A sailing cruise and a surprise

 

 underway with a force 6 on the quarter

During June and July, 2021, we cruised the northern Dutch and German islands in our 32 foot boat Manokwari. The weather didn’t favour us - heavy wind and rain one day, sun and no wind the other. Eventually we only made it as far as Borkum, Norderney and the German mainland harbour of Greetsiel – not very far if you remember we got as far as Helgoland some years ago. 

During summer there was little trouble due to the Covid situation - few people asked for our vaccination certificate, certainly not in Holland, but neither did the Germans, exept for the harbourmaster at Norderney, where we had to show our yellow vaccination booklet.

the historic canal lock at Termunterzijl

By now everything has changed with the introduction of the digital Covid passport required almost everywhere in mainland Europe, such as restaurants and cafes in Holland, despite our high vaccination rate of 85%. I’m not sure how much the situation has changed in Germany as I write this, with summer behind us, but everywhere it seems the authorities are still in panic mode.

contrast in energy: coal-fired power plant and a wind farm at Eemshaven

Luckily, in early summer we met with few official obstacles. As I mentioned previously, the weather didn’t want to play - gale force winds, no wind, tropical downpours, but also occasonally a very fair day, as shown in the photographs. We were privileged having a boat to retreat to in these troubled times, whatever the weather decided to throw at us.

Dried out mud bank at the isle of Vlieland

The setting for my books

Part of our cruise took us once again to the area where two of my books are set: The Cargo and Two Fathoms Deep. The western basin of our Wadden Sea, between the isles of Texel and Vlieland and the mainland port of Harlingen, is the scene of some of the action in The Cargo. Well-known waters for us, and it was fun to return to exactly those places that inspired me to write The Cargo, about five years ago. More photos of our trip can be found HERE. 

Napoleon's fort on Texel, the scene of part of the action in Two Fathoms Deep

My third novel Two Fathoms Deep, already available in English from Kindle and scheduled to appear in Dutch as Drie Meter Zand early next year, is largely set in the area around the isle of Ameland and the mainland port of Lauwersoog. The novel starts in Napoleonic times, as a Dutch officer in Napoleon’s forces barely survives a sea battle in which his ship is sunk under him near the isle of Ameland. Two centuries later, the wreck is re-discovered after his descendants find his personal log hidden in an attic. 

During our summer cruise we explored the sea route around Ameland to Lauwersoog, where the main protagonists of Two Fathoms Deep are left to their own devices after having been assaulted in their boat and towed out to sea by a gang of ruthless salvage men. The action eventually takes them to the Thames estuary and the Crouch on the English east coast.

Heavy rain at Borkum, and below: the ancient steamer Prinz Heinrich, built 1906

 

A pleasant surprise

Halfway our cruise I was pleasantly surprised by messages from my Dutch publishers (Palmslag) and my literary agent Hanneke Tinor-Centi about a good review of Het Transport in the 2021 Thriller and Detective Guide of a national Dutch newspaper, Vrij Nederland. They awarded me three stars out of five.

In Het Transport, published in English as The Cargo, two yachtsmen, father and son Brouwer, are confronted with large-scale woman trafficking originating in Russia, after they have found a dead young man floating in the Wadden Sea. That evening, after the drowned boy has been taken ashore by the lifeboat, a mysterious young woman arrives on board their boat, asking after him, and shortly afterwards their life is turned upside down as they are stalked by criminals and wanted by the police.

The review in Vrij Nederland mentions a world in which the police aren’t always to be trusted. Many people would be surprised at the need to drop out of sight of the authorities, but if you’re wanted by them and chased by criminals at the same time, you may not have a choice. Being on the run, and the harshness of Dutch asylum law in which ordinary people are caught like a fly in a spider’s web, are central themes in the book. How will it end for the protagonists? Read the book, I’d say...

My books Two Fathoms Deep, The Cargo and The Batavian are available in digital format from Kindle Direct Publishing. Paperback versions are being prepared.

proposed cover for paperback version

For The Batavian and The Cargo I made video trailers: