Day 6 Go Jump in the Lake at Kudelstaart

A lot of us got lazy and stayed on the boat for the interesting canal ride to Kudelstaart right on the huge Westeinderplassen lake.  It was hot so all the boys jumped right in the lake.    

We had some excitement on the way… Captain Hans was not feeling well and sleeping. Captain Manno was driving. We were just leaving a large lake and when we got to a sharp right angle turn just before lift bridge we needed to tie up to wait for the opening and a strong wind was dead astern.  Manno left the pilot house, hopped down and expertly dropped a huge line over a capstan and ran forward to tie the bow….  All was going to plan on this complex maneuver.  But the wind was too much for the line,  the 6-inch diameter line simply snapped with a loud BANG!!  The first time we ever saw anything like that happen!   

We made the right angle turn which put us beam to the wind and right up against the bridge. We had to tread water in a narrow and very busy canal for 15 minutes until the bridge finally got around to opening. It was touch and go for awhile and we envisioned all kinds of collisions and damage, but Manno pulled it off and finally the bridge lifted and we sneeked through. 

Once tied up in Kudelstaart Manno got a standing ovation – but he still had to splice the line!