Fleetwoods Circumnavigation

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We have lots to be grateful for. This year it was one of the smallest gatherings other than during some of my ocean crossings. On Wednesday we grew from two to three with the addition of one of Lisa’s best friends whose husband was on duty on Thanksgiving. We usually have a much bigger gathering.

Lisa and Roberta

But it reminded me of 1971 when Lisa was 7 years old and the two of us went skiing that Thanksgiving weekend at Whistler Mountain, in British Columbia. I got sick on top of the mountain and had to take the chairlift down. This is one of the scariest memories. To sit in the double chair seats with only the bar keeping you from sliding out into the deep abyss of the downhill view to the valley, with a seven year old next to me. Going up mountain you can almost touch the nearest part of the earth. I immediately went under the sheets in the cabin and Lisa will never forget her 1971 Thanksgiving meal which consisted of a few crackers.

I arrived back in the Pacific N.W. on November 15th. Lisa, my oldest daughter, is my hostess once again. In my last blog of September 13th, I reported that I was going to be homeless from October 1st, since that is the end of the summer season at the Y.C. in Amsterdam where I am moored. I booked for the month of October in a marina where I was allowed to live aboard, north of Amsterdam. But just before my departure, the club sanctioned my stay aboard until November 1st. I stayed those last two weeks mostly with my sister. And a couple nights under a bridge in the Amsterdam Red Light district.

The mast was reset on November 5th. I managed to clean the boat up of all the tools, paints and expoxies to be able to add some pictures to my For Sale add. Take a look. https://cometosea.us/?page_id=7922 The price is right. This your opportunity to have your own home for that trip you planned for years, to see all of Europe, from the water at your leasure. Enough room for a family of five and share it with another family for the rest of the season.  I saw more than 20 European countries that way in 2010-2013. Read all about it on this blog for those years. I am selling the boat because it is not fit to cross oceans but perfect for the Dutch inland waters and European coastal and Med summer sailing. Moorage is paid up through March 31st. I plan to be back on March 28th to take your money and give you the key.

I have found an excellent lawyer to help recover all or at least a good part of the expense of the three summers hard work to repair the hidden defects. If any enthusiast of my forced labor efforts is interested in the pictures of my accomplishment and the extent of the deceipt I can send you the google drive link to the three slide shows of the three summers work. I made these and have a crate of monsters in case it comes to a court hearing. If the seller were smart he’d avoid this but I wonder how anyone, in a sane mind, could expect to get away with this crime.

The search is on for “Fleetwood IV” I plan to check a few boats this week, now that I finally have a phone number here again, as of today. But most likely the East Coast will be where I’ll end up with # IV. More hoice for the type of boat I’m looking for. My first choice is another NAJA like my first and 2nd Fleetwood. There are two of the 4 Naja kits I imported in in 1980 unaccounted for. #3 was last seen, a few years ago, in  the Pender Harbour area on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. #4 was built by a Sacramento School teacher, who, I was told, sold it to a San Diego sheriff around 1990. But this week I happened to come across an old post from the, apparent, real second owner in the Sacramento area, by the name Ronaldo. But so far no further trace found. I may have to prostitute my self and the Fleetwood title and join the grownup sailors on tupperware boats.

Last Saturday I was able to meet up with my Cate-Ring friends who served their last 160 plus meals at the Night Watch shelter in Seattle. Cate and Gabe Lichten and their helpers are continuing their 5 Star meal service in Tacoma, which is closer to home.

I anticipate to be visiting friends in Northern Washington State and the Vancouver area. If I can make the appoitments on short notice, now that I finally have my telephone service. Next to see my friends in Eugene, son in Roseburg, Oregon and Las Vegas. I’ll be under another bridge for Christmas and then might be back to where I am now, after Christmas, with a possibility to use Lisa’s condo while she visits her daughter and family in Warsaw. Then, depending on the boat shopping prospects, I’ll fly to Virginia to spend time with family and friends until my departure to Amsterdam on March 27th.

If you are on my mailing list that I will, as usual, send out today as well, you will have my new US telephone number. If you are not on the mailing list and want the number send me an e-mail to vanommenjack@gmail.com   For Whatsapp, please, continue to use my Dutch number starting with 31-649……

Now, I can start trying to recover my Outlook e-mails that disappeared into a black hole on June 5th. There is still one problem that I had not foreseen. In order to re-open the account Micro Soft needs to send a code to my old cell phone number that I should have been able to re-open on arrival on November 15. After many phone calls and bad directions from the the two previous services, I discovered, by calling my old number on Sype that it was recently reassigned to someone else. Wish me luck that I can change my old to the new phone number.

Since last May there is a new opportunity for the English speaking expat community to attend mass every third Sunday of the month at the Saint Augustinus church in Buitenveldert on the south side of the city bordering Amstelveen.

This all came about through the Augustinus church looking for more worshippers and father Alan de Guzman (S.M.A. =La Société des Missions Africaines ) and his flock of mostly Filipino expats looking for a home. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church also shares the Augustinus church for their mass on Saturdays. In the Philippines many of the R.C. churches have regular English services not just for expats or tourists but the locals as well. The word has gone out and we see a growing interest from other nationalities. You will be treated to the Filipino choir and their well known hospitality. So far, there is always an excuse for them to bring some of their favorite delicacies to the coffee social after the service.

St. Augustinuskerk, Amstelveenseweg 965
1081 JG Amsterdam-Buitenveldert

Corner Amstelveenseweg and Kalfjeslaan, right across from the 1890 Cafe. Parking on church parking lot. Public transport: Bus stops in front from the Amstelveenseweg Metro stop.

Service, every third Sunday of the month at 12 Noon

I became a regular at this church in 2009 when I first arrived from the USA on my sailboat, at the “de Schinkel” Yacht Club in the Amsterdamse Bos, to the spot where I learned to sail when I was 12. I grew up in the neighborhood and emigrated to the USA in 1957 when I was 19. I am in the second picture on the right back row. If you can make it this Sunday, introduce yourself. My standard pew is 4 rows from the front to the right of the center aisle. I’ll buy your cofee. I’ll fly November 15th to the Northwest for Thanksgiving and return March 28th.

Please, check out the add I just placed on my web site and share with any one that may have an interest. I booked my flight for a visit to the home port, arriving Sea-Tac on November 15. With a return on March 28. But I hope that I may not need the return portion if I can find the replacement that I still intent to use for my wild plan to try and break the current record of 89 years to complete an other solo circumnavigation. The Atlantic Coast is my preferred departure location but plan B from the Westcoast would also work. Please, pass on any recommendations you have on either coast. I’m still hoping to find the missing Canadian sister of Fleetwood I and II “Soul Fisher” and the boat I almost bought in Port Townsend, last winter. My preference is for a wood boat. How would I justify “Fleetwwood IV” on a tupperware boat? No longer than 32 feet, light weight, sails easy to handle by a geriatric. The return ticket portion may be used for the potential court case to recover the expenses for this boat from the crooked seller.

“Fleetwood III” For Sale in Amsterdam-Waarschip 900, 30 ft Sailboat

Here is picture of what the cockpit looks like today and before. I still need to epoxy fill some spots and sand and clean the teak and the rubber seams. I tried to recover as much of the old teak strips, the lighter colored edges are new. Putting the two locker covers back together was a challenge. The drainage of the seams caused the most dammage. No leaks any more.

May 13

September 13 ’24

The mast is scheduled to be replaced just before my November 15 departure.

I’ll be homeless again on October 1st. That is the end of the summer season when I was allowed to camp out on the boat. Not sure how I’ll manage. I’m soliciting invitations or house/dog/chicken sitting until November 15. If anyone can recommend a moorage where I can bivouac on the boat for the six weeks, let me know. I will probably have work to do after October 1st on the boat. I’ve kept the interior chores for the nastier season. The bicycle that Evelyn let me use since last year was stolen right outof the gated yacht club. I found a 200 euro replacement on Tuesday.

My next project is tro try and get my 2017-june 2024 jack@cometosea.us e-mails recovered, which have dropped into the Microsoft-GoDaddy pits. I will try to get my 253-441-7204 phone number back for my USA visit.

I expect to receive my absentee ballot in the e-mail in the next days. Y’all know that I’ll be voting for the nominated by the people instead of the two who are selected by the handful of DNC operators.

June 17, 2024 Stop Rot!

This is my prayer. And these two words are identical in both Dutch and English. Thank God that He is multilingual.

I had no idea when I started the project in the cockpit, as you read in my previous April 6^th  blog, how extensive the rot extended under the seller’s cosmetic deception. These pictures tell the story where they just slapped epoxy right on the rot. The work done around the rudder shaft was covered up with a new full length teak cover on top of the repair of the cockpit floor. My pockets are not deep enough and the cosmetics will be sacrificed but the rot will be dealt with. It is still my plan to sell this boat after this three year project and make the seller responsible for his deception. The moisture measurements are taken in the last months. The boat has been under cover from the time I discovered the first leaks a week after I took delivery in early May 2022.

Foam glue sprayed against the rot

port storage locker lid

the back rest of the port bench has become separated

Exhaust through transom

port edge of cockpit floor

Notice spray foam glue slapped on top of rot

bottom of rear storage compartment. No drainage

from standing water. I have raised this and added a drain hole

Around rudder shaft caused by using galvanized nails

Good thing that the discovery started before I left protected waters, I could have stepped through the cockpit floor or lost the keel once offshore.

The weather has been unseasonably cold and wet. All existing records for rainfall in May have been broken.

In my last blog I reported my struggle in getting my residential permit. That has been resolved and I am no longer restricted to the maximum 90 day visits. But besides wanting to get the project finished, finding a home for the boat and learning how to sail again, I am getting pressure from the club where a few members are fussing about my project. So, my apologies to my friends and relatives here in neglecting you for now.

There is a very different membership here at the YC  than what I was used to in the 2009-2014 Europe visit. The majority of the newer members are now the small powerboats called “sloepen” which have taken the place of day sailors and cabin cruisers.

Gone are the twice yearly weekend visits to Marken, where I participated in, with handicap rated cabin cruiser sailboat racing. The new younger sloep members are less involved in the social aspect and it is hard to assemble them into the expected work parties. This is not unique to this club and happening worldwide.

This club still has about 20 “Vrijheid” (Freedom) class 18 foot day sailors that compete every Thursday evening, in season.

Thursday Schinkel

On opening day, in May there was a sail-by (in Dutch “Admiraalzeilen”) to honor the commodores of the three  adjoining Yacht Clubs. “Amsterdam” , where I did the bottom repair in 2022, “de Koenen” and “de Schinkel” where I am now and where I am again a member. Afterward there was a party at the “de Schinkel” YC. In the line was an attractive lady that made eyes with me while in line to the club’s bar counter. She looked familiar but I could not place her. Turned out we met on August 23^rd in 2012 in Lyon, see https://cometosea.us/?p=3296 also read the August 24 post. Small world. She keeps her boat at “de Koenen” next door. That turned out to be my lucky evening. I got into a conversation with another boater from “de Koenen”, Annemarie. The next Sunday she was sitting one pew ahead of me at my regular service at the St. Augustinus church. We have become buddies. Since this church will be closed the end of the year, there is now a transition period where the four churches in this part of the Amsterdam suburbs will have service every other Sunday on different schedules and we can in the meantime alternate on the on-schedule for the other two churches. This will add about 20 minutes to my bicycle ride. Anne Marie lives close to me and I ride the bike to her home and drive in her car to the alternate church.

One thing I observed is, that I did not recognize any familiar faces of the St. Augustinus parishioners at their new home. Not sure where they were. Watching on Zoom?

I believe that there is a common thread with the social community decline in the YC membership I observed above. What the empty churches need to be filled is a 9-11 when for a while we had standing room only or a good little WW III. Read: https://cne.news/article/2494-spiritual-revival-in-ukraine I have vivid memories of WW II where we as children sat on the stairs to the pulpit to make room for adults. That slowly changed and the Christian Reformed, we attended, and the Roman Catholic church are replaced by apartments in the seventies. Right after yesterday’s service the church and parking lot filled for an English service by a Filipino priest, most of the attendees were from the Phlippines, with some Nigerians very similar as I have experienced in Istanbul, Athens and Geneva. I plan to attend at the next English service. The Augustinus church also is home to a flock of Eritrean Orthodox Catholics. There is a good chance that these groups will be able to at least keep the lights on in this magnificent building.

Annemarie suffers from Aphasia and our communications are limited. Very frustrating for anyone and it also involves chronic head pain. She worked 40 years for KLM and has seen a great deal of the world. She is 6 years younger than me. Her social contacts have been drastically reduced. But I appreciate the limited time I have for a break in my project. She has a great sense of humor and her home is an oasis from the mess in my home. She has an impressive art collection, looks like a branch of the Amsterdam municipal museum of modern art.

I attended the 79^th memorial of the liberation of Camp Dachau, where our mother was one of the survivors, on April 20^th. Pictures and speeches can be seen at: https://www.dachau.nl/nieuws/dachauherdenking-2024 I wished that the speech of the Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema would have been shown as well, excellent, typical for a Frisian female. This year the annual event was combined with an identical group for the Neuengamme concentration camp where thousands of Dutch political prisoners perished, including the boss of my mother’s resistance group, Henk Dienske who was arrested exactly 80 years ago on April 20. The military army band played the customary national anthem. Last year my sister and I planned to sing it but I fumbled for the text and no one else sang along. This year I had re-learned it by heart and shamed my former compatriots as the only singer. By now you know that I am a very timid shy old man, but sofar my lungs do not need artificial articulation. If there happened to be any one else I would have drowned them out anyway. Since 2016 the US Consulate no longer participates in laying a wreath as the representatives of the US liberators of Dachau. In 2015 I was invited afterwards to the consulate, see https://cometosea.us/?p=5270. This was the second conmemoration without any Dachau survivors in attendance.

This time a couple more “small world” encounters for my next book. One of the speakers is the current mayor of Leeuwarden, the Frisian capital, Sybrand van Haersma Buma, his grandfather was the mayor of Wimbritseradeel where our mother’s birth is registered. And the father of Sybrand was succeeded by my cousin Siebold Hartkamp as the mayor of Sneek, another Frisian city. The second new acquaintance made on this day is Kees Sietsma whose oldest brother survived Dachau; an uncle and two older half brothers perished as political prisoners. Kees Sietsma as Police Commissioner in Amsterdam was instrumental in the rescue of the Heineken heir hostage drama in 1983 and solving the murder of the for ransom captured Gerrit-Jan Heijn, heir to the biggest super market chain in The Netherlands, in 1987. https://geschiedenis-winkel.nl/p/kees-sietsma-uit-de-schaduw/ He is on a retired busman’s holiday in an unsolved case of an attempted execution by the resistance of a Nazi tobacconist who apparently infiltrated a resistance group in my neighborhood. This group was organized by the family members of Kees Sietsma who never came home alive. The unsolved mystery is how the tobacconist Hendrik Lavell managed to live happily after. I have not gotten any further by the surviving contacts in my old neighborhood.

Playing “Abide with me.” The Hymn my mother and the 86 women sang in the cattle car, on their way from the Vught to the Ravensbruck camp on Sept 6, 80 years ago

The row of speakers. I stood behind them, wave at me in the videos.My sister Karolien turned 90 on May 22^nd. It was a great party. My niece and nephew and their children helped to make it another great party. The display of the baptismal gown was first made for Karolien, and apparently a second one was made for me or my twin and last used in 1958 for Dirk Jan, her first child.

L.R. Lukas de Ruiter, me, Karolien, Dirk Jan de Ruiter, Phoebe Ohayon and her mom Mariken de Ruiter

baptismal gown 1934

Karolien with her Oma (grandma)

While I am writing this my late night squatter shows up. Started a week ago. I have not been able to introduce myself. He/she jumps aboard and then rustles through all the parts and pieces. It has claws and sounds heavier than a cat. Possibly a pregnant one who is looking for a birthing spot on my berthing spot. No racoons in Holland.

DO NOT use jack@cometosea.us in writing me. I am temporarily using vanommenjack@gmail.com When I brought my 5 domains to Go Daddy in 2017, they offered me a free one year Office 365 Outlook e-mail account. I already had Office and an Outlook a/c directly with Microsoft. I stopped using it. Every year since 2018 GoDaddy kept telling me to get a paid account. But I ignored it. But this year they were serious, about $100  year. So, I asked them to migrate their Outlook back for me to MS. I have spent about 40 hours on Skype, Chat and MS Community since June 5^th and in the end Go Daddy just told me that it is gone. I believe that there might have been a misunderstanding of what Go Daddy was supposed to give me as a temporary password. And then I kept confusing my original account with the GoDaddy a/c. They both have the jack@cometosea.us address. So by trying too many times to access, MS would lock me out for 76 hours. Then I found out too late in the game from GoDaddy theirs was the School/Work version and mine was the Individual type and they have different passwords and different MS Support groups. When I change the password MS will only accept to send me a verification code number to my discontinued US phone number. I managed to add my Dutch number to the original MS Office account, but there is no way to do this with the one I lost and phone or chat is not available.

I am going into some length on this hoping that one of my Seattle friends knows Bill Gates.

I have the added handicap of the 9 hour time difference. I have a bunch of subscriptions on jack@cometosea.us and the error message are starting to pile up in my g-mail inbox, because I used to send with my g-mail address and then had an alias where they were answered to jack@cometosea.us

I uploaded the files, prior to the migration, of the lost version in a .JSON file. I might be able to use to create a new Gmail browser with jack@cometosea as my alias if all else fails.

Best way to communicate with me is Whatsapp at my Dutch phone number

I landed on Schiphol early enough on March 28 to attend the Holy Thursday service at my familiar parish at the St. Augustine church and the stations of the cross on Friday. On Easter Sunday I took bus and train with my 50-lb backpack from my sister’s home in Badhoevedorp to Zaandam and attended the Easter Sunday service at St. Bonifatius church.

St. Bonifatius

The boat survived the unusually stormy winter in good shape. I am back, since Monday, at YC “de Schinkel” where I learned to sail as a pre-puber and spent a good part of my 2009-2014 Europe visit. It is good to be back on my floating home, cook my own meals, act crazy; a lifestyle I am stuck in voluntarily since 2005.

home

I slept in 19 different locations since I arrived on November 15 at Lisa’s home, on two boats, one train, one motel, one hotel, the rest “real” homes. Too many names to post here to express my gratitude for the hospitality, not to forget the many visits and meals at other homes.  Thank you all. I am very blessed.

The work to finish repairing the hidden defects on the boat starts in earnest today. So far I have been catching up on an unending battle to get my residential permit that was started in 2022. Last summer, my application got lost in the system, the permission to pick up the license was granted the day after my departure date on November 15. I was then granted an extension to the end of this month. But guess what? They have no trace of my permit, once again. The only way to communicate is by snail mail. I am going to advertise for a personal secretary with minimum 10 year gaming expertise to deal with the online DigiD maze.

In my previous blog, I had just come back to the Cape Charles, Va. area where I have spent time since I washed up on the Barrier Islands adjoining the Eastern Shore of the Peninsula that runs north and south between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. I made many good friendships here while I repaired “Fleetwood II” from the June 22 2017 shipwreck wounds.

On March 9^th I gave another “SoloMan” presentation at the YC in Kinsale, close to the southern bank of the Potomac River. That Saturday night I was the guest on the yacht of Harry and Cathy Coorens in the Blue Water Marina in Hampton, Va. We met in Cape Charles in 2018. Harry is also raised in the Netherlands. Last summer they looked me up in Zaandam.

View from Coorens residence

The three of us attended mass on Sunday at the same church I wrote about on my blog of the 4^th of July 2020, Our Lady Star of the Sea at Fort Monroe. That day I happened to be sitting in the same pew with Skip and Doreen Grimm. Skip is a walking history encyclopedia and he has been a great help in educating me, particularly the role the Dutch played on the Chesapeake and the James River in the New World. In 2020 he gave me a tour of the historic surroundings and the impressive Maritime Museum in Newport News. The five of us had coffee across the street at the old Fire Hall.

I stayed with my friend Susan Kovacs who lives in Machipongo on the banks of the Hungars Creek. Where the deer and the Bald Eagles play and one never gets tired of watching the watermen work oysters, clams and crab and see the recent full moon set.

Full Moon Hungars Creek

The Palm Sunday service and Saint Patrick day dinner at Saint Charles church were opportunities to shake hands again with parishioner friends I got to know here.

with our Episcopalian neighbors in Cape Charles. Blessing of the Palms

Susan drove me to the Amtrak station in Norfolk on the 26^th for a ride to Quantico, the marine base just south of D.C. My new friends Jack and Scottie Foster drove me to their home in Warrenton, Va. Scottie is the Bauernmalerei art teacher of Cathy Crowley I reported on in my previous blog. Just like my experience with the Crowleys in Napa, we share the same interests and values as sailors and Christians.

Bauernmalerei. 4 Seasons. “I and my house, we will serve the Lord”

    Jack & Scottie

They drove me to Dulles the next day for my flight to Amsterdam via Dublin. Again, just like the flight to Seattle in November, excellent service on Aer Lingus. Highly recommended, total opposite of my experience with Easy Jet in 2022, with whom I will never fly again.

80 years ago on 4-4-44 

I was only seven years old. This is a date that has left a permanent imprint on my entire life. I still see the posse, with an armed German soldier, coming up the stairs, hiding behind our mother.

from my book The Mastmakers’ Daughters:

“Chapter 30. My husband arrested

A black car drove slowly into the Alblasstraat where we lived on the evening of the fourth of April 1944. The car stopped near our address. A civilian stepped out and asked our daughter Lientje, who was playing in the street: “Can you tell me where I can find the van Ommens?” Now, that was not that difficult for an almost ten-year-old.

The civilian happened to be Maarten Kuiper, a Dutch traitor, who was accompanied by Friederich Christian Viebahn, Staffelsturmscharführer. Later on, we discovered that we had earned the distinction to have been visited by a notorious posse of the German SD (Sicherheits Dienst). These same two men arrested the Anne Frank family four months later. The Frank family went through the same routine as my husband via the SD headquarters in the Euterpestraat and then sent to the prison on the Weteringschans. Maarten Kuiper was also the one to empty his pistol on the legendary Resistance heroine Hannie Schaft, two weeks short of the end of the war. His bloodthirstiness became the fatal fate for the many men picked at random in the “Silbertanne” executions at the end of the war. Kuiper was sentenced to death by the Dutch war court and executed right after the war.

The black booted gentlemen rang our door bell and announced themselves as: “Police” and then explained that they were looking for housing for people that were being evacuated from the coast line, where a defensive system was being built to keep any invasions from the North Sea at bay. Dick happened to be on the fourth-floor attic listening to his clandestine radio transmissions from the BBC. After tramping through our apartment for a half hour, they disappeared across the street to pay a visit to the street level apartment of Henk Dienske’s parents. But twenty minutes later Kuiper with a German soldier came back up our stairs. The soldier had his rifle drawn. They arrested Dick and took him across the street to the Dienskes. It was obvious that they were on a wild goose chase. Dick had never been involved in any of my resistance activities, and for every one’s safety, it was not discussed between us. I was hoping that it all would turn out to be an error. It was obvious that they were on a wild goose chase.  They did not seem to be clear in what or whom they were searching for.

But yet the thoughts of what the Germans could be up to frightened me and my praying started in earnest.

The old Dienske, Johan, Henk’s father was not home yet. Another man, a certain van der Most^[1] out of the Deurlostraat, was being interrogated, in the Dienske home, by Emil Rühl, second in command at the SD Amsterdam headquarters. Dick was brought, with van der Most, to the SD headquarters. Dick was asked what he knew of a certain “de Ridder”. This was the alias of Henk Dienske. Dick did not have a clue. The only “de Ridder” he knew was our milkman who came daily through our neighborhood to deliver fresh milk. Johan Dienske was brought later that evening to join Dick and van der Most. When the old Dienske arrived home, Kuiper was waiting for him. His wife, Jo, had a plate of cereal ready for him and Kuiper let him eat it and mocked him: “Don’t you need to say grace first?” The threesome, Dick, van der Most and Johan, were brought over to Weteringschans prison, near the Rijksmuseum. Each was in a separate but adjoining cell with van der Most in the middle cell. Johan was transferred to a different part of the prison the next morning. Dick’s cell number was B 2.16. Johan’s wife, Jo, was also arrested and brought to the women’s section of Weteringschans prison. Dick shared his cell with an “onderduiker”[2] and Sponmoelee who had been imprisoned for more than two years. The first thing his new cellmates asked was: “Do you have any cigarettes or tobacco?” No, Dick had neither. Dick slept reasonably well on his straw mattress that first night in prison, considering his predicament. Their daily routine was to be woken at 7 a.m. and then to wash their faces from the water pitcher. Each had four thin slices of bread and tasteless coffee for breakfast. The best that could be said for the coffee was that it was warm. Lunch consisted of potatoes and cabbage that floated in warm water. Every other day they were served soup that did not taste bad, but was far too little. Dinner was identical to breakfast. On Saturday, the prisoners received 25 grams margarine, a small chunk of cheese, and a tiny measure of sugar, which was meant to last for a week.

When Dick paced himself, it could last him through Tuesday.”

Laissez Passer

As a background to this chapter: Henk Dienske was the leader of the L.O.L.K.P. in the province of North-Holland. This was one of various resistance groups in the Netherlands.

L.O. stands for Landelijke Organisatie voor hulp aan onderduikers. (see picture). Their function was to provide hiding places, false I.D., food ration coupons, etc., for targets of the enemy, Jews, young men forced into labor for the enemy’s war industry, conscientious  objectors.

We still do not know the exact role our mother played. The curiosity came after mother passed away in 1993. My theory is that she was asked by Henk to take over the role he had assigned to his parents, our neighbors across the street. They lived at street level and anyone could see the couriers come and go with their contraband for re-distribution. We lived on the third floor and access was on a stone stair to the 2nd floor to a portico with three different exterior doors. The couriers, mostly female university students, would ring the door bell in the portico and mother would push a button from the 3^rd floor, she’d keep our interior apartment door ajar, the couriers would drop the documents behind the commode in the bathroom and disappear; mother never saw them. Then mother would meet with, mostly with Henk Dienske present, others in the group to sort the incoming contraband for further destinations. Since the 4-4-44 visitors did not know the gender of the van Ommen they came for and did not know the real name of de Ridder, I speculate that it may have been a courier who was compromised by the enemy.

Two weeks after father’s arrest, Henk Dienske was taken into custody. The S.D. managed to get the identity from someone we all knew. I discovered this in 2009 in my search for information in the national archives about the young Dutch Nazi who worked for the S.D., Sonja van Hesteren who managed to trick Dienske out of his hiding place. This is all detailed in my book. Henk Dienske succumbed on February 15, 1945 in the Beėndorf/Neuengamme concentration camp.

Mother turned herself in to replace our father on April 25. She figured that since the S.D. had their precious price that they would probably have little need to keep her. Apparently she was suspected to have more to share. She drove their interrogators to desperation, as described by her in the book. Her uncle, the father of her NAZI cousin, the other Mastmakers’ daughter, tried to plead her cause but was told that she would have to be locked up until war’s end. Mother ended up in two prisons, three S.S. concentration camps and was intercepted by the U.S. Army on the death march out of Dachau.

On May 1^st the L.K.P. made a failed attempt to free Henk Dienske from the Weteringschans prison because word came from inside that Henk Dienske was under much pressure and had started to spill details. As you may have noticed above our father had a problem in his confrontation in prison with Dienske. My parents and the parents of Henk were all still in this prison and recalled the commotion of running guards, shooting, barking dogs.

Father was released on May 5^th, , the parents of Henk on May 3^rd.

[1] Philippus van der Most. Dick van Ommen wrote in his diary that v/d Most was very scared. His name has never come up again.

[2] Literally: diver=gone into hiding from the enemy   .

Jack came back to the “Port of Gold”  on the Eastern Shores of Virginia. This is my last stop on the cross country trip I started when I wrote my previous blog on February 9. The first stop was Eugene, Oregon to visit with Evert Slijper my Dutch-American friendship since 1972. Next to visit my youngest son, Seth, and his wife Carly, in Roseburg.

I took an overnight train ride to the San Francisco Bay area to see Bill and Cathy Crowley in Napa, California. This was our first in person meeting. While I disentangled myself from the Covid restrictions in the West Indies in April 2020 by sailing onto the only open shores to U.S. citizens, the U.S. Virgin Islands, I had an engine problem. I appealed to the expertise of my Face Book sailor friends and Bill won a “SoloMan” paperback by accurately diagnosing my problem. In the subsequent contacts I expected that this could bloom into a friendship. And it sure did. I had a wonderful week with them. The Crowleys live in a deep canyon with tall Douglas Firs and Rewdood trees and a roaring creek running through. In this picture you see the burnt bark on the Fir trees from the 2017 “Nuns Fire”.

Crowley’s Nest

Bill is a sailor and antique race car fanatic and a lot more hobbies. Cathy taught Bauern Malerei a skill she learned from her friend Scottie Foster. Here are a couple of Cathy’s pieces:

I flew from Oakland to Las Vegas to spend time with my oldest son, John, and his wife Jennifer and her two daughters. My last stop on the West Coast was to see my youngest daughter, Jeannine and her daughter Gabrielle and my first wife, Joan, in Redlands, California. Southern California was my first home in the United States when I emigrated from Holland in 1957 until 1961 when I was drafted to serve as a foreign mercenary in Vietnam and discharged in 1963.

I finally made good on a promise to visit Texas to see where my oldest grandson, Mark II, lives with his family. His father and step family moved here in 2005 from California. They are doing well and sharing in the robust economy of that state. I was impressed how in the last decennia totally new cities have grown on the plains. Everything is “more better and bigger” in Texas, but a bit monotonous for my taste. My grand daughter in law, Tori,  spoiled me for my birthday dinner with fresh clams, rack of lamb and Tiramisu for dessert.

Vongole alle Tori

God is alive and well here in Texas. I have bitched on these blogs about the empty churches in Holland and the U.S. inner cities. The Christian Reformed church in Amsterdam I grew up in was demolished, so is the Roman Catholic church in the same neighborhood. The church I have attended in the last 15 years in Amsterdam is scheduled to merge because of a lack of members. This picture of the Saint Martin de Porres church in Prosper, Tx. shows a different picture.

St. Martin de Porres, Prosper, Tx

When I was in Roseburg, Oregon it was also a large full church and about 12 adults being initiated into the church.

St. Joseph R.C. church, Roseburg

Last Sunday I had the privilege to worship in a Baptist church in Blackwater, Va. where the grandfather of my two great granddaughters is the pastor. This church is celebrating it’s 250^th anniversary this year, founded two years before America’s independence.

Blackwater Baptst church

4 generations L.R. Lily 2010, Madison 2009, me 1937, David Leon 1989 missing 2nd generation

This Saturday I will be giving a presentation in Kinsale, Va. on Potomac River, for the local YC like I did in October 2021 and last Spring. That evening I’ll be the guest of Harry and Cathy Coorens on their yacht in Hampton and we will be at the Sunday morning service with Russ and Doreen Grimm who I met in this historical church, St. Mary Star of the Seas, at Fort Monroe on the 4th of July in 2020. Just in case you have missed my point that churches are the best places to make lasting friendships: at the Feb 25 th service in Texas at St. Martin de Porres I met the “R-Quad Squad”.

R-Quad Squad

I asked the handsome dude on the left: “How old are you?” answer: “Six”. So I turned to the taller brother and said: “You must be the oldest” answer: “NO”. Next I turned to my last try, also “Six”. Turned out they are quadruplets. And all their names, including dad, Robert, start with an “R” . The sweet sister is Rosslyn.

I am set to return to my “project” home in Zaandam on March 28. But until now I have no definite prospects to return to the YC “de Schinkel” in Amsterdam. I might have to find an alternative as the “Flying American”.

Tomorrow is Lunar New Year. The first day of the Wood Dragon. Today is the last day of the Water Rabbit. And he/she will not be back for another 60 years.

To all my Asian friends:

For the story on how the Cat got out of the Bag read an interview that was published to day in the local Gig Harbor paper. I am very grateful to the author, Chapin Day, because he understands what drives me and what I’d like to preach. He is a sailor himself. Until now I would describe my pulpit sermons here as what Jezus went through in Nazareth, “Not a prophet in my home port” Luke 4:24.

I dropped a teaser in my two previous blogs that I am looking for an other boat for a new adventure.

It is still in the form of my dream world. But dangerous enough. A few dreams in my life have come true and many prayers have been answered. Like the one that started as “Around the World before Eighty Years” which ended up as “at Eighty” instead of “before Eighty”.

The new slogan is “at Ninety Years”.

The oldest person who solo circumnavigated, is Harry L.Heckel,Jr., he did his first Westward and finished it at 78, the second one was started at age 78, an eastward voyage, and finished at age 89 in 2005. He wrote a very interesting book about both voyages “Around the World in 80 Years”. I read the book last November. I had always assumed that he had started at an older age. I will be 87 at the end of the month. My plan is to cannibalize/sacrifice part of my first circumnavigation. The part from the Puget Sound to Fort Lauderdale I sailed in 2016 when I was 79 and finished at 80.

The good thing about this is that I might never be beaten in my living years. Harry Heckel passed away February 7th, 2014 at age 97. The youngest sailors records keep being broken through the rest of their lifes….

That is why I am looking for “Fleetwood IV” on the Atlantic Coast or Great Lakes. And sail East through the Med and Suesz canal, after the Houthis have cleaned out.

My wish and prayers are for another multi chined plywood boat like my two NAJAs. I absolutely believe that this is the easiest boat to sail for an old man. Because of the light displacement and better speed than a fiberglass boat. If I can find one elsewhere I may sacrifice the route for it.

But first I have to get “Fleetwood III” sail/sale ready and find a good home for it in the Netherlands. Keeps me in shape.

I’m leaving today on the train to Eugene to meet friends and spend part of Lunar new Year and most of Super Bowl Sunday with my youngest son Seth and his wife in Roseburg, Or. And catch the night train to the S.F. Bay area. From there onto las Vegas to be with my oldest son and his wife and her daughters. Next onto Southern California, Texas and my 2^nd home in Cape Charles, Va. Back in Amsterdam on Maudy Thursday.

Lisa moved from Federal Way to Puyallup on the 1^st of the month. Good move. I went to my new parish at All Saints here, on Sunday. Very well attended and many young families. But I will miss the friends I made in Federal Way at St. Theresa parish. The group of friends from this church with whom Lisa and I have helped out at the feeding of the homeless in Seattle, with Cate’s Cate-Ring service will continue with Lisa and my occasional visits back to the North West. Cate and Gabriel gave me an early birthday/sendoff party on Sunday.

Mango Cake by Cate

Hardly a dull day this coming week, hungover on Monday from the Super Bowl party and on Ash Wednesday/Valentines Day  from Mardi Gras.  “Laisses les bon temps rouler”

And to all the Girls I love and Loved Before.

Since my previous blog, shortly after my 15 november arrival back in home port, I have had a great visit with my oldest daughter, Lisa. Her son Tyler and my youngest daughter Jeannine came up from Southern California to join us for Thanksgiving. Christmas was also a family and friends reunion. On New Year’s day I had my first “oliebollen” since 1986. And they were baked by a Nigerian friend where they are called Puff Puffs.

Oliebollen

After a week of a deep freeze, ranging  from minus 12 at night to minus 5 Centigrade by day, the thermometer rose above freezing today.
Since we moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1970, I have never experienced an opportunity to ice skate in the open air in the N.W., with one exception in February 1972.
I made a few passes on the large pond at the Weyerhauser Co campus in Federal Way, where I had worked until 1971. A security guard chased me
off the ice. Lisa was then seven years old and Rose Marie had just turned four. Lisa turns 60 in April this year.

The same excitement as I experienced in the forties and fifties when the canals and lakes froze over in Holland, hit me on Saturday.
I tried on the same Frisian “doorloper” skates on which I had skated in February 1956, the year before I left for the USA.
That was on a 100 k.m. course called the 11 Village Tour. A poor men’s substitute for the famous 200 k.m. 11 Cities Tour ( 11 Stedentocht).
The most coveted skating accomplishment for a Dutch(wo)man. The event was started in 1909 and the fifteenth tour was held in 1997.
Since that year the conditions have not allowed another race and tour to be skated. My uncle Jan de Vries is one of the very few who managed
to get a gold medal, for the fifth completion. In his prime, 3 events were held in the first three years of the 2nd World War. My skates had been converted to a wall decoration by Lisa. The original ribbons were discarded and the old leather straps broke when
I tried tying the skates to my boots. So, I cannibalized an old pair of boat shoes for the leather straps and used the shoestrings.
Conditions were perfect, no snow on the ice and a cold bright sunny day. Panther Lake is just down the hill from where Lisa lives;
except for a couple dogs there was no one else on the ice. I was convinced that after 5 days of freezing it would be perfectly strong
but when carefully testing a few cracks appeared. I suspect that 70 years ago I skated on regular shoes. But when I tried this the laces
cut into my insteps, But the boots I now used did not fit the skates well. I took 11 steps onto the ice and you will see the rest of the
story on this you tube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gTC5X4rlvI

As far as I got

Just before the cold spell, I took the PM-Trak to Portland on Friday the 4th and returned the next morning to Tacoma on the AM-Trak.
I gave a presentation at the Sauvie Island Yacht Club. Nice group of sailors. They broadcast their monthly meetings on Zoom so that their
diaspora of members in exotic places can participate. I spent the night on Gene Johnson’s Tayana-42, one of the members. Gene is fairly new
to sailing. He uses his car mostly for storing his bicycle and outdoor gear. Instead of using lifts, which are now no longer affordable in
the North West unless you are in the higher pay grades of Microsoft or Amazon, he hikes up to ski down. His plan is to sail the Northwest
Passage and ski the surrounding higher elevations.
The marina on Sauvie Island is 100% Rag Boats. I like that. The Island is just West of Portland adjoining the Columbia River.
From Tacoma, I rented a car and drove up north to visit friends north of Seattle and in Vancouver, B.C.

The third NAJA kit I imported in 1980 was purchased by my friend Michael St. John Smith in 1992. He sailed it in the Vancouver area for about
12 years as “Soul Fisher”.
I have been looking for it for a potential replacement. I visited Mike in Vancouver and he saw the boat a few years ago, somewhere
near Sechelt, in storage. Sofar I have not been able to find the owner. If any one reading has a lead, please, contact me jack(at)cometosea.us
For my next sailing challenge I’d prefer to start from the Atlantic Coast but I could be flexible for the perfect boat.

“Soul Fisher”

My travel schedule for February:

Feb 7-9 Eugene and Roseburg

Feb 10-15 Napa, Ca and S.F.Bay area

Feb 16-18 Las Vegas Feb

18-23 Southern California

Feb 23-29 Dallas area Tx.

Feb 29-March 27 Virginia

March 28 Amsterdam

Keep the light on on those days, love to see you again.

An emotional farewell to a 33-year relationship, 5 ocean crossings, over 50, 000 nautical miles, 51 countries and 565 locks.

She was my home and, with the exception of a couple shoe boxes with memorabilia in my daughter’s garage, all my earthly possessions went down in the foaming waves with her.

Photo Maria de los Angeles Pena-Mila

You can read my emotions while awaiting sunlight and witnessing the breakup on the steep rocky shore of the small island of Tagomago near Ibiza in the Spanish Balearics at: “ALL IS LOST” 

I landed yesterday evening at SEA-TAC for a winter visit at home port with family and friends here. Lisa is cooking the turkey and expect to share it with 9 other guests. Jeannine, our youngest daughter, is driving up from Southern California.

To-day’s flight was one of the best economy flights I have flown across the Atlantic. The good old days of UAL buddy passes and ending up in Business Class are history. This flight was on Aer Lingus Amsterdam-Dublin-Seattle. Easy booking, check in, good service and price and I was able to book the return flight from Dulles D.C. on March 27^th   to Amsterdam and the inbound flight at the low round trip prices. The other plus on Aer Lingus is that the US customs and the TSA have a station at the Dublin airport just like Vancouver B.C. and I was out of the Sea-Tac airport, with my checked in baggage, 20 minutes after landing. The flight left Dublin at 16.30 near sunset and landed at 17.30 at sunset.

Chasing the Sunset

I expect to be in the Northwest until the end of January and then work my way down to Southern California and make stops along the way to see my two sons and friends.

I am giving a presentation at the Sauvie Island YC in Portland, Or on Friday evening January 6^th. I’m open for more of these. I need the books royalties.

As I wrote earlier on this blog, I plan to fly to Texas to see my oldest grandson and family and friends in February and visit Cape Charles, Va. in March and my grandson and my great granddaughters in Portsmouth, Virginia.

It was starting to get chilly on the boat in Zaandam. But, with the help of a marine mechanic, we managed to get the old Webasto forced air diesel heater working. October and November turned out to set rainfall records in Holland. With the deck leaks repaired, all I have to keep well covered is the cockpit area where my next project requires replacement of substantial areas where the seller managed to skillfully hide rotten areas and leaks. My plan is to sell the boat as soon as I have these repairs done, hopefully before the end of the summer.

Start keeping your eyes out on the US Atlantic coast or Great Lakes for a replacement that is seaworthy, max. 32 foot and preferably a chined plywood construction to complete a new adventure that is brewing and keeps me excited after the three year project I got suckered into. It is not all bad, as I have become accustomed to that there is always a reason for a setback. I have learned some new skills and am reinforced by the accomplishments.

I have jumped through many hoops to try and get my Netherlands residence permit. It was approved in April, I got photographed and fingerprinted in May and was told that I should have the permit by June 27. In August I contacted the authorities. No reply. Then in October I was told to go do what I had accomplished in May, apparently they lost me somewhere. But shortly after I was told that I could make an appointment to pick-up the document. But I could only do this with a DigiD number which has been bouncing across the Atlantic for the last three years trying to catch up with me. I got a hold of it a week before my yesterday’s departure and with my luck the earliest appointment I could secure was for today….With my luck they’ll have me start the process all over when I return in April. But, what the heck? I managed to stay longer than the 90 day Schengen limit, this year and last year.