Tall and small ships on IJ river

My little writer’s boat did a good job during the 2010 Sail celebration. Small but sturdy it took me to every nook and cranny of the Amsterdam water systems. Together we cruised the canals from Herengracht to Reguliersgracht, from Keizersgracht to Lauriergracht and on to Prinsengracht. We crossed the Amstel river. We even sailed the Amsterdam-Rijn canal and the IJ to dock at the Verbindingsdam between Java Island and the main land. At the Lloyd I enjoyed a gig of my favorite funkadelic hiphop band PLeaSe. You will most definitely hear more of them as they are without doubt The Next Best Band and they will feature in my new YA novel!
After an outstanding, energetic and energizing PLeaSe performance – they twice played my favorite jazzy song ‘2nd Day of June’ – I continued my voyage on IJ river past tall and small ships, past brigantines and barques, past schooners and brigs.

Past schooners and brigantines

It's a Manta. Right?

In hindsight I think my boat felt most at ease at the Pieremachochel parade in the canals. Not that my Powerglide is a rowboat, which is the dictionary’s definition of a pieremachochel – as with more things, we Amsterdammers tend to take that a tad liberal: as long as it floats, is the official Pieremachochel parade’s admission standard.
My boat is not as green as a rowboat; it’s a dapper electric boat, not afraid of anything, let alone impressive tall ships.

Heading home after an exciting passage along tall ships, with near-misses by Sunday sailors and some overwhelming wake showers, the sunset offered me a perfect ending of the day. Sailing my little Powerglide past Central Station I had a glorious view on the Roman Catholic church of Saint Nicholas. I could not but wonder, was it the devil himself that showed his fiery grin through the church window?

The devil's fiery grin?