Daytrip

The programm

09.00 - 09.30 arrival at Fort Kudelstaart. If the gate is closed, phone Rob (06-48672791) to have him open the gate
09.30 - 10.00 hr: coffee / brief history telling / do's and don'ts when sailing
10.00 hr: start of the day trip; hoist the sails direction Braassemermeer
12.30 hr: lunch at yachtclub Noorderhem in Roelofarendsveen
13.15 / 13.30 hr: sail to the Wijde Aa
15.00 / 15.15 hr: return to Westeinderplassen
17.30 hr: arrival at Fort Kudelstaart

The Nooit Volmaakt (our ship,built in 1910) was also used as a sailing cargoship. On this picture she is waiting for cargo, somewhere in the thirties. This picture is taken in Franeker (Friesland / the Netherlands).

Nooit Volmaakt Waiting for cargo (1938)

The 2nd skipper and his family (1935)

Nowadays, many of these previous cargo ships no longer sail: they were distroyed back in the sixties or transformed into house boats and moored in the Amsterdam canals.

From house boat to luxury sailing ship

One of them was the Nooit Volmaakt (meaning Never Perfect or Never Accomplished). From 1953 until 1975 she was in use as a houseboat in the Prinsengracht, close to the Anne Frank house. A devestating fire aboard the ship meant the beginning of a new chapter. The ship wreck was bought by skipper Rob's father Leo Ligtenberg (1930 - 2002) who transformed the Nooit Volmaakt into a luxury sailing ship.

House boat in the Prinsengracht Amsterdam

1975: the Nooit Volmaakt after a devestating fire

Restoration

The first thing on Leo's list was to bring the Nooit Volmaakt back to her original length as built in 1910. The 2 meter extension (1938) was removed, the two halves were put together and new nails were put back into the old holes. It all still fitted. Next thing was to bring the ship from the ship yard in Haarlem to Vijfhuizen.