Droogvallen
The bottom of the clipper Willem Jacob is flat. Because of this ships feature, the ship can dry out on the seabed of the Wadden sea. When drying out, first the ship uses the high tide to reach a sand plate. When the water flows away during low tide, the ship will gradually go down with the sea level until touching the seabed until it’s dried out. Now it’s possible to walk around the ship and explore all that there is to see on the seabed.
It’s very important to be back on board when the water starts rising again. Because of the high tide, the boat will start floating again and we can continue our sailing trip. All in all the process of falling dry takes a few hours, depending on the place where we dry out.
Would you like to experience drying out on the Wad? Contact our shipper. He knows everything about the tides and suitable departure times.
You’ll arrive at the ship 5 or 6 hours before low tide. After your welcome and the instructions on board, we’ll sail away. We’ll make an active sailing trip for a few hours over the Wad in between Schiermonnikoog and Lauwersoog.
After roughly three hours we’ll search for a nice sand plate to dry out. It’s important to find a spot that’s protected from the North Sea waves, and to dry out on a firm sand plate so that you can actually walk over the sand once we’ve dried out.
While the water is flowing away, there is some time for relaxation, a nice meal or a story of the shipper about the Wad. When the seabed is appearing, it’s time to make a walk around the ship. What kind of animals are living on the seabed, why does the seabed look like it does? Go explore! Once the water is rising again, it’s time to come back aboard, because it’s rising fast. When the sea level is about 1 meter high, we’ll be floating again and we’ll be able to continue our journey.
Schedule: Of course the time of low tide is of great importance to schedule a dry out trip. We’ll be happy to look for a suitable time, or you can have a look yourself at online tidal schedule. A dry out trip fits well in our 10 hours arrangement. Within 7 hours we can also dry out, but we won’t be totally dried out, and the sailing trip will be shorter.