typically.nl

As a sea-faring nation, there are many, many, many boats in Holland. As it happens, there is also a lot of water. It follows that our waters are teaming with boats, especially in summer. It seems everyone and their uncle has a boat–and to an extent that’s true. Even yours truly once owned a boat. Granted it was small, but definitely sailed.

Sailing boats come in all sizes. The smallest ones like these in the picture can be sailed alone. You can rent them quite cheaply and they are not at all hard to sail. If you have ever surfed, you’re home free. If you haven’t, it takes a couple of hours practice but you’ll quickly get the hang of it. So how does that work in .nl? Easy. First you decide where you want to sail. Open inland waters are best: these can be found in Friesland, Noord-Holland, Brabant or Zeeland.

Friesland

This province in the north has an awesome network of lakes. These Frisian Lakes (duh) are scattered across the province. Many of them are connected, meaning you can be out in the water for weeks on end. And sure enough that is what some people actually do: board in one lake and spend days sailing various other lakes. Some even sleep in the boat. All the while you can enjoy the landscape and coleur locale in the form of quaint houses, wooden shoes and cheese-making factories. Excellent destinations in Friesland are the towns of Sneek, Drachten and Joure. In summer these are very geared towards tourists; just do a Google search and you’ll quickly find a place to stay. These people can, and will, tell you where to rent a boat.

Noord-Holland

This provice has the North Sea at it’s western shore and is also home to Amsterdam. Sailing here happens on a smaller scale, mostly concentrated around the Loosdrechtse Plassen (link in Dutch). Like Friesland, this part of the country has lakes where you can easily rent boats. You can actually sail from these lakes to Amsterdam. Sailing here is more expensive and is most often done with a bigger city as a starting point. From Amsterdam you can also sail truly big sailing ships like klippers with a crew of ten; more about those in an upcoming post.

Brabant

This relatively big province is not only home to the country’s largest livestock population, but also has a great water recreation area called De Biesbosch.

The Biesbosch National Park is a green maze of several rivers, islands and a vast network of narrow and wide creeks. The area is one of the largest, valuable natural areas in the Netherlands. What’s more, it is one of the few remaining fresh-water tidal areas in Europe.

Sailing here is great fun because the waters are not open; they are enclosed by forests and small creeks run throughout the area. You won’t go particularly fast, but the scenery is amazing. If you’re into nature, this is one of the few areas where there is lots of it. De Biesbosch is not very touristy, but there are a few websites with information about rental places. You would usually stay in Dordrecht or Rotterdam and travel 60km south from there.

Zeeland

This quintessential water provice, namegiver of New Zealand, should be any water fan’s favourite destination. And indeed, anywhere you go you will be greeted by H2O. Point your navigation device towards the (small) city of Veere and sail away. There is both a big lake (Het Veerse Meer) but also rougher sea at the other side of the dijken. Zeeland boasts a combination of salt and fresh water. Many parts are fresh these days, since after a huge storm (“the” storm of ‘53) the open sea is being kept out by a series of dams. This has turned the Grevelingen in one huge fresh water fest where it’s great sailing but also good diving. Other parts of Zeeland are semi-open to sea like the Oosterschelde. Google for Delta Works to see what a massive undertaking it’s been to accomplish safety for inhabitants but also salt water for plants and animals. Then there is also true open sea, along the coast. Zeeland has golden beaches there; and every summer sees massive numbers of (mostly German) tourists.