May, 2010

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May 1 Back in Amsterdam

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

I had a good flight from Seattle via Chicago to Amsterdam. I managed to get some sleep. Because of high winds there were delays at Chicago and I had to run from gate to gate to make my connection. But what was so surprising is that my bags made it just fine. I was an hour or more early checking in at Seatac and I figure that my bags went on an earlier flight to Chicago or via Washington D.C. to Amsterdam. The boat survived the winter well with much less condensation problems than I have ever had in the North West winters when I used a heat lamp to keep the boat dry. This time I used “vocht vreter” a salt/chemical that sucks the moisture from the air and all that had to be done is for my brother in law to stop by the boat occasionally and pour the water off that had collected. It was good to see many of the members of the yacht club here again and to have a beer with them outside on the club house terrace.

This is also the opening weekend of the yachting season here and there will be a couple small boat sail races on the lake. This coming Wednesday is a holiday here to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of the 2nd World War here. It is also the 65th anniversary of the launching of the “”Vrijheid”” (“Freedom”) class a just short of 18′ gaff rigged day sailer/racer.The yacht club here “de Schinkel”has one of the largest fleets of them. There will be a celebration of the boat’s 65th anniversary with races and demonstrations in the “”Y””, the harbor of Amsterdam on May 5th. I plan to have pictures of it for you.

I took a picure of the blooming Chestnut tree in front of the club house and this completes the four seasons, that “Fleetwood” has been a guest here.