Staande Mastroute - 53°19' 47' N 06° 55' 52" E
Once again, Chinook might go cross-country instead of 'cross the sea. Due to the weather conditions in the North Sea, we found ourselves contemplating something we hadn’t expected to do at all—the Staande Mastroute , or Standing Mast Route, through the Netherlands. We had actually eyed this route after our jaunt through the Göta Canal , but our trusty cruising guide had put a rather large spanner in the works. It stated that the route was limited to a mast height of 18 metres. With our mast standing at a lofty 21 metres, we had rather reluctantly filed that thought under “not going to happen.” But the North Sea had other ideas. With the weather not in our favour and the prospect of spending more time than we wanted bashing to windward along the Dutch coast, the Standing Mast Route suddenly started looking rather attractive. Then, as luck would have it, we met the most lovely Dutch couple who completely changed the equation. They assured us that our 21-metre mast would ind...