A strong breeze blowing steadily through your hair, salty breaths of air, holding on to the helm tightly with both your hands and the sails beating windward. No modern equipment required. This is what sailing on a 145 year old wooden ship is like–a unique experience. Crossing the IJsselmeer, landing on mudflats at low tide on the Wadden Sea, and checking out a local port’s pub afterwards with a tight-knit group of people. Enter a training to become a first mate or skipper, or help out with the upkeep and resturation of this floating piece of heritage. These are just a few of the cool experiences you can expect to have on Trui.

Trui is a traditional Botter, a type of fishing ship that was very common in olden times on the coasts of the former Zuiderzee. Most of us sailing her are members of student association De Bolk. Sailing is mostly done on weekends between various harbours, after which you’ll usually spend the night on board. When done sailing we like to grab a few drinks in a local pub. In summer we take Trui further away, and take her onto the Dutch, German and sometimes even the Danish seashores.

Want to become more involved? Really take charge? Well, that can be arranged. We offer our very own first mate training, after which you can go on to become a skipper. Both after and during this training you may take the responsibility for sailing Trui with groups of people. You’ll learn how to sail, how to navigate and, for instance, engage in safety exercises with the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue.

And then there is still more to do, when the upkeep of Trui comes around. When replacing worn sections for instance, you get the chance to do woodworking on some huge chunks of oak wood, or repair the sails so they’ll be in great shape for the next season.

Would you like to do a weekend of sailing on Trui? Awesome! You can register here