Ostern Sailing 2025
На русском. 🇷🇺
5-day trip of 9 people on a yacht through canals in the Netherlands.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
About a year ago, I had an idea to sail one of the Frisian Staande Mast Route or Fixed Mast Route — in other words, along the canals and lakes through Friesland on a sailboat with a raised mast. I was very attracted by the opportunity to stand moored in the city center, and not somewhere in a marina on its outskirts.
Last October I went on what you might call a reconnaissance trip. My friends and I chartered the motor houseboat Le Boat in Hindeloopen for the weekend and sailed through the canals and lakes to Leeuwarden and back, thereby getting some idea of the route ahead.
This time the plan was to sail from Lemmer to Harlingen via the canals in three days, and then return to Lemmer by sea in two days. Looking ahead, I will say that this is what happened in the end.
The Staande Mast Route from Lemmer starts at the Prinses Margrietsluis lock, continues through the Groote Brekken lake, goes further along the Prinses Margrietkanaal canal, reaches the non-working lock at Terherne, and continues into the Nije Wjittering canal. Then, near the town of Grou, the route turns north into the Eagumerdjip canal, which passes the village of Vergea. Then, southeast of Leeuwarden, the route enters the Van Harinxmakanaal, which leads west to Harlingen and ends at the Tsjerk Hiddessluizen lock.
However, at the very beginning of the route, back in Prinses Margrietkanaal, there is one obstacle: the bridge with the unpronounceable name Uitwellingerga has been closed to both land and water transport since last year. It does not open due to the poor condition of the structure. There are several detour options, but ships with a mast are advised to go through the town of Sneek, which adds several miles and four bridges to the route.
In preparing for the hike and collecting information, I used maps of Friesland and Internet resources. I especially liked the website: https://www.vaarweginformatie.nl/frp/main/#/geo/map?layers=BRIDGE — I recommend it to everyone who is going there.
For the trip, I took a large fifty-foot Bavaria from Enjoy Sailing with a draft of 1.9 meters and a mast height from the waterline of 21 meters.
I arrived in Amsterdam by overnight bus from Berlin. Later, I met Dima (the captain) and Sasha at the airport, and from there, we went to pick up the boat in Lemmer.
In Lemmer, we split up: Dima and Sasha stayed to deal with the boat, while I took Dima’s car to get groceries. At Lidl, I met three more participants who had just arrived: Nastya, another Sasha, and another Dima (the cook). We quickly gathered everything on the list and headed to the checkout.
When we returned to the boat, everyone was already there. Vitya, Anya, and Lyusya had arrived.
The boat was mostly fine, but the captain noticed that the engine’s water cooling system was suspiciously weak in outputting water. The office decided it was a temporary issue, and we could set sail.
We cast off and sailed about 50 meters when we noticed the office mechanic waving his arms. We had to return to the dock. It turned out the cooling circuit was closed, and water wasn’t flowing. After some effort and replacing parts, the issue was fixed, and we set sail again.
It was around 5 p.m., and we sailed to a mooring in Heeg. There, we had a hearty dinner on the boat, watched the sunset, and went for a walk around the town.
The town is small but beautiful and cozy.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
On April 17, we gathered with the crew at the Enjoy Sailing base, boarded the boat, and set off rather late at 5:00 PM. If we had left earlier, we could have reached Sneek, but since the bridges stopped operating at 7:00 PM, we decided to spend the night in Heeg. In two hours, passing just one bridge, we reached Heeg and moored at the outer marina. It’s much more convenient than the inner city marina, though not very large. At the beginning and end of the season, there are plenty of free spots.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
On April 18, we left Heeg around 8:30 AM to reach the first bridge by 9:00 AM, as the bridges started operating at that time. That day, we passed the most bridges—17 in total: one between Heeg and IJlst, one in IJlst, three in Sneek, four in the Grou area, one in Wergea, three approaching Leeuwarden, and four more in Leeuwarden itself. By 3:00 PM, we had moored in the city park beyond the Vrouwenpoortsbrug bridge. The park has two restrooms: one in the south—a green building by the canal—and one in the northeast, in the same building as the harbormaster’s office.
That day was the only time during the entire trip that we softly ran aground. Leaving IJlst, my helmsman veered right to avoid a rowing boat and slightly grounded us. To get off, we tilted the boat: I hung a 20-kilogram dinghy on the boom’s end over the starboard side and asked the entire crew to move there as well. It worked without any issues.
We passed the bridges that day either immediately or with short waits of up to 10 minutes.
The park where we moored in Leeuwarden is beautiful and pleasant, with a local landmark nearby—the leaning tower. However, it was quite a walk to get to the toilets/showers.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
On April 19, we set off a bit later, around 9:30 AM. The bridges were already in full operation. We left Leeuwarden and headed along the Van Harinxmakanaal toward Franeker. Just before Franeker, we encountered the Stationsbrug bridge—one of only two bridges on the entire route that operated strictly on a schedule. We were unlucky: we arrived right at the start of its longest break and had to wait 25 minutes.
We arrived in Franeker around noon and moored at the start of the bypass canal. We couldn’t visit the famous planetarium, as it required advance booking. However, we had a great time at the Martena Museum, where we could try on 17th-century costumes and take awesome photos in authentic settings. Afterward, we ate some kibbeling on the street and returned to the boat.
At 3:00 PM, we cast off and headed toward Harlingen. Up until then, we had been motoring the whole way, but after the Kiesterzijl bridge, a 10-knot northerly wind picked up, and we decided to sail for a bit. It didn’t last long—just over a mile—because soon the Koningsbrug bridge loomed ahead, signaling our arrival in Harlingen. In Harlingen, we passed through the Tsjerk Hiddessluizen lock, two more bridges, and reached the northern harbor, where tides come into play, and you need to hang boards between the boat and the wall. In total, we passed 12 bridges and one lock that day.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
On April 20, at 7:00 AM, we set out with the ebb tide into the Wadden Sea, riding the residual ebb current toward the islands. When the tide turned, we reversed course and headed back through Harlingen to the Lorentzsluizen lock. Along the way, we spent about an hour practicing the MOB (man overboard) maneuver: we repeatedly threw a fender overboard and retrieved it. At 3:30 PM, we passed through the lock and by 5:00 PM moored in Hindeloopen. That day, we passed just two bridges and one lock.
captain Dmitry Borodin:
On April 21, in no rush, we left Hindeloopen around 10:00 AM. There was no wind at all, so we motored, following a long chain of red buoys, and by 2:00 PM reached the Prinses Margrietsluis lock. Soon after, we returned to the base in Lemmer. We went through the large lock instead of the city one, as we’d had more than enough of bridges over those days.
By the end of the trip, the captain gave all the crew members sailor books with records about all the previous trips. 📕
captain Dmitry Borodin:
Overall, the trip went smoothly with no incidents, and all participants were satisfied. For me, as the captain, it was yet another new and valuable experience. In my trips, I always try to set a goal to try something new—something that will expand and enhance my knowledge and skills.
Some stats for the record:9 participants
5 days
6 cities (Lemmer, Heeg, Leeuwarden, Franeker, Harlingen, Hindeloopen)
21.5 engine hours
120.4 nautical miles, of which: 93.1 under engine and 27.3 under sail
3 lock passages
32 bridge passagesTiming of the legs:
Lemmer to Heeg: 2 hours
Heeg to Leeuwarden: 6 hours
Leeuwarden to Franeker: 2.5 hours
Franeker to Harlingen: 1.5 hours