A new Guide to the Dutch standing mast routes has been produced by the European Inland Waterways Section of the Cruising Association (CA).
Several hundred sailing and motor yachts travel through the standing mast routes each year, many of them en route to the Kiel Canal and the Baltic. However, obtaining accurate, up-to-date advice in English on the routes has always been a challenge.
This new 48-page CA Guide, entitled Through the Netherlands via the Standing Mast Routes, provides detailed navigational information on 14 different routes by which yachts can transit the Netherlands.
Written by CA members Andy Mulholland and James Littlewood and edited by Gordon Knight, the Guide covers nearly 1,000kms of waterways from Vlissingen near the Belgian border to Delfzijl close to the border with Germany.
Published in A4 format and printed in full colour throughout, the Guide includes maps, distance tables, lock and bridge opening hours and colour photos to help skippers plan alternative routes.
Available directly from the CA's online shop as well as from the Lulu.com bookstore, this Guide will be updated annually via reports from CA members actively cruising the inland waterways, several hundred of which are submitted each year.
Priced at £10 plus p&p, the Guide includes a 25% discount offer on the first year's CA membership to purchasers joining online during the year. Members then have access to the online edition of the Guide, which contains hyperlinks to the CA's proprietary CAptain's Mate app, enabling users to access the most up-to-date information on routes and mooring locations.
In addition to the new Netherlands guide, the CA's European Inland Waterways Section also produces a 204-page guide to Cruising the Inland Waterways of France and Belgium, updated annually; a series of full colour mini-guides to several of the French inland waterways; a German Rhine Guide and a range of information sheets on all aspects of inland waterways cruising.
Members also exchange information and cruising advice via the Section's forum, European Inland Waterways Net, which is an especially valuable resource for cruisers new to the inland waterways. Further information for non-members is available on the Section's webpage at https://www.theca.org.uk/public/sections/eiw.
You need to know your waterways signs. Image: James Littlewood