By: Roger & Chris Palmer (Selene 4719 "Resonance")

Europe is criss-crossed with many thousands of miles of navigable waterways. France alone has over 8000 Km of rivers and canals (and almost as many locks). It is possible to use inland waterways to navigate throughout (and between) France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Russia. Many other countries (such as England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and Italy) have their own networks of canals. Some of the canals and rivers are still heavily used for commercial traffic, but many are primarily used for recreation.

The route for our 2009 cruise. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

In 1996, Chris and I chartered a 40 foot fibreglass boat to cruise on the Canal Du Midi, which is over 300 years old, and joins the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. We rented from a French company called Locaboat which has fleets of boats for charter in several different European countries. The weather and scenery were great, but the boat rental experience was a bit "tame" for my liking. We rented from Locaboat again the next year, but I found that my eyes kept roving to the many privately-owned larger steel barges that had been converted into yachts. I discovered that several of these were available for charter, but not on a "bare boat" basis.

In 1998 Chris bought a book called "Barging In Europe" by Roger Van Dyken, who owns San Juan Sailing in Bellingham. The book was quite informative about all aspects of European barging, and featured Vertrouwen, a Dutch barge that Roger and his family lived aboard for 2 years. Roger had moved back to Bellingham on a full-time basis, and brought in several partners so that Vertrouwen would continue to be actively cruised and maintained.

"Vertrouwen" is 70 feet long, displaces 60 tons, and is over 100 years old!

The partnership wanted to have Vertrouwen delivered from Den Haag (the Hague) in Holland to St. Mammes in Central France for the 1999 cruising season, so Chris and I chartered the barge to do the delivery over a 4 week period in April and May.

Vertrouwen was built in 1908 as a commercial sailing barge. The hull is riveted, she has an outboard rudder, and the bottom is absolutely flat. Overall length is 70 feet, and the displacement is a bit over 60 tons. She has been converted into a yacht, with four cabins, two heads, a large salon, and many modern conveniences. There is no dinghy, but an old Austin Mini automobile is carried on the aft deck.

"Vertrouwen" carries an Austin Mini instead of a dinghy on her aft deck.

This trip was quite an eye-opener for us! We had been used to the relaxed pace of the rental boat on the Canal Du Midi, but we now found ourselves "mixing it up" with the big commercial barges (up to 10,000 tons) on some very busy commercial waterways. Although it was exhausting work, we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The highlight was going up the Seine River right thought Paris (this was the first time that Chris had been to the City Of Light).

We found ourselves mixing it up with the big commercial barges on some very busy commercial waterways.

The next year we again chartered Vertrouwen, and did a Fall delivery from Briare (on the Loire River) to St Symphoreum over a period of 4 weeks. We winterized the barge, and she remained in St. Symphoreum until the next Spring.

In 2001 we were invited to join the partnership, and purchased the share of a departing partner. I volunteered to join a work party that went to St Symphoreum to re-activate the barge, and convert her from chain steering to hydraulics. We took most of the components with us over to France, and hired a local worker to do the necessary welding and cutting. As in all projects, this one dragged on for a while, but the end result was quite satisfactory.

Since we joined the partnership, we have travelled thousands of miles on Vertrouwen, and seen many parts of Europe that are typically unvisited by most tourists. One of our favourite cruising areas is Berlin and the series of lakes, rivers, and canals to its North. We have made delivery trips between France and Holland on four different occasions, seeing different areas each time.

Cruising in Northern Holland. This is a typical windmill in the area.

There is an annual general meeting of the partnership every Fall (usually in Bellingham where the other 11 partners live). At this meeting we decide which areas we will be cruising in during the coming years, and assign timeslots. Each partner has a two week time assignment that varies each year. However, there are always vacant time slots, and bartering and trading is frequent. We prefer doing longer delivery trips with associated adventure rather than cruising back and forth in the same area, so we usually volunteer to move Vertrouwen from one region to another in the Spring or Fall (leaving the summers free for cruising on the West Coast of Canada in our Selene 47).

With no thrusters, an outboard rudder (limited to +/- 45 degrees), and a flat bottom, handling Vertrouwen can be quite challenging! Once she starts sliding sideways, there is little you can do! French locks are only just slightly wider than Vertrouwen's beam, and there is often a bit of current right at the gates, so the helmsman needs to be very attentive!

Many of the locks are only slighly wider than Vertouwen's beam. Maneuvering with no thrusters and an outboard rudder can be a challenge!

No cruising permit is required in Germany, Holland, or Belgium, but one must be purchased to use the intricate (and old) French system. We pay about $650 per year for France. The licensing regulations in Europe will respect the rules of a vessel's hailing port. Vertrouwen is registered in the U.S. (via the embassy in Amsterdam), so theoretically no operator's license is required. Just to be safe, I took a course and got a license authorizing me to operate non-commercial barges of up to 39 metres in length. The final exam was conducted in French - this was quite a challenge!

In April and May of 2009, we delivered Vertrouwen from Zwartsluis in Holland to Auxerre in the Burgundy region of France. Photos of this trip are in the Gallery section of the Selene Owners web site. Click here to visit our gallery of canal cruising photos.