During Sail it is very busy on the water. Countless pleasure craft sail out to admire the dozens of Tallships and hundreds of other ships that are located along the quays. This organized chaos must be steered in the right direction, and the port officials are responsible for this. Today we sail with Matthijs Boes, who has to guide professional shipping through the sea of pleasure craft.
For the harbor officer Mathijs Boes it is a familiar image: countless historic ships, pleasure craft and tourists on the water during Sail. Boes is now experiencing this nautical event for the sixth time. “I have been working for the port of Amsterdam for 30 years now. This is my fifth Sail,” he says, keeping an eye on the IJ.
During Sail it is very busy on the water. Together with other port officials, he supervises safety. They guide traffic, supervise and conduct inspections. “Today we are going to sail convoy. Then all inland vessels sail in one procession of 6 km/hour, because then we can safely guide all inland vessels.”
The atmosphere on the water is usually pleasant, but the risks are real. Many people want to experience the impressive ships from as close as possible, so they forget to pay close attention to the environment. “It is more dangerous than normal, but in collaboration with the police, Rijkswaterstaat and we at the port service, we can manage this in the right direction.”
The officials try to prevent incidents, such as dangerous catch -up actions or people who want to cross quickly before the adjacent convoy. “Sometimes we really have to intervene. People do not realize that if their motor will stop, they really have a huge problem.” Yet he fully enjoys the event: “Everyone is having a good time, and we would like to keep it that way.”