Extreme aquatic vegetation and nuisance in 2022.

The 2022 water sports season is once again in full swing. Many water sports enthusiasts on the Markermeer, IJmeer and Randmeren lakes suffer from the growth of aquatic plants during the season. It has been a problem for years, for which a solution does not yet seem to be in sight. After a year with relatively little nuisance in 2020, 2021 was a worse year. With the water getting warmer and all the plants growing more again, 2022 looks to be an extremely bad year.

Pondweed

For water sports, it's an itch, the long strands of pondweed. They are sometimes easily visible, but often barely. Boats sail through whole fields of weed. This sticks behind the keel, the rudder, and around the propeller. Both sail and motor boats come to a virtual standstill, and it is not easy to remove the weed.

Damage

Vaarzeker helps water sports enthusiasts who run into problems as a result, and once again notes an explosive growth in requests for help. J. de Kuiper: "Since the beginning of June, we have seen a rapid growth in the number of requests for help due to problems with water plants. Boats get stuck in them and cannot get out by themselves, leaving those on board at the mercy of help. Our members have subscriptions and fortunately do not have to pay extra for them, but we also see many boats that are damaged. Reverse gears and engines are the most common parts that get damaged, simply due to overloading.". Our advice to boaters who notice poor propulsion is not to keep sailing. A lot of damage can be prevented by getting help in time.

Mowing

Special mowing boats have been mowing for several years, but they only cover a limited area. For the time being, mowing is only done in the speedboat area south of Almere, on the Gooimeer. So for now, water sports enthusiasts need to watch out.

National politics should draw more attention to this issue. It affects a large group of water sports enthusiasts in a very large area, where the nuisance is significant.

Emergency services and diving

With our package Assistance complete we tow customers in, and also remove all the weed back from the propeller and around the rudder and keel. With a piece of up-to-date advice on the best route, satisfied customers can get on with their vacation very quickly.