Preparations are underway in Amsterdam Marina for the arrival of Oceans of Hope this evening. The yacht is due to arrive at approximately 5pm local time after spending last night at Ijmuiden, a port on the North Sea coast at the entrance to the canal system that will take Oceans of Hope into the heart of the Dutch capital.

Learning to pronouncing the name of the port correctly has provided some amusement on board with Dutchman Peter van Polen giving his fellow Danish crew members, a lesson in his native language.

“Peter was trying to teach the rest of us to pronounce the name of the port town Ijmuiden in correct Dutch – everyone is laughing when the tongue does the extra roll,” writes Anne Dalbjerg in her blog.

One of the goals of the Oceans of Hope campaign and the first circumnavigation by a crew of people with MS is to create networks around the world within and between the multiple sclerosis and sailing communities. It is open to people from all over the world to take part. Two more Dutch crew will join the yacht in Amsterdam to sail to Portsmouth, where the first British crew member will be getting on board.

If you have MS and would like to take part in the voyage, download the application forms and apply today.

This morning the crew have been busy on the maintenance jobs that keep the yacht in shape to sail the world’s oceans. They will leave Ijmuiden this afternoon and motor through the canals to Amsterdam.

Bertram Christensen, one of the yacht’s permanent crew members, says in today’s report from on board, “We arrived in the port of Ijmuiden yesterday at 1920 and immediately sat down for dinner. The crew enjoyed a good night’s rest and this morning we are doing minor maintenance on the yacht before we head through the locks into Amsterdam. We expect beautiful sunny weather as we motor through the canals. The crew is looking forward to our reception in Amsterdam tonight.” 

As ever, the end of a leg of the voyage is a bittersweet time as they will say farewell to one of their team.

“Here we’ll have our last laughs with Peter before he disembarks,” says Anne, adding, “Maybe he will have time to introduce us to some of the secrets of Amsterdam!”