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Post by pieter on Mar 25, 2019 7:27:22 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Mar 25, 2019 7:35:19 GMT -7
Dear friends,
This reminds me of a rough sea trip from Vlissingen (Netherlands) to Sheerness (United Kingdom [Great Britain)) in the summer of 1989. Huge waves. First I was on the deck, because I like storm and huge waves and as a Westerscheld and Northsea coast kid, who was used to go with fathers of friends of mine who worked on Pilot boats, tugboats and commercial navy ships and people with sailboats.
But the North sea can become rough and I had to go inside, and the boat was flipping to one side and then to the other side like this ship. It was a tough storm, but we reached Sheerness and I had a wonderful month in Oxford and London, before I returned to Vlissingen, the Netherlands. But I can assure you that being for hours on such a shaking ship you become sea sick as a land person.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by karl on Mar 25, 2019 12:32:57 GMT -7
Pieter
Yes, also my self as a respecter of the sea, I was laughing a bit with you on the bow standing and sea spray. Whilst serving in our fishing fleet so many years past, the first day most always whilst sailing out, I most always got sea sick. Once out with the fleet on the 2nd day, I was usually recovered and after a couple of mugs of our very black coffee, would be normal until the next time.
As with you, also I enjoyed the storms off the North Sea, to dress up with water proofs and walk the beaches in to the wind and heavy rain. A couple of hours out, and the built up stresses, concerns of modern living, would simply disappear. Once to return out of the weather, a new man would appear and that would be my self..
A person never misses some thing until it is no longer is available.
Karl
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Post by pieter on Mar 25, 2019 13:09:02 GMT -7
Karl,
It seems we are made of the same sea clay, sand, dunes and coastal farmland. I can also laugh about my teenage and child years youthfull enthousiasm with sometimes painful consequences. Like falling from a high altitude into salt water (ship, diving board on a diving tower in the sea along the Vlissingen boulevard, on the edge of the Westerscheld and the North sea). Falling wrongly on your belly or back could have corrosive consequences, with a red belly or back from the clash with the tough sea water. Swiming in the sea would be like being poured with hydrochloric acid.
I and other uncareful coastal boys would do silly things, because we grew up near the commercial navy harbour, the fish harbour, the sea ferries, the sluices, the Canal through Walcheren, the ditches of Walcheren, the chanals of Middelburg and the Veerse Lake. We had a sort of youthfull borderline syndrome, which meant we searched for crossing boundaries. Swimming to far on to the Western Scheldt, the Eastern Scheldt and the North sea.
That could be dangerous, because when you swam to far into the sea with rough or calm weather, there was the fact that there was a fairway for the large sea ships that went from Antwerp harbour, Vlissingen harbour, Terneuzen harbour to Scandinavia, Hamburg, British harbours, Marseille or Eastern harbours in another part of the world. These huge ships with their superpowerful engines could drag you deep into the sea. And if you weren't caught by large waves, sudden cold streams could paralyse people and drag them under the water.
In that we during the decades (and centuries) many people drowned in the North sea or the Wester scheldt. The sea gives and takes. Yeah, I love the storms, the huge waves, the white foam of the sea, the sharp sand that cuts into your skin and eyes. That is something I miss in the Middle east of the Netherlands in Arnhem, Gelderland. And that is why I always return to Zeeland, for my parents, but also for the Wester Scheldt, the North sea and these delicious storms. Like you Karl, a new man appears out of my self. I had that situation last week when I was in Vlissingen with some Storm.
In Vlissingen you have Belgian and Dutch Pilot boats, in the start of the video under here you see a Belgian Pilot boat, leaving the small sailboat and pilot boat harbour of Vlissingen.
Cheers, Pieter
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