Sail Amsterdam 2025: peace and freedom

 “It is so peaceful. That is freedom!”, says Arjan, who sits next to me. It is August 20th, 2025, and the Sail-in is in full action. We left the old harbour of Amsterdam quite early. We aimed to find the best place along the North Sea Canal to enjoy the Sail-in. We waited 10 years for it. Elsbeth, Arjan’s life partner, and I decided that this celebratory edition we will enjoy it as simple citizens and not as journalists. So, no accreditation, but a wonderful picnic close to Het Hem, halfway through the route of the sail-in. We arrived there around 8.30, just in time to witness hundreds of boats rushing to the Ijmuiden lock, where the tall ships were already waiting. Our very international small group – a Romanian, an Argentinian, a Swiss, and a Dutch – found one of the best spots in the area, which at that hour was still quiet. We installed our camping chairs and table and enjoyed our breakfast in the open air, accompanied by the wonderful sound of the water splashing against the rushing boats. And it was indeed so peaceful.

The first tall ships started to show their masts around noon. And all those boats we saw in the morning started to come back, looking like floating ants stopping from time to time to admire the giants. Step by step, behind and around us the crowd grew and so was the noise. The Dutch are known to be very loud and on that day they didn’t disappoint.

And still, as Arjan said, everything was peaceful. We felt free, and we were free. The sun was generous, the wind friendly and the show amazing. And while we enjoyed our next snack, we smiled at a funny boat, we commented on the choice of names, we celebrated the waving flags or we checked the history of a tall ship. So peaceful!

Till the shape of the first marine ship started to cut the sky. “What does this have to do with Sail?”, asked Elsbeth rhetorical. At that moment Arjan’s words came back to me. The huge grey block was in strong contrast with the colourful small boats or the historical tall ships. The huge grey block was making its way to the old harbour of Amsterdam as a reminder that without it we can’t have the peace and freedom of Sail. A necessary ugliness? The beast and the beauty.

We left our privileged spot shortly after 3 p.m. Clipper Amsterdam, the leader of the pack, if I may say so, was already in the city. I don’t know about the rest of my group, but I did have that peaceful feeling of a wonderful day. Exhausted by the wind, sun, and noise, but happy.

 Two days later, I faced the crowds in the Old Harbour, the home of Sail Amsterdam. People everywhere, long queues for visiting the tall ships, and of course, food courts. Walking along the boats, I had to praise the organizers for the way they managed the crowds ( more than 2 million visitors in only 5 days). And despite the busy quays, I felt somehow peaceful. Not even the short rain could ruin that feeling. The ships and the boats mirroring in the water always fascinate me. I stopped here and there to take photos, but most of all, I took my time to take in as much as possible from that wonderful atmosphere created by the presence of those hundreds of boats. I decided to visit one of the historical ships and I chose a Portuguese one. I stopped to hear a fragment of a story told by a member of the crew. His audience was two Dutch gentlemen. The storyteller was trying to find his words in English in his attempt to explain the two Dutch which part of the world was dominated by the Spanish and which by the Portuguese. I smiled. We were on Vera Cruz, a replica of “an iconic ship from the Portuguese Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries”, as mentioned on the event’s website. Close to Vera Cruz was Nao Victoria, a Spanish ship, also a replica of a historic one. The Dutch were on their way to disturb the division decided by two major powers. And I smiled again, looking at the old storage houses along the quay, many of them named after the former Dutch colonies. And now, look around: it is so peaceful!

And this feeling grew after the sun went down. The boats in the night decorated like Christmas trees gave me postcard images. I didn’t hear the crowds anymore. Those images were so powerful for me that I was able to disconnect from the noise around me. This was my forth edition of Sail and I can easily say that it was the one I enjoyed the most. At the first one I was in the discovering mood, it was short after my arrival in the Netherlands. I faced the second and the third ones with enthusiasm but also busy covering it as a foreign correspondent. The one that just finished was about what I felt, was about emotions, was about freedom. And so peaceful, as Arjan said.

P.S. Sail Amsterdam was born 50 years ago, when the city celebrated 700 years. It was meant to be one one-time event, but here it is, still alive to mark this year’s jubilee. Every evening, the fireworks lit up the skies for 750 seconds, one for each year since this city was first mentioned in an official document: 27th of October 1275. Sail Amsterdam takes place every 5 years. The pandemic interrupted the tradition and made us wait five years extra for one of the world’s most wonderful maritime events.