Carter 33 delivered from Brouwershaven to Szczecin

The owner had just bought the boat from a broker in Brouwershaven and wanted her in Szczecin before the season. Two of our crew arrived on 20 April 2019, checked the yacht, provisioned and left the following day. The track ran along the Dutch coast to Amsterdam, then inland across the IJsselmeer and out through the Wadden Sea, along the German coast to the Elbe, through the Kiel Canal into the Baltic and east to Szczecin. 701 nautical miles in 10 days, alongside in Szczecin on 30 April. The boat gave no trouble. The waterways did.

High water, closed locks and a bridge too low

We sailed out of season and the water was very high. Many locks were closed, so the daily legs followed the forecast and the lock timetables, not the calendar. In Germany a bridge that the locals said we could pass under turned out to be too low for our mast. A lorry driver can let some air out of the tyres under a low bridge. A sailing yacht cannot, so we turned back and found another way. At sea the weather went from flat calm to strong winds, and with only 60 litres of fuel on board we planned short port stops for fuel and provisions.

The Dutch leg used the Staande Mast Route, the inland waterway network that can be sailed with the mast up. It keeps a small boat out of the North Sea swell when the weather does not cooperate, and it is the reason a 33 footer can be delivered on this coast in spring on a fixed budget. Check it before you count on it: in 2026 so many of its locks are under repair that the route is practically closed. A pity, because it is a great way round a North Sea storm.