Sneek is a major boating center and gateway to the lakes of the Sneekermeer. In summer and at the weekends the lake is busy with smaller sailing craft of mainly local one designs racing for buoys. The races are serious but are staged in good humour. Remember to keep out of their way. The town itself is very attractive and offers many excellent restaurants. Don’t miss the ‘Watergate’ which is the remains of the town fortifications and is literally the gate which allowed boats to enter inside the city walls. 

The town is surprisingly large and finding the departure base requires a good study of the access map as can be found in the Captain’s Handbook. Due to the large number of waterways and the absence of road bridges, it is not really easy to get about as you have to go back to the center of town to cross a canal.

On arrival you will be received and given the normal hand over procedure by a member of staff. For those who are unsure of themselves, this includes a brief trip out with the boat to learn how to handle her. Friesland can be very windy and so it is advisable to pick up as many tips as possible about the boat and how she is likely to behave in a wind. Luckily most bridges and locks are situated in towns where you are usually protected if the wind is strong. 

Bridges, bridges, bridges…

The most important information that you need to know first is the height of your boat. This is very important as your cruising possibilities are going to be restricted by the headroom under the bridges. The measurements of your boat are given inside and near to the steering position. The height will be shown in meters and shows the clearance required AFTER you have lowered any mast that is on the boat. Don’t forget also that your bicycles can increase your effective height if stored on the upper deck and so they should be kept elsewhere if you are cruising on canals where the bridges are low. In general, if you are unsure, take the bridge very, very, slowly.

Very many of the bridges are opening bridges. These are mentioned on the chart by the letters BB (Beweegbare brug) . On some charts they are also indicated by the symbol ‘][ ‘. They are manned by bridge keepers during specific but generous opening hours. If you arrive at an opening bridge, you will be confronted by traffic lights. Some opening bridges are already very high and you can pass underneath via an arch if there is a single or a double white light showing. The single white light means that there can be traffic in both directions so be careful of oncoming traffic and give way if necessary. If there is a red light this means that the bridge is manned but that you may not pass. A red and a green means that there the bridge is about to open in your favour, and a green means to go ahead. Be careful as sometimes the bridge will open and the light remains red indicating that the traffic coming the other way will pass first. If there are no lights then the bridge is probably not manned.

In general in the season the road bridges are open every day with reduced hours on Saturdays and Sundays. In the towns the road bridges may close for a hour in the rush hours or will only be available to open for 5 minutes every quarter or half hour. Be careful as out of season and on some very small canals the bridges may close on Sundays and even Saturdays.

The most difficult to understand are the railway bridges. Fortunately in general these bridges are high enough to pass under even when closed. Otherwise they open with respect to the train timetables and sometimes the wait can be very long. The best is to tie up and call the bridge keeper on the telephone provided. The rail bridges are mostly operated by remote control with cameras. I have visited Holland many time by sailboat and for sailing boats with a mast there are some horrendous ones such as a single bridge near Amsterdam on the ‘fixed mast route’ which I remember as only opening once per day at 2 o’ clock in the morning!

Usually there are places to tie up just before the bridge to wait if the bridge is not open. These mooring places are for use exclusively if you are waiting for the bridge and you are expected to pass through the next time that it opens.

Remember that these road bridges stop the bicycle and vehicle traffic and so you should be ready and close to the bridge to pass through as quickly as is safely possible as a courtesy to the road users. If you have a red and green light, approach the bridge as sometimes the bridge keeper will not open until you are close.

Moorings are plentiful and you are made welcome wherever you go. In most of the lakes such as the Sneekermeer and the Princeshof, there are many well maintained moorings on small islands where there are no facilities except rubbish disposal. These are nature reserves and the overnight mooring will usually be quiet.

For each town you will see information in the ‘Water Almanak’ under the heading Ligplaatsen showing the different moorings and the tarif per meter for overnight mooring. For a 10 meter boat this is generally about 10 euros. Showers and toilets are usually available ashore and are in general clean and well used. Many private Dutch cruisers do not have showers on board as the shore facilities are so good.

There are so many different waterways and each canal will have some traffic depending its size and if it is an important  through way. On the lakes there are small sailing dinghies, on the small canals there are slow moving cruisers, on the bigger canals there are large working cargo barges as well as small coasters. In the estuaries such as the Lauwersmeer you will find large charter barges under sail mixed with hundreds of yachts and fishing boats. In general on the canals and in the channels you keep to the right and likewise the oncoming traffic will keep to their right. Otherwise remember to signal in good time your intentions to other craft by pointing your boat steadily on a course which will not cause a collision. Remember that sailing boats under sail have priority so try to keep out of their way. Needless to say also stay well out of the way of the barges. They are usually busy and are relatively difficult to maneuver and or stop.

Locks

There are not many locks as the area is very flat. Many of the locks that there are have the gates open at both ends and are only in use when there is a danger of flooding. Such locks as there are also involve very small rises or falls in level and so they are quickly operated and have few nasty currents and eddies. Entrance to the locks is governed by traffic lights much the same as the bridges.

Remember that you may be one of many boats in the lock and that you should in general go as far forward as you can to enable other traffic to come in behind you. Try and get 2 lines ashore. One to stop you moving forward and one to stop you from moving backwards. These lines should also prevent the bow and the stern from swinging out.

Be careful as a lock is one of the worst places to fall overboard due to the currents and eddies that may be there. Hold tight if the boat looks like bumping the side. I doubt that you will follow this advice, but if you can’t swim and you are on deck, wear a lifejacket. If you can swim and you are on deck you should also wear a lifejacket.  You should definitely make all children wear a lifejacket especially in the locks.

Look at the lock walls and the direction that the gates are pointing. This will tell you if you are likely to go up or down.

Shops, restaurants, banks…

In general shops are open from Monday lunchtime until Saturday afternoon. It is difficult to find a shop open on Sundays. Shops may close fairly early at 5pm or 6pm and only some supermarkets will be open later on certain evenings sometimes Thursday and sometimes Friday.

Restaurants and cafes are available in every village and are generally open most of the time in season.

Banks are generally open from Monday morning until Friday evening.

I recommend Harlingen, Dokkum, Leeuwarden, Lemmer, Stavoren, Sneek, and the hundreds of other villages and towns. Nearly everywhere is extremely well maintained. The Dutch are obsessively house and garden proud and this makes some sections of your cruise appear to be like slowly turning the pages of a gardening photography book with magnificent arrangements of shrubs and flowers.

The countryside is flat, with different shades of lush green, and crossed by dikes and canals. The main visible type of farming is in  cattle and sheep. The distinctive black and white dairy cow is so ubiquitous it has become an icon for the region of Friesland. Throughout the countryside are many well kept working farms with their traditional enormous gabled barns, many of them still thatched. This is a fascinating landscape of changing perspectives filled with ducks, herons, oyster catchers and gulls. There are many places to stop far from any road and habitation where you can spend a quiet night.

Everybody we met outside of a large city greeted us and smiled. This is a friendly province as indicated by the hearts on the flag of Friesland. In general this is boating country. It is difficult to imagine visiting the region by any other means.