Kiel Canal then sailing fast tides on the Elbe Estuary & down coast past Dutch coastal islands

Tall Ship Taster from Kiel on the Baltic

This gives a flat water start in the inland waterways, before heading out to sea - so there is plenty of time to find your sea legs and understand the ships rigging and practice going aloft (no compulsory)ng before you enter the North Sea.

On this voyage you board in the evening on Sunday June 24th. We expect you onboard around 20:00 hours. The ‘Oosterschelde’ is moored at the Sartorikai in Kiel, on walking distance from Central Station. The captain will welcome all guests onboard. As soon as everybody is onboard, he will explain all the (safety) rules onboard and will go through the plans for the voyage. We will depart that evening and sail via the Kiel Fjord to the locks of Holtenau, where we will spend the night.

Early next morning we will go trough the locks to the ‘Nord-Ostsee Kanal’(Kiel Canal). There is a lot to
see on the channel, for example the impressive bridges and the big seagoing vessels that we come across or pass us by. During the period on the channel we give you instructions on the rigging and about sailing with a three-masted topsail schooner.

As soon as we are at Brünsbuttel we set sail on the Elbe. With all the big vessels around us it is very adventurous to sail on this fast flowing river. We hope for a high-pressure area with an easterly wind, so
we can sail the whole voyage. After Helgoland we pass the German and Dutch coastal islands north and sail to Texel. There we change course to southwest and on Wednesday night we will arrive in the homeport of the ‘Oosterschelde’; the Veerhaven. If you live in Holland - when family or friends come to pick you up the next morning, they can join us for a cup of coffee and you can show them around on the ship.

Lofty Rig with huge gaff sails

The gaff sails on all three masts are huge and it is a long way up to release the gaskets and set oosterschelde's square sails. There is a Captain, Mate, couple of deck hands, engineer and chef so the ships guest crew will need to work hard as a team to race this impressive ship.

Oosterschelde is a very comfy ship - restored for adventure charter with a huge saloon with bar, piano, wood burning stove and library so if you have always fancied running away to sea for a few weeks, we can't think of a more stylish way to do it as hands on ships crew.

General Itinerary

This description is meant to give you an impression of what a voyage could look like. Depending on wind and weather conditions the travel plan could be altered, however we always try to sail as much as possible

Both of Classic Sailing working directors have sailed on Oosterschelde in Jan 2011 so we can tell you what she is like to sail on if you give us a ring.

* Transfer
On this voyage you will have to arrange your transfer yourself. We advise you to travel to
Kiel by train. The train cost between Kiel and Rotterdam is about £65 or €80 euros

More details and photos of Oosterschelde - see vessel details tab above.