Town Architecture
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900 Ton Floating Crane
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We awoke to yet another gorgeous morning. Alan went about his usual routine of checking the wind forecasts, and although the winds were almost favourable from the right direction stance, they would be light to start with, swinging around later in the week and picking up. By Friday they would turn against us, so a window of opportunity was presenting itself, and Alan made a decision to leave on the tide at around 10pm in the evening. On that note, he wandered off to one of the town churches to listen to an organ recital; not my cup of tea.
We needed more provisions for the 4-5 day trip. Alas, I found that Cuxhaven was one of the many areas of Germany (Kiel being another) where folk respected the Holy Day, and all the shops were shut. Hmmm.... I would have to improvise on the cooking front.
Having failed on the shops, I made a detour on the way back via the docks which amazingly were open to the public. Apart from a fishing boat and tug boat sections, the major point of interest for me was a floating crane of gigantic proportions, capable of lifting 900 tons. Everything on the vessel was on a colossal scale, including the cables.
Semaphore Station
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Grimmersh�rn Bathing Area
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During the afternoon a few British boats appeared in the marina. One poor vessel had to be towed in from twelve miles out; its impellor had gone. In the early evening we met Angus MacDonald, yes a Scotsman from Dunbar, who had been sailing around Denmark and Sweden, and was now waiting for a fresh crew to turn up in the morning. He had a few tales to tell. He also mentioned that on the previous night, a ship had run aground on the sand bars quite near the harbour. Sadly we were travelling back from Hamburg at the time, so we missed all the fun. We shared a beer with him and then said our farewells; a nice old chap.
As we left, we tried to fill up with diesel, but since the pump mysteriously cut out after every 46 litres, we gave up and set forth upon a lovely, calm sea at 11pm.
