Dutch Treat

If you’ve cruised the Dutch inland waters or the Baltic Sea you’ll have noticed how well the boat sails when you come out again. Your bottom is clean as a butcher’s slab at opening time because any incipient growth from the ocean loses interest in life as soon as it smells the sweet rivers. It takes a week or ten days for the full effect. Even if you aren’t lucky enough to visit such exotic locations it’s still worth knowing, because if you’ve a chance to lay up for a fortnight inside a lock you can offset the docking costs against the price of that midseason scrub you won’t be needing.