Had fair winds, or no wind (motored for 8 hours or so), and made good time: 30 hours from Harwich to Den Helder. We didn't stop, felt as if we had to catch up, so pressed on, got boarded by the Dutch coastguard, apparently they ought to give lessons in how to do this to the UKBA, who seem to have a knack for getting up people's noses, whilst our experience was really nothing to complain about, they were polite and friendly throughout. Felt a bit sorry to go past the Friesland islands without stopping, it was lovely weather and the beaches are great. We almost got a favourable tide up the Elbe, but not quite, the ebb is fierce and even though it was neaps it seemed to contradict the excellent progress that had been made to bash against the current so we anchored near the river mouth, first anchorage on the right as you go in, which we shared with a German coast guard tug, for six hours before pressing on up river to the Kiel Canal. We got though the canal with 10 minutes to spare (at this time of the year 'sport' boats have to stop navigating at 2030 local time), and were tied up alongside at the Sports Haven at 1950 UTC, 3 days and 13 hours pontoon to pontoon.