Sail Amsterdam 2020

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

What was going to be a super experience for me this year turned out to be ‘a storm in a teacup’ due to the corona outbreak. Sail Amsterdam 2020 was scheduled to take place from 12 to 16 August I was going to be part of it by taking pictures, making videos and blogging. In Mai this year the already foreseen sad news came and made me ‘miss the boat’. Due to the Corona outbreak all major events in the Netherlands had to be cancelled until the end of September.

Sail Amsterdam 2020 was going to be an extra special edition as it was also a celebration to mark the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam’s foundation. The first Sail edition was organised by the city’s port 45 years ago as part of the celebrations to mark 700 years since Amsterdam was founded.
It became a regular event, staged at five year intervals and has grown into the biggest free public event in the Netherlands.

Caption: Sunset at Sail Amsterdam 2015 with many tall ships and small boats on the river IJ

Sail Amsterdam 2020 cancelled
When I opened my mail on Mai 19 the long expected became a final fact, Sail was being cancelled. The message was:

“It is a huge disappointment for everyone that SAIL Amsterdam 2020 cannot take place. We therefore look forward to SAIL Amsterdam 2025, when we celebrate the 10th edition and 50 years of SAIL together during the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam. Even then, we hope to be able to count on your great efforts to organise this special anniversary edition. SAIL is the largest freely accessible event in the Netherlands and you make that possible!”

All hope was lost that it was going to turn out right before August. I was feeling so sad even if I saw it coming.

.

Caption: Sail 2015, 180 degrees panorama of the IJhaven (IJ harbour)

Tomorrow (August 11) I would have gone to Amsterdam to prepare for the event. I’m lucky to have a good friend living on the Java-Island were I could stay and sleep during the event. Now I will stay at home and dream of ‘what could have been’.

Looking forward

Of course I have every intention to go and help and visit Sail Amsterdam 2025 as it will be a fantastic event. So for all travellers that still have some room in their agendas for August 2025 plan to go and see Amsterdam!

Caption: The King and Queen of the Netherlands on their boat ‘De Groene Draeck’ (Green Dragon) in company of our former Queen and now Princess Beatrix and the new Princess Amalia at Sail Amsterdam 2015

Caption: Tall ship Europe at Sail Amsterdam 2015

More pictures of Sail Amsterdam 2015 can be seen here at Google photos

Hope to see you at #SAIL2025, that will be on 20 to 24 August 2025

[Giu_DiB]

Hello @Erik_van_den_Ham ,

Thanks for sharing your story with us! I wanted to let you know that some of your photos are not visible. Can you double check? You got me curious about this interesting event! I am sure that the next edition will be even better.

In case you haven’t seen it before, I suggest Your guide to Connect, where you can find helpful information about the forum and its topics.

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Thank you for the notification @Giu_DiB weird thing is If I look at my post I see all pictures. The ones that are missing should be there by HTML link to Google Photo’s.

I used this :

& nbsp;

.

[Giu_DiB]

Hi @Erik_van_den_Ham ,

Thanks for your prompt reply! I only see the third one. Can you try to upload them again?

You may find more in the article Uploading a photo on Connect? Read these guidelines first.

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Hello @Giu_DiB I think I found the problem and the solution.

The problem should be fixed now. I checked if the pictures were visible in a incognito tab.

[Giu_DiB]

Great, @Erik_van_den_Ham !

Now I can see all of them, thanks a lot for taking the time, it was definitely worth because your photos are stunning!

Did you edit the first one or these are completely natural colors? Sometimes I do follow the useful tips I’ve found here: How to edit your photos using Snapseed.

Have you ever tried it?

[helga19]

Excellent post @Erik_van_den_Ham ,interesting story about Sail Amsterdam.

Sure ,the situation this year ruined our plans.

I think you will hope for the next opportunity to take part in the Sail Amsterdam.

I wish you great success and luck in you future plans and dreams.

Best regards,

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Thank you once more @Giu_DiB for pointing out the pictures were missing. I would never found out myself as they were all visible for me.

The first picture has natural colours but I edited it in Lightroom and made the shadows lighter. As it is a backlight picture the shadows would have been almost black. As the picture I took was a RAW image I was able to uplift the shadows and make them lighter so the boats are more visible.

I never used snapseed but thank you for the tip.

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Hello @helga19 thank you for the kind words. So sad that it had to be this year. They even considered to move it to next year but that wasn’t going to work. Many of the tall ships like this one MIR (from Russia) come from far away countries and have other events planned ahead. So we need to wait 5 more years.
But I keep dreaming of all other fun things to do and see.
Cheers,
Erik

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

If you would like to see more pictures of the event @Giu_DiB and @helga19 I just updated my post with a link to a shared album on Google photos.

[RosyKohli]

@Erik_van_den_Ham

Thanks for this post & beautiful photo very true due to covid many events have been cancelled for public safety.

Here in Mumbai Ganesh Ustav the biggest festival of Maharashtra has been cancelled big pandals where they used keep Lords Ganesh statue of 10-15 feet for 11 days.

We have to follow rules & regulations for our safety.

[LuigiZ]

Hi @Erik_van_den_Ham ,

very beautiful photos, the sail must be a very nice event in such beautiful location, the boats are so nice.

Shame indeed the event is cancelled but like many others this year … next one will be for sure great especially when waiting is longer.

Thank you for sharing!

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Hello @RosyKohli thank you for your kind words. All over the world events had to be cancelled, most of them will be postponed to 2021. This was not an option for Sail. So we need to wait 5 years that is what makes this extra sad.

I know it’s better to safe than sorry as such an event could turn out as a super spread. We see more cases of Corona happening right now especially in the bigger cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Stay safe, Erik

[helga19]

Thank you so much @Erik_van_den_Ham ! Your photo album is really perfect!

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Ciao @LuigiZ thank you for the compliments. The ships and the entourage are really great. They come from all over the world just to be at this event. I encourage you to check out these magnificent ships that would have been at Sail Amserdam 2020.

It will take a wait of another five years but it is most certainly worth the wait.

[LuigiZ]

You are more than welcome @Erik_van_den_Ham , the photos are simply wonderful.

I didn’t know about this event before and I come often to the Netherlands, I’ll need to ask to my Dutch friends about it .

[AdamGT]

Another great local story with great photos @Erik_van_den_Ham . Well done! Sad that major events like this are cancelled. It’s happening all over the world of course, Olympic Games just mention one. However, this is World War 3 so we just have to focus on winning the battle against this apparent invincible and invisible enemy!

[Emmik20]

Hi @Erik_van_den_Ham . Sorry to hear such a beautiful event was cancelled . I understand it is an exciting event you look forward to. Surely .it will be full of thrill, adventure and excitement. I too want to be at sea . It one those things I want to experience in life.

[Erik_van_den_Ham]

Hello @LuigiZ this is the event people forgot to tell you about as it is only once every five years. People interested in ships and (sail)boats definitely know. I think when you mention this to your Dutch friends they say: “Oh yes we know that or we’ve been there”.

Just yesterday there was a package for me with clothing for the event

[helga19]

Wow! It is great! It was a nice surprise for you, was not it?

Clothing for event Sail Amsterdam 2020 look so cool @Erik_van_den_Ham !

Thank you for sharing this photos!