We SWITCHED BOATS! | Dutch boats are different [S3E13]

[Music] ever since arriving in the netherlands we kept noticing these rather unique sailing boats the likes of which we had never seen anywhere else wide flat and rather bathtubby in their proportions they look worlds away from the sleek sailboat designs of today and yet there's a very good reason why these boats are built this way and in this episode we find out what that reason is we're on a we're on a rescue mission now as well i'm maya and this is aladino our journey began a few years ago when this boat fell off a crane after four years of rebuilding her we named her magic carpet and we set sail to go around the world as slowly as possible this season we're sailing in the netherlands join us as we explore the history and strange natural beauty of this seafaring nation from the canals of amsterdam to the pastoral islands of the wadden sea welcome to magic carpet in the netherlands new episode every friday so this whole time in holland we've been sailing past these beautiful classic dutch barges these sailing barges flat bottom and largest yes exactly and i've been so curious what they're like to actually sail and what they're all about and a few days ago we met just by chance on the street we met a subscriber who lives in freezeland he has one of these beautiful barges and so we're going sailing today nice just along here and into the lake which is part of why it's a frisian experience everybody sails on the canal here yes and then there is a lake big lake that opens up here she is what a beauty [Music] boy this is maude a flat-bottomed traditional dutch sailing barge with lee boards instead of a keel these shallow draft boats can be found all over friesland and the netherlands in general because they are the ideal way to explore the shallow inland waterways aladino and i were so curious about how these boats actually sail and now our new friend hub had kindly invited us to come find out [Music] not only are these boats purpose built for these local waters but they also have an undeniable old world elegance which is still maintained even in this age of fiberglass and fast production boats elegant touches and traditional methods were everywhere are you learning how to steer a dutch sailing barge my love yeah well the prop wash is the same 20 toms 20 tons a lot more than magic carpet who is more conventional three and a half so we're about to go through this little bridge here i feel like we're just in a dutch fairy tale now on this beautiful boat going through this lifting bridge and then we'll um motor through town and then get out into the canal and maybe start sailing so who put the i think it's called the lee board into the water to help with steering while we wait for the bridge to open are you steering us through the bridge my love it's a bit it's a bit narrow but if the captain trusts me we have some fenders out okay here we go [Music] we got lots of room so we slow down again yeah okay we've got one more bridge coming up it gets better this is a lampstark the name is from the place lammer there were the first lampster acts are built in late 1800s they were the first ones are built in wood and they started not much later half 1800 in building him an iron and there were fishing boats for the lakes and the souther sea and the odyssey and this boat exactly this is a ripple gun it's built in 2000 on a shipyard skip selling blum in hilton it's nearby here in friesland and um and you built it you built i built the rest of it all the wood and interior i built it myself and we sailed uh now nearly 20 years with it here in in holland graceland vadasay and we have even sailed to stockholm in sweden visit 10 years ago and now we are sailing on a nice day yes you're freezing but that's also the lobster ah this is officially started it has no house on it oh yeah they came originally and that one was also a nice knife on this because that one's painted black yeah it's also more original they were all black originally yes as a fisherman uh black but oh yard this should be white was it actual paint or tar normal it used to be dark hey there's coming another one it's getting you see all the lampster arc of all friesland now we're doing it correctly or does he want to go going should we go yeah yeah [Music] what a beast of a tiller like heavy sturdy the rudder is bigger than you are my love yeah so we didn't bring enough clothes and look what who pulled out for us oh it's nice and warm you look really like a fancy captain now my love where's my pipe okay we're coming up to another bridge so we're going to drop the job temporarily we just had it up for a little bit but we'll put it up again quite soon that comes down nicely hey yeah [Music] they get narrower and narrower originally you should wait until it's green yeah that's not really green but maya always says no go go go here [Music] we were now in the narrow canal leading to a shallow lake which we had wanted to explore with magic carpet but we had been told that with magic carpets draft would be confined to a narrow channel within the lake instead with maod despite being a way bigger and way heavier boat than magic carpet would have the freedom to explore even the shallowest sections of the lake [Music] so [Music] a totally different sailing experience hey yes how are you enjoying i love it it is completely different and i feel like this coat really well represents represents it because it is it's very like classy and like um make yourself cozy elegant get warm somehow yeah buy some thick wool or by hoisting sails it's the simple things [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] you can do another thing we can land on an island over there there's a big island or there are three islands the first one is that one there now in the in the from now on in the winter these islands are deserted and that is something special so it was decided we'd visit the probably deserted island [Applause] the leeboards are used to help the boat maintain its course and improve windward performance normally a keel does this in regular sailboat designs but without a keel there had to be another option one big benefit of the leeboards is that if you do run aground they kind of just pop up no harm done so we charged along under the wind we made surprisingly good speeds around six knots and the whole experience felt so smooth and so elegant the huge cockpit felt more like a waterfront patio than a cockpit on a sailboat and the beauty of the boat itself made it feel like we were in another time a time where aladino's wool pee coat would have fit in quite seamlessly as we neared the island aladino and hub dropped the sails and we motored cautiously into the harbor entrance [Music] [Music] do [Music] i somehow got stuck at the helm and who somehow trusted me far more than i trusted myself with docking this 20-ton boat [Music] and we lay it over there maybe you can take the phone yeah should i go now yep fortunately it was the easiest possible approach with no other boats and a huge wall to tie alongside how's the driftwood it's okay it's the best thing to come here a bit after and then play the stock where they want and then you can go out more easy and safely so and now when i met you yeah jack nice and here you are with hoob's excellent guidance and help throughout the whole maneuver we managed to arrive safe and sound although when your boat is a 20-ton steel barge i imagine the dock had more reason to be nervous than the boat [Music] [Applause] it started to rain but no matter we had lunch in the cozy interior and when the weather passed we got ready to leave again [Music] [Applause] [Music] to me this experience sailing on moud seemed to sum up a lot of what we had already found about dutch sailing culture the dutch sail for the joy of it they appreciate an elegant nod to the past and they enjoy sailing in comfort these traditional sailing barges aren't built to cross oceans and in fact it would be dangerous to try but they're built as comfortable inland cruisers to enjoy the water and the wind to find some peace and quiet while on a comfortable and visually appealing vessel this boat represents good slow living with an eye for beauty and a deep understanding of one's local traditions and natural environment [Music] looks a little stormy on the horizon so we get to experience how to reef this beauty as well so what are you doing exactly you're just rolling it up exactly and then basically when you raise it it's just part of it's rolled up yeah exactly it's going to be smaller i mean we have the same thing only that you attach it on the boom and here it's free it's always loose from the boom yeah nice a big sail area becomes manageable with some pulleys and um some cleverly designed aids from back in the old days [Music] still work today isn't that cool so we let go the stern line and hoove is now giving us a little bit more slack on the bow line but we're keeping the bow line and we're raising the sail at the dock and then we're gonna try and sail off the dock [Music] all right the jib is also going up okay hoob expertly removed the bow line and then we eased off away from the dock [Music] [Laughter] that was very impressive nice a bit of luck i know but that was first try wasn't it that you got the line off very good okay and now we're in the depth zone but that's good beautiful it's yours does that mean we're in trouble oh no no the yes looks even better and it's better in balance now yeah for uh for high wind for that because we have to check back yeah if i wouldn't have touched it i wouldn't have noticed that this beautiful boom is actually steel uh but hoop did a wonderful job at painting it uh camouflage so that's the boat's secret the skies on the horizon had grown quite dark and ominous we hoped to outrun it but quickly changing weather is kind of just part of sailing here so we'd have to see if we were lucky today or not [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what a treat a full day on this lemmer ark and not only do we get to sail downwind in a canal we also sailed off the dock after a lovely lunch and now we get to tech upwind so we got a full program here super exciting [Music] but there is more excitement to come a sailboat which appeared to be stuck in position hailed to us we're on a we're on a rescue mission now as well drip is going down main sail soon to follow um there's a boat stuck on the mud it's very shallow here that is why the crazy thing is we can be here yeah that's why these boats are designed in holland the biggest boats are the ones who can be here it just doesn't make sense somehow [Music] so we're gonna try and pull him off with our engine but i don't know if it'll work well more because it is so shallow everywhere here so it's like yeah we can pull but i mean what if we just pull you along the sandbank like it's not gonna be good for your keel [Music] [Music] [Music] it was not easy our engines strained and struggled but eventually the other boat did start moving it's working it's working okay thank you have a nice day [Music] mission accomplished mission accomplished hopefully he doesn't get stuck again this is one of the reasons why we've been nervous to take magic carpet into these lakes there are dredged channels which run through the lakes and would be fine as long as we stuck to the channels but that basically limits you to a narrow channel with limited sailing possibilities so it wasn't really high on our list to try it also after hearing stories from many dutch friends about how funny and ridiculous it is when the tourists come and get stuck in the mud every summer we weren't keen to be added to their book of stories but on this boat with hubez the captain we had no such worries so there's more interesting details that we're getting to know now for example these boats because they have such a flat bottom of course they can go all these places that the other ones cannot and another particular thing to them is keel cooling and that is because if you would have a raw water pump uh cooling the engine it could very well happen that it sucks dirt from the bottom because the bottom is so close so yeah that was interesting to know so it has a dry exhaust and kill cooling because it only draws like 80 centimeters after getting our excitement for the day we motored the rest of the way against the wind being on a solid boat like this it almost makes me want to play bumper boats you better not [Music] back through the bridges past the other sailing barges and the sweet brick houses back to the beautiful dock by the willow tree [Music] [Applause] [Music] and now comes the last interesting part talking we have to do turning around in a channel that is uh as wide as the boat is not less coop says it's possible though so we'll get it done we trust in whom [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] hoob had this all down to an exact science he knew the exact widest part of the channel and he knew the exact technique to turn the boat around which he calmly and precisely explained to aladino on the helm sailing into a bush there are we my love no we're turning around doing magic because we're turning in a canal that is narrower than the boat oh we landed [Music] and now they're putting it into reverse and the prop wash takes them around the bow is still in the bush this is how it's done you're having so much fun aren't you it was all carefully executed and although it probably would look strange to a passerby to see such a large boat with her nose in the bank of a very small canal it was all part of the master plan [Music] now some reverse to get the bow out of the bush there's some driftwood set to float [Music] now hard over for it again all right here we go [Music] [Applause] and just like that we made it what a beautiful day and what a wonderful new friend if i ever move to the netherlands and want to sail the inland waterways i know exactly the type of boat i'd buy to do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so shallow inland waters are usually reserved for motorboats which naturally have less draft and more ability to maneuver in tight spaces well the dutch will have none of that a boat must have sails and so they built one and it works just as well now as it did hundreds of years ago thank you so much to all of you for watching and a huge thanks to hube for bringing us sailing and showing us a little bit of the tradition behind the dutch sailing culture we had been admiring from afar and a huge thanks to our patrons for making all of these episodes possible and as always an extra big thanks to these folks who really go the extra mile to make sure that magic carpet keeps being produced we will see you all next friday you

Channel: Sailing Magic Carpet

Views: 156,838

Keywords:

Id: WuYmJiBo0MA

Length: 29min 16sec (1756 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021