The flag can go out on De Allure from Hengelo. It is the 1,500th boat to slide through the Veenvaart this summer. The waterway between Nieuw-Amsterdam and Ter Apel is aiming for around 2,000 boating visitors per sailing season. The Veenvaartcoöperatie puts skippers Gerrit and Angela Lansink in the spotlight when they sail into the Koppelsluis at Nieuw-Dordrecht.
Local entrepreneurs and alderman Pascal Schrik of the municipality of Emmen shower the sailing couple with flowers and gifts. Each year, these organizations, led by the Veenvaartcoöperatie, welcome boat number 1,500 that calls at the Veenvaart. Last year that was in Emmer-Compascuum and this year in the Koppelsluis between Nieuw-Dordrecht and Klazienaveen.
Gerrit and his wife Angela from Hengelo are pleasantly surprised: “We didn’t expect this”, he admits. The skipper duo often sails on the Veenvaart. This year is the fourth time. “The area is beautiful.” Angela adds: “The people, tranquility, nature, everything just.”
The Allure is a large ship and the Veenvaart is not too wide in some places: “Then I stand on one side and then I call to Gerrit: a little to the left or to the right”, Angela laughs. “Our boat is in Leeuwarden and from there we come down here.”