Thanks for your kind comments, makes all that writing worthwhile.

I did find the Kiel Canal relaxing and fun - but I obviously dropped my guard.

Re outside route vs inside route:

With a shoal draft boat that dries upright, going through the shallows was irresistible! Although it was a challenge, to have missed it would have been a big personal mistake. Good summer weather and no time pressure would have made all the difference.

36 hours offshore in the German Bight in this 9m yacht with just two crew, in March? Not for me a softie like me, thanks. Also, as you've probably gathered, my boat hates head seas. Even with westerlies forecast, the timeframe was too long to assume that we would never have to fight to windward.

AliM, I amazed that you managed to pass outside all the islands yet still found a harbour each night. Was the weather particularly settled? For instance, the seegat out from Wangerooge looks like a nightmare in anything but a flat calm. Also, supposing you had to leave each island at HW to get the depth in the seegat, didn't that mean that you had to fight the ebb all the way along the island shore and into the next seegat? I'd be really interested in how you managed.

Bob