddensea. Here are some more information about the boat.

Lots of pictures

The Lounge is Ready for Summer!

I know, I know, another indoor pictures. Even though the weather has warmed up nicely, and we did take Cora outside frequently now, but I'm just not that sort of people who carry camera everywhere, ever-present, ready to snap to seize the day. Most of the time we were just to happy to go outside, and the camera got forgotten.

Besides, this post is not about Cora, but our newly set up lounging area. This spot in the corner that got the most sunshine in the house was always meant to be a lounging area. It's the perfect spot to just lie around and soak up the sun. Even when it's freezing outside, when the sun streams in, it's as warm as a green house. But now it's even possible to open the windows wide and let real sunshine and breeze in. Lekker warm!

It's a spot that I (not so) secretly reserved for my future Eames's La Chaise, but until I could afford it, we'd make do with a huge Fatboy with Marimekko print. It fits in nicely with the space, it's comfy, it's child friendly, we're ready for lots of summer laziness on it (and some bickering on who gets it first)!

More pictures here.

2008 Race of the Classics

More by coincidence then due to research I found out about the Race of the Classics. Cherrie and I have been on Java Island (In the Eastern Harbor district of Amsterdam) not far from our apartment to enjoy the sunshine, to have some cheesecake and coffee outside and partially also to check out the bigger version of the Marimekko Kaivo Fat Boy (basically an enormously large pillow of 140 x 180 cm which would be the ideal to lounge at our window front). They only had a few of the single colored once but we sure are going to order one. They are just brilliant and we all love the junior version we bought for Cora (you can see it in the sunbath album from last week).

So while we were sitting there on the terrace enjoying the sun we saw crowds of students with sailing outfits walking by and though, were there is this big of a crew, there has to be a big boat or two. Cherrie and Cora enjoyed their spot in the sun and I took a stroll along the Sumatra-kade. A dozen tall ships were moored there and soon enough I found out more about the event itself. Nineteen years ago two students from the Amsterdam Academy created ‘The Race’, as students call it nowadays, to promote social relations between students of different universities. For one year, fifteen enthusiastic students who have a liking for organizing, sailing and having a good time, work very hard to realize this aim and to make the event even more spectacular than preceding years. As a result, ‘The Race’ has become the largest sailing race for non-professionals on classic vessels and goes via Oostende in Belgium, Ramsgate / Lowstoft in the UK back to Ijmuiden and Amsterdam in NL. The students, who are directed by professional captains, experience what sailing is like on the North Sea. I just wished I would have studied in NL but even if I didn’t I still love that you can just walk into this kind of thing living Amsterdam on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Here are the pictures

Nice - France

I have been away for 4 days last week for the annual user’s conference of my company. While this kind of event usually provides very little time to actually go and have a look around, I did manage to fly in to Nice a day earlier to keep the morning ours free for a bit of sightseeing before the work bit starts. I have to admit I haven’t really seen much of France yet even though we are now just 3 hours away from the French border. Cherrie and I have been to Paris but that’s really all we have seen from France so far. Since it was end of February when I went to Nice, I didn’t expect warm weather but it was actually surprisingly warm. I was even able to sit outside just with a short sleeved shirt for lunch. The Côte d'Azur is a beautiful place with the Mediterranean Sea in the front and the French Alps in the back. I hope I can take Cherrie and Cora there sometime.

Here are the pictures

Sailing on the Ijsselmeer

This is one of the rather rare posts on the blog that dont have anything to do with Cora. Cherrie and Cora stayed at home today because we didn’t feel comfortable to take Cora out sailing. The weather is really unpredictable and an entire day under deck with a bored baby wouldn’t be fun. Cherrie doesn’t fancy sailing that much in the first place (even though I’m sure she would have liked it today). The second reason for her to stay at home was that there were only Blackboard people and no partners coming along.  It was an event I've been planning and looking forward to for quite some time. Together with my colleagues from Blackboard, I’ve been sailing on the Markermeer with a historical sailing boat this Sunday. Even though the weather wasn’t quite in our favor and the day started with heavy rain, it turned out to be a beautiful day pretty much covering the entire spectrum of September weather one can expect in North Holland.  Our boat, the “Verwisseling” was built in Sappenmeer in Holland in 1924. After initially transporting freight under sail for many years, it was later used as a motorized freighter. In 1977 she became a fully rigged ship once more and was completely refitted and refurbished in order to take passengers. We sailed starting from Muiden (about 20 kilometers from Amsterdam) on the Markermeer. This is a 700 km² lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland and its larger sibling, the IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at some 3 to 4 m in depth, it is named after the small former island, now peninsula, of Marken that lies within it. The owners have been really welcoming and made our time on board a wonderful experience. We helped to sail the boat through quite stormy weather and definitely want to go sailing all together again next summer.

Click to see the pictures

Edinburgh

As you all know from Cherries last post, our new digital cam didn’t survive the first 3 months. This means for now we don’t have any new pictures we can show you. However, a new cam is ordered and should come soon. I finally have my pictures from Edinburgh sorted and even though you won’t see the baby this week you can get an idea of what it was like to be in Scotland. As expected, I spend most of the day in a windowless conference area which, to make it worse, was terribly overheated. That being said, there was of course also the evenings which have been fun. On the first night we went out with one of our American clients (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona I believe) and to my surprise we went to a French restaurant which was in fact really good. If you are in Edinburgh and need a change from the traditional Scottish Haggis (haggis is made of sheep's or calf's viscera minced with oatmeal and suet and onions and boiled in the animal's stomach and no I did not dare to try that), check out the Petite Paris Restaurant. The second night was what Blackboard called the “Client Appreciation Night”. They rented an 800 years old Church that has been converted in an event center and served excellent food. There was even a whole group of back pipe players marching in to the Church at some stage. I think the fanatic acoustic of this old Church and the costumes will be something I always remember when I think of Edinburgh. It really impressed me. I only had about 3 hours time to have a bit of a look around in town on my own after the third day of the conference. This was when I took some pictures and got my two girls some presents from the UK. If you like check out the pictures.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg

One of the good things about working right at Dam Square is definitely that we have always the best spots for events. Today, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg came to lay down flowers for the victims of World War 2. Dennis (My kiwi collegue)took some pictures and I though I share them. This has not much to do with Cora but since I only have one blog, I just squeeze them in here. Have a look here if you like.

Easter monday

This new post of me is not really about the baby. I have been on the baby nightshift the last few days and Cherrie has been taking care of Cora in the morning and afternoon. This gave me the time to use the Easter weekend to make our boat ready for the new boating season. The last 3 afternoons were spent on tedious and exhausting cleaning and complete repainting of the hull. Herman came to visit us yesterday afternoon and helped me to finally lift the boat back in the water. (Thanks Herman, I really couldn’t have done this on my own). So today I just needed to clean the inside of the boat, chain it new to the mooring and mount the engine back on. As if the weather wanted to reward me for all the hard work, there was beautiful sunshine this afternoon. Cherrie didn’t really feel like joining me for the first tour of the New Year (It is sunny but not really warm yet). So I went on my own and made some pictures. If you like you can have a look at them here.