Zeebrugge, Belgium

Johannes and I have sailed through the night from Dover, hoping to reach the Netherlands, however we've since turned in at Zeebrugge, Belgium after slow progress, annoying wind direction (N to NE) and heavy seas. Tomorrow we sail to Flushing, The Netherlands, where I may enter the Dutch inland waterways. Winds over the next several days are not favourable, running to NE, making progress difficult... Johannes has an important interview in Hamburg, and may depart the journey early, which will make the inland waterways an easy option for continuing alone. Since I currently have no time restraints (other than financial) I may just dabble around, possibly into Amsterdam, and then the river Rhine. Currently this is all speculation, since I have no charts of the canal system, however I will not head back into the North Sea alone.

In other news, my phone has died due to waterlogging, leaks have appeared from nowhere, and Johannes' tillerpilot also appears to have taken a fatal beating...

Other than cabin leaks, Constellation has performed incredibly well - We've surfed 4metre waves, running down their faces at 10kts over the ground, yet still the boat distills confidence and good handling. Ah, the sailing life!

nick.