The retired Frans and Elisabeth were only on the second day of their sailing holiday, when a tree weighing at least ten thousand kilos collapsed on their boat in Jachthaven Spaarneborgh yesterday morning during the storm. “I was lying in bed, heard a bang and suddenly the whole boat is filled with water,” says Elisabeth. “I thought: ‘this is wrong’.”
The Rotterdam couple, the owners of boat ‘Zeezout’, left two days ago for their sailing holiday. When they heard that a storm was coming, they decided to spend the night at Jachthaven Spaarneborgh in Heemstede. “At first we thought: shall we enter Haarlem? But I thought: it’s late, we’ll moor here,” says Frans. “When we got here it looked pretty reliable for the night. So then we moored the boat and went to sleep.”
Spaarneborgh marina is surrounded by large apartment buildings, so it seemed a safe place against strong gusts of wind. “The next morning, around half past eight, I had just checked the lines”, Frans remembers. “Then I get back on board and at that moment I hear a huge bang and a very thick tree is lying over our boat just in front of the cabin. So I walked to my wife and said: get dressed and disembark.”
After the accident, Maddie and Erwin, from neighboring boat the Seaflower, were immediately ready to help, says Elisabeth. “That neighbor pulled me out of the boat, because I have difficulty walking. And his wife immediately said: come in. She hugged me and suddenly I thought: I am human. I was very shocked.”
Then Maddie and Erwin took care of the couple all day. “They fed us coffee all day, breakfast and lunch. I don’t think we left until 11pm at night. We were welcomed very well and warmly. Maddie and Erwin from the Seaflower are truly wonderful people. That people are doing this , complete strangers who catch you all day… Fantastic.”
Short trip
The tree was eventually removed from the boat by sawing company Allure in collaboration with the fire brigade and the municipality. However, damage up to the engine has been measured. It is not yet clear whether the boat can still be repaired. And that’s bad luck, says Frans. “Last year we had bad luck with the engine on the IJsselmeer during a storm. Then you think: now everything is all right, now we’re going to sail. We had planned four weeks, we both just retired. But that’s turned out to be a short trip.”
Especially yesterday, Frans and Elisabeth were “very appalled”, he says. “We didn’t get much sleep last night due to the stress. Anyway, it happened, so we had to clean up and see what we can do with the boat. Fortunately, no one was injured,” says Frans.