It will take us 12 days to sail back from Sweden to Dordrecht. That will be our accommodation for the coming winter. Two weeks on the way home and from the beginning also at home. The boat really feels at home 😃. More than our house in Tilburg where we have not been for a while. But home is also together with our daughters. Home is where the heart is' 😉.

It is quite a hassle to sail back at this time of year. Luckily we have just the right weather to sail from Sweden to Vlieland in 2.5 days with a sailable wind. Spicy because the wind is constantly high, but fortunately not too strong. The wind gauge doesn't work and that is actually so relaxed. We look at the windvane and reef by feeling. We leave with fog, but soon it opens up. We sail in 2 hours through a beautiful area north of Orust and visit the Hallberg-Rassy shipyard in Ellös, but there everything is resting on the Sunday morning. Once at sea we set course for the northern tip of Denmark. There is still quite a swell from the strong wind of the previous days and it is against light wind. Not very comfortable, but the sun makes up for a lot. In the evening the wind turns and we can sail high. There is a lot of shipping around us, also a lot of fishermen. Paired with two hours of dense fog and an attracting wind, it is an exciting piece of sailing with little sleep for Toine during my night watch.

When we're past the busy part of the head of Denmark we spend the second day mainly inside. There is nothing to see outside and inside it is nice and warm and we have everything to navigate, including radar and autopilot controls. Once in a while we only look outside at the wind gauge. Until we arrive at the shipping lanes on the last day, then of course we are outside again. The last part to Vlieland is intensive navigation in dense fog. We are glad to be there.

After 1.5 days in Vlieland, with mainly working at our new workplaces, we sail on with strong winds to Harlingen to spend the weekend with our daughters. They come by car from Maastricht and are 3.5 hours on the way. Super nice to see them again and to chat extensively. While walking through Harlingen we meet Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet who are throwing us bags of peppernuts. The carillon plays 'see the moon shining through the trees'. This also feels 'at home' 😃. On Sunday we eat traditional steak with homemade fries. The girls brought airfryer outside in the cockpit 😎.

On Monday afternoon/evening we sail on to Lelystad, Flevo Marina. Also with strong winds and partly in the dark. Lelystad is an efficient stop where we sleep for a night and fill up with diesel and water with good tips from Tom van de Mariste. On Tuesday afternoon/evening we sail on to Amsterdam. Again with strong wind, partly in the dark and with calls for work in between. Not really a good combination for a relaxed trip 😅. So we decide to stay in Amsterdam for two days in order to work and only continue again on Friday when the weather is better. The Morgane of Sark is also located in Amsterdam and we come along for an evening. A colleague of Toine's lives opposite the marina and comes to have a look. Unfortunately the 4G reception is not so good and that makes working a bit more difficult with a regularly malfunctioning connection.

We doubt for a long time whether we continue via the upright mast route or outside from IJmuiden to Rotterdam. The latter is faster but more uncomfortable. Because it's a functional tour and not a holiday, we choose to go outside anyway. On Thursday afternoon (yesterday afternoon) we sail from Amsterdam to IJmuiden just partly in daylight. We have to wait a while at the locks because the water is too high. At 9 p.m. we stop briefly in the marina of IJmuiden to wait for the good tide. It's not at all attractive to go out to sea with quite a bit stronger wind than predicted, but we continue on 😌. At 11.30 pm we leave the piers at IJmuiden and at 3.45 am we enter Rotterdam again. It are 4 uncomfortable hours with heavy seas and half wind bft 4-7? (7 around showers). The wind gauge isn't working yet, but when the wind is blowing it is definitely a big 6. The boat is doing fine with reefed sails and we are doing well as well. But it is a good thing that it is dark because then we don't see the waves as well 😉. Once we are on the Nieuwe Waterweg we are lying flat again and we sail with the tide via the Oude Maas to Dordrecht. How wonderful to be here! We are warmly welcomed by the harbourmaster, briefly meet our neighbors who also live on the boat and see our friends from the No Doubt and the Indian Summer who live nearby. The first experience with a warm welcome in Dordrecht feels very good! We are going to have a great time here in the coming months 😊😊.

From the beginning of these two weeks we enjoy the results of the refit enormously. The bed sleeps wonderfully and is wider than the previous bed. The workplaces are very nice and very suitable for working from home. The new cooker is enjoyable, the washing machine works perfectly and Toine has delicious coffee every day 😎. The heating already installed by Toine is doing very well. It is easy to keep the boat comfortably warm 😊. These two weeks we already notice very well what living on the boat means. Also together with our girls a long weekend in Harlingen. That feels very good. Even when all four of us are working and studying on Monday morning. A cozy small and easy to move 'house' with everything we need. Living on the boat is going to be all right. We have every confidence in 😊👍.