The pictures were taken last Thursday evening from the committee boat at the weekly “Vrijheid” class sailboat race. After including these in my advertisements I had the first potential buyers calling. That is the good news.

3

4

2

1

The bad news is that I am a salmon stuck between salt and fresh water without fish ladders in the dams. I wrote in the previous blog from 13 July that I was planning to cruise north to Friesland. I triple checked the bridge opening schedule. One showed that the Schinkel railroad bridge would be closed from July until further notice, but in the same notice was a more recent scheduled closure for just August 8th. This bridge opens only just after midnight. The other two sources gave the schedule for this early morning at 00.30. My phone calls to the adjoining lock remained unanswered. But when I showed up, just before dark, there were no other boats. Then, from a sailor at the nearby marina, I learned that there is no estimate as to when the bridge will be opening again. An enormous project is under construction since 2022 to add another couple lanes to the freeway. The only exit from my cage is the Schiphol bridge, to the south. It is in repairs and not expected to finish until next year. So my only escape by way of the Tsunami thas has been forespelled for July. Or take the mast down and restep after passing the Schinkel bridge, sail to Friesland and redo the process on the way back at a cost of around $500. It would also add an expense for a potential buyer. I shall not perish from boredom, there is still enough to improve on the boat and I might rent a car and go for a swing through West Europe to visit family and friends. Lisa, daughter #1, is visiting her daughter and family in Warsaw and I plan to drop in for a couple of days in the first week of September.

There is also a NEW twist to my potential final resting place. It might be in wood fater all. After the March 5 2022 Cuban shipwreck, I searched for another multiplex boat. I had hoped to find one of the other two of the four NAJA kit boats I had imported in 1980. For a while some NAJAs showed up for sale in Europe and as relative good compromise I ended up here with #3. My purchase, this winter, after concentrating again on wood, turned out as a good compromise. But I sold my soul to “Fleetwood # 1”. And another NAJA owner in England alerted me to a NAJA for sale here in the Netherlands. If I can find a home for #3 then I would consider #5 and sail # 4 from Virginia to Europe next summer and sell it here, where the ELAN 31 is more popular than in the USA. So, another good reason to avoid boredom.

Another bit of good news is that what I reported in my July 13 blog, the planned January 1st closing of my parish church, is not a fait accompli after all. The small group of “Friends of the St. Augustinus Church” are not giving up yet.

After steady healing of the dental repair, I’m experiencing more pain again. Speaking and singing hurts again. I have an appointment on August 19 for a checkup. It might have been the fault of last Sunday’s choice of hymns. In the Dutch language service were two English hymns, “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” and “Amazing Grace”. Few of the parishioners participated and it became a duet with the Cantress. The same for the “Dona Nobis Pacem” from Mozart’s Requiem.

I moved from Lakeview to Forest Lawn, here in the Yacht Club. My new neighbors could not care less about my problems they are not going anywhere. When that monster Tsunami, forespelled for July, comes I’ll be towing this forested dinghy sothat I’ll get a jump on the rest of you

Alder and Birch

Potted Pot

following in the Ark with just a handful of seeds.

It’s time for my noodle soup with a straw. Enjoy the last day of July and the rest of this beautiful summer weather. And pray that the creek may rise to float me over the bridge. Love from Amsterdam.

On Wednesday I took “Fleetwood III” for her first sail on the nearby Nieuwe Meer (New Lake). Four summers of hard labor and now hoisting the sails was a celebration. I discovered a few chores to fix but I was not disappointed on the reputation the Waarschip-900 has.

First sail on “Fleetwood III”

So, the bow repair was the last major fix to the hidden defects. The crooked seller has by now been served with the papers of the legal action against him.  Today I started on thin sanding the mahogany trim for another couple coats of clear varnish.

The finished bow repair

The picture shows the finished product of my last rot repair job. The laminated arch has once more become a structural part of the boat. It could  have cost me a major accident if I were to have sailed the boat in a storm. Please, take notice of my Dutch phone number. I stopped the T-Mobile service on my US 253- ….number. My service was stopped in June after T-Mobile accused me of not having a valid prepaid account listed. That was days after they acknowledged having received my payment update. I fussed on their FB page and shortly after my account was restored. But they pulled it once again on July 1^st. So, goodbye big -T. You can reach me any time on the Dutch number, and when I am connected to the internet on WhatsApp. You can text me to call you back, I have upgraded my Dutch subscription for 5 Euro a month to unlimited overseas calls from here. That is nearly the same as I paid for Skype which has been discontinued. Now having a way to call overseas without excessive roaming fees, I called BOOST Mobile once again to try and see if I can clear their security idea clearance, to recover the money they stole from my old prepaid account and applied to another customer. My previous failure to identify myself failed because they sprinkle trick details to trip one. This time I came prepared and had a list of all my previous mailing addresses. After clearing the first layer of questions at the Manila call center I am passed to the Security Gestapo agent. After being on hold for 20 minutes a robot tells me that they are so sorry but I need to go the nearest BOOS Mobile office. I tried it one more time, same result. Now the nearest BOOST office is in Baltimore, Md. 4,000 miles away and a 11 hour flight. This attempt to identify started when I was in Guatemala in December. When I got to Fort Lauderdale in March, I called a number of BOOST stores and they all directed me back to the web site.

Now that I no longer am limited to the engine for propulsion, I plan taking off for a tour of the Netherlands, probably head into the former IJsselmeer and into Friesland with stops at Marken, Enkhuizen, etc. I’d like to be able to post for you a video of this year’s Skutsje Silen that starts in de Lemmer, the home of the Mastmakers’ Daughters, on August 6 and 7. From August 20 to 24 is the spectacular SAIL Amsterdam, with the world’s Windjammers parade in the Amsterdam harbour. It is also special since this is the 750th anniversary of the city of Amsterdam. After the horor stories I have decided not to try and mingle with the madhouse on my boat, but will instead BOOST myself up on a telephone pole. If any hardy soul wishes to test the company of a solo sailor, I have a V berth and a a 2nd cabin berth.

There has not been much action yet on my ads to sell the boat. But, as I reported before, I am not under the gun to sell. I may end up being a double boat owner, “Fleetwood III” for the European summers and “Fleetwood IV”, now in Virginia, for the Caribbean winters. I still consider leaving on an extended world tour on # IV in June 2026 with a double parking on # III to transfer my gear and to continue in the fall to the Mediterranean on # IV.

L.R. Jozina, Mariken

My two oldest nieces, daughters of my older sister, came to see me on the boat. Mariken (1960) lives in Amsterdam and she is expecting her first grandchild in December, Jozina (1962) lives in Perth S.W. Australia and is here on a 3 weeks visit. She is expecting her 2^nd grandson later this year. Jozina dug up some pictures from the late sixties. Lisa our oldest daughter is born in 1964 and was not yet a year old when we settled for 4 years in Belgium. Rose Marie was born in Brussels in 1968. Mariken, Jozina and their 1958 brother Dirk Jan saw their American cousins regularly.

I am enjoying the summer here. I am moored in the de Schinkel YC where I learned sailing when I was twelve years old from my uncle Fred, the younger brother of my father. I am moored on the closest slip to the Nieuwe Meer (New Lake) with the best waterfront view. A manmade lake dug in the depression to use the sand bottom for foundations of large residential developments, in particular the one I grew up in.

The sand was pumped in large pipes from the lake. Now the lake is used to recirculate cold water from it’s 25 plus feet depths to cool nearby sky scrapers in the summer and warm them in the winter. Around the lake a huge forest was planted in that same depression period just before  WWII. I remember the tiny trees that are now huge with diameters of as much as six feet. I kissed my first high school love in this park/forest. Besides the lake it has hockey, soccer, tennis facilities, a children animal farm, an Olympic rowing course, etc. Though it is a 15 minute bicycle ride from the center of Amsterdam, I feel like I am 100 km away in the country side. Lots of water- and song-birds.

I sailed here in 2009 from the US Atlantic Coast and spent 5 years in Europe, visiting 19 countries with the boat. And a good part of it was spent at the YC de Schinkel. I now became reacquainted with those members.

Last Sunday my parish church here, since 2009, celebrated its 90^th anniversary. It was also a celebration of the pastor Ambro Bakker’s 15 years of service and his retirement. You have read here how the church and another 4 nearby churches were to be consolidated into one parish located about 10 miles away. Somehow we managed to pay the bills and postpone the verdict but I learned last Sunday that the building will be shuttered on the 1^st of the year and put up for sale. Since pastor Bakker retired we have had a number of priests and deacons lead the service on either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Today the church bells did not ring.

Next Sunday there will be the monthly English service with Father Alan de Guzman. I am not certain how they will adapt to this. Since the church is listed as a historical monument it might become the home of other church groups where God is still an attraction, like the Friends of St. Augustine https://www.facebook.com/groups/1474698250166590 or the Eritrean Tewahdo Orthodox community who use the Augustinus church for their services. See details on this Facebook group link. In that case I may need to learn Eritrean and adapt my wardrobe and brush up on my Ululation (yodeling) that you can hear in the video I posted on the FB link of last Sunday where the Eritreans contributed to the festivity. At least when God is welcome again in Buitenveldert the pews can be dusted and the magnificent organ cranked up again.

Please, pray that this building will not suffer the same indignity as Saint Anna in the municipality of Amstelveen, across the street from St. Augustine, turned into a Micro-Brewery….

Do you like my varnish work, after the 3rd coat?

Varnish on Le Jour de Gloire

Now I am climbing on my (Bow)pulpit and you are excused to skip to the Dismissal Blessing. Four summers of good sailing were stolen from me by the bastard that sold me # III. But just like my three divorces, three shipwrecks, there is always a reason. God has another plan for me and after bitching for a while I have come to gratitude for the new opportunity. I made new friends, earned new skills and stayed out of more shipwrecks and divorces.