Sail Amsterdam: The Boats are Back in Town
I adore the walkability of the city. You can get from one end of the historic district to the other in roughly 30 minutes. The landscape, particularly when the sun is setting over the canals is unbeatable. The chill pace of life resonates with me. I've lost count how many hours I've spent sitting in Soundgarden, 't Smalle or Cafe P96, knitting or reading, just watching boats go by. Listening to the storytellers at the Mezrab or catching the Irish jam at Mulligan's feeds the soul.
But I've also seen plenty of not-so-great changes. Many small businesses have closed down (RIP Jay's Juices and De Bolhoed) as the proliferation of rubber duck shops goes unchecked. Tourism, which has always been a contentious issue has reached insane proportions. TikTok famous food spots now draw hour-long lines and annoy the hell out of local residents. Prices, which have always been amongst the highest in Europe, have increased drastically just in the last year.
It's enough to have me dreaming of getting away from it all, even if just temporarily. But then something happens that makes you fall in love with the city all over again. That something was the Sail Amsterdam festival.
This just meant that I had to return early the next morning to see the rest of the ships. My first stop was the Shabab Oman II. Why? Because I really want to visit Oman and having a bunch of hot sailors I could get travel advice from seemed like a good idea.
Next up was Spain's NAO Santa Maria, a historical recreation of one of Columbus' trio. It doubled as a floating museum, speaking to what the conditions would have been like back then.
To see the logistic of how these massive ships are constructed and repaired was way more interesting than I had expected.
Held every five years, it a weeklong party where tall ships from all over the world come for a visit. To say that the atmosphere is festive does not do it justice. The ships are open to visitors, their crews join parades all over the city, concert stages pop up all over the place...it's a legit party.
I last attended in 2015 and loved every second of it. I was there for the opening day parade. I did countless boat trips around the harbor. I, a person who has never learned to ride a bicycle, even joined a bike race..and won!! (Note: I was tricked into it by my friends who said we should all do it and then ran away from the sign-up table the second I had put my name down.)
By the time the closing day parade came, I had probably walked over 60 miles, drank my own weight in Heinekens and been on more boats than the most gullible Shanghai'ed dock worker. I wanted those tall ships gone so I could finally get some rest.
Fast forward to 2025. The last scheduled Sail would have been in 2020. Obviously it, along with the world as we knew it, was cancelled. That meant that this Sail was 10 years in the making. Add to it that this is the year the city was celebrating its 750th anniversary and you got a party x1000.
Once again, I was front and center that first day as the ships crossed the Ij, behind Centraal Station.
As a good part-time Amsterdammer, I had spread the word about how special this event was. This resulted in our small gang growing steadily throughout the day, from our vantage point at the NDSM Wharf.
Once the ships had settled in along the eastern side of Centraal Station, we made our way over there for the first up close look. A lot of the ships were having private parties- something I don't remember from 2015- so we had to make do with viewing most from the outside.
The exception was Peru's BAP Union, arguably the nicest of all the tall ships, which was allowing visitors from day one.
One major difference from my last Sail and this one was the small boat tours. Back then, you could easily haggle with a random boat dude and get an hour tour for 10-15€ per person, often with a beer or two thrown in. Now, everything went through a central booking kiosk and there was no getting on the water for under 50€. If you wanted to go out at night to see the fireworks, you were looking at 130€ minimum, more if you wanted drinks. This did not sit well with me. Not one bit.
As I wandered around with a friend, I encountered lo and behold, a random boat dude. He was a bit removed from the commotion so I saw my chance to use old skills. Long story short, we got on a luxury open bar ship for 50€ per person. My friend does not drink, meaning I had to drink for both of us.
I am not exaggerating when I say this was one of the funnest nights of the summer. The weather was perfect, the crowd on the boat was cool and welcoming, the music was a jam... Just 10/10.
Except for the fireworks themselves. Those were comically lame but the Dutch are a cautious, easily frightened sort so the idea of playing with explosives probably had them quite unwell.
Day 3: I woke up hungover, my feet hurt and I just wanted to stay in bed but that was not an option. This was Sail Amsterdam, dammit. The day began with a free tour of the Damen Shipyard, which I don't believe is normally open to the public.
They had a nice carnivalesque area set up, where you could lounge with food and beer vendors. It would have been nice to relax there for a bit but there was no time. Across town, there was a parade I needed to get to.
Somewhere along the parade route, my friends chatted up a Polish soldier, which led us straight back to the ships, specifically to the Dar Mlodziezy
Have I mentioned that it is not just the tall ships that come into town? Every possible navigable conveyance has also joined the festivities. Watching the spectacle unfold from the tall ships is just one more added bonus.
From the Polish ship, it was a short walk to the aforementioned Mezrab for their Friday story telling night. Having this den of peace and tranquility sitting squarely among the chaos was surreal. So was having access to a free bathroom. All over the city, port-a-potties were manned by machine wielding toilet attendants and no got through without paying their 2€.
Day 4: New verse, same as the first. The festival was set up with different routes you could follow. I'd been mostly on the Orange one, which went through the principal areas. On this day, I ventured onto the White and Green routes which went by art exhibits, a brewery and another one of my favorite hangs, Hannekes Boom.
Looking back, there are a couple of signs that I was beginning to run out of steam. First, I barely took any photos, preferring to lounge around and people/ boat watch.
And second, I only visited one ship on this day, Spain's gorgeous El Galeon.
Day 5: All good things must come to an end and really not a moment too soon. Much as I had been in 2015, I was relieved at the prospect of sleeping in. But there was still plenty of Sail going on. The ships were scheduled to begin departing at 2pm so many of them had stopped allowing visitors in order to get ready for their onward journeys.
Unable to visit any more ships, I decided to give in and book an overpriced boat trip and enjoy the show from the water. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this idea as all the open boats were totally sold out. The enclosed boats were available but the weather was too nice for that and those boats suck so no.
This is where my knowledge of Dutch culture came in handy. Generally speaking, the Dutch will not think outside the box. I'm not even certain they would recognize the box. If something is not explicitly spelled out, then it is "not possible". These are a people who will wait for 10 minutes to cross a road with zero vehicles on it because the walk sign has not yet told them to do so. Now this is a major generalization and I'm sure there are plenty of anecdotal stories to contradict me but I said what I said.
With this in mind, I found a non-Dutch boat open operator. I explained that I knew all their sailings were sold out but with traffic as insane as it was, would it be possible for me to stand-by for a no show. They not only agreed, they did me one better. All seats had been purchased online. If someone didn't show up by their appointed time, I could just have the seat for free.
And that's how I ended up having a perfect afternoon on the water on this final day of Sail.
Once that was done, all that was left was finding a spot to wave goodbye to all the ships I'd gotten to know over the last few days. I headed to the Ijplein and no sooner had I settled in than my Omani friends came by and they were all over the masts!!
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Bye, see you in Muscat!! |
I had never seen sailors manning the yards- a term that I totally had to look up- before. I've since learned that it originated as a sign the ship was coming in peace and their guns were not manned. It has since evolved into a show of pride and respect when entering or departing from a foreign port.
The Polish ship put on an a similarly impressive display.
And just like that, the quinquennial celebration- another term I had to look up- had come to an end. I'm so grateful I got to experience it once more.
Although my relationship with Amsterdam and the Dutch in general may be a complicated one, I was also happy to have spent another summer revisiting old haunts and finding new ones. Here's til next year...
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