Winter Planning: Thoughts on our first Cruise in 2016.

Yesterday's weather was very much the 'stay-indoors-by-the-fire' kind so I spent a bit of time thinking of some options for our first cruise next year.  That cruise will be the delivery trip from Elburg to Pirramimma's new berth and jachthaven sometime in mid to late April. No particular date fixed as yet but I expect it will be about a month later than her trip to Lemmer via Blokzijl this year.  Fair to say that I hope the weather will be much kinder to us this time!

We really have 5 options to choose from, though one of those options is the same trip as last year, viz: via Blokzijl and Vollenhove etc.  But I'm discarding that option for this time around as I think the waterway is so lovely it deserves more time to be able to really enjoy the scenery and the little towns and harbours. Ideally, I'd like to do that as either an early or late summer cruise for a couple of weeks or more. Maybe as the perfect cruise to enjoy with friends onboard. Maybe next year; maybe not.

So that gives me 4 workable options to choose from. Time to get the charts, guides and the almanac out for some further in-depth planning. 

Option 1 starts in a very similar manner to this year's delivery cruise by heading across the Ketelmeer towards Schokkerhaven and then turning to starboard into the Ramsdiep. Turn to port again just before Vogeleiland and head up as if towards Vollenhove. Diverge before Vollenhove by turning to port and entering the Noord Oost Polder at the Voorstersluis and brug. This means we would be taking the inland water waterway via Marknesse and Emmeloord before heading north towards Lemmer. We then exit the northern end of the polder at the Fries Sluis before turning to starboard and cruising back through Lemmer centrum. The cruise continues on via the Prinses Margriet Kanaal before we arrive at our home port. Here's a very rough guide to that journey. (The arrows in the charts following only give a very general guide to the journeys to be taken so please don't think they're fit for navigation purposes!) 
For Option 1 please follow the red arrows...

Option 1.

Option 2 is pretty much the reverse of our return trip to Elburg at the end of September this year. But this time I'd like to spend a bit more than one night  at Urk. And then of course we continue on through Lemmer towards our new home port. Follow the blue arrows this time...

Option 2.

Option 3 once again starts in a similar fashion to our trip in March via Blokzijl and sees us crossing the Ketelmeer and heading to starboard along the Ramsdiep. But this time, we continue in an easterly direction towards Zwartsluis. We take the north arm via the Meppelerdiep before veering to port and the Beukersgracht and heading to Giethoorn. Then up to Steenwijk before turning to port again and following the Kanaal Steenwijk Ossenzijl. From Ossenzijl we retrace our March trip again via Echtenerbrug and the Tjeukemeer, the Prinses Margriet Kanaal etc. 

Prime objection to Option 3 is that the Giethoorn/Steenwijk/Ossenzijl component would be combined with the Blokzijl/Vollenhove component of the previously mentioned but discarded fifth option. It really would make for a lovely circular summer cruise.  Follow the purple arrows... 

Option 3.

So that leads us on to Option 4. Here we follow our course back to Urk, staying in the Urk haven for a couple of nights before heading north towards Stavoren and the Johan Friso Sluis. I rather fancy a couple of nights staying on the inner side of Stavoren. We visited the town by car earlier this year and thought it was lovely. There's a good selection of moorings available just on the eastern side of the town. Then the cruise continues in a north easterly direction along the Johan Friso Kanaal towards our new home port. Black arrows point the way...

Option 4.

I think at this moment Option 4 is my preference but if it's blowing a hoolie and/or there's a wind against tide issue on the IJsselmeer then it might not be so nice. The boat is more than strong enough to cope with bad weather as she is Category B and the crew are also strong enough. But frankly, who needs to bash through rubbish conditions if you don't have to. Not this little black duck! Been there; done that. The other point about Option 4 is that if the weather is absolutely atrocious then we can always turn it into Option 2 and head up via Lemmer. Or stay in Urk for a bit longer. 

However, that's what weather forecasts are for! And I'll be watching them pretty closely come the time. 

Obviously it's impossible right now to say or even guess which course we'll opt for when the time comes. All of these options will be enjoyed over at least 3 days with some overnight stays 'somewhere' along the way. And with plenty of choice for these overnighters, we can probably make that particular decision at the time. 

Unless, of course, it's a weekend and the sun is shining. In which case I'll need to book in advance if we want to stay in, say, Urk haven. This lesson I learnt on our trip from Lemmer to Elburg in September this year. Sunshine = busy on the water = busy in the havens and restaurants!

Next up in my planning schedule is to spend some time on the internet to investigate towns and havens along the various routes. And oh yes, that means I'll be investigating all the restaurant choices as well! Then more time checking the Almanac for all the necessary information on brug/sluis/haven etc. Then making lots of notes for my own reference and planning; my little notebook is becoming a really useful reference manual.

Half the fun is in the planning and the dreaming! Happy days, my friends.

Vxx