Oerol Festival, Netherlands

Sail with us to the Dutch island of Terschelling in the North Sea to attend Oerol Festival. For us, it’s not only fun weekends with a group of friends but also a test of our skills before a much more ambitious trip to Norway later same year.  Therefore we rend the biggest yacht available for bareboat charter in the Netherlands –  Bavaria 50.

Our journey begins in Lemmer, Netherlands. A city with a fascinating street design.  Almost every house in it has its own pear. Looks like a sailor dream city.

First few hours we sailed in the calm inner sea of IJsselmeer.  Weather is not very warm despite it’s June but the wind is good and there is no rain.

And sunsets are spectacular!

IJsselmeer is separated from the Noth Sea with a huge dam with two locks on each side. Before continuing our voyage we need to pass Lorentzsluizen. In the Netherlands, all locks are operating free of charge by the way.

After the lock, we need to navigate through several narrow channels to get our destination point island Terschelling one of the West Frisian Islands. And we get a nice company heading the same direction. Oerol is quite a popular sailing destination in the Netherlands.

And of course, there is a huge crowd in the local marina. For example, we were third in the row of 5 boats. Meaning you need to step on three other boats before reaching pontoon. But it looks so cozy at night.

Early in the morning, we leave a boat and head to the city center to see what performance we can see in one day. Unfortunately for me all of them are in Dutch so together with friends we went to explore famous Oerol installations and the island itself. And of course, the best transport is a bicycle.

On our way to the beach when all installations are placed, we stop in the middle of the island to enjoy unusual local landscapes.

This year the main installation is a “piano circle” on the beach. Some of them are actually playable.

The second part of the day we spent on the southern part of the island famous for long lasting outflows and birdwatching.

Another interesting peculiarity of this cost is a sailing tradition to run aground on purpose,  wait for low tide and enjoy walking around your boat.

There is even a specific boat design allowing you to do it with no harm to the hull.

Later on, we decide to drop to the main stage. It’s festival after all.

It was a long and interesting day, we had a great dinner on board this evening and get to bed to be ready island early in the morning. On our way back to the base we set our own speed record with a strong Northen wind we reach a speed over 12 knots.

Our main goals are fulfilled we get unusual cultural experience and prove ourselves that we are ready for the next adventure – sailing in Norway.