In the early morning of Wednesday, August 19, 2015 I boarded a typical Dutch steel motor yacht which was rented by a friend who had invited 3 couples for a tour from Zaandam to IJmuiden and back in order to see the parade of the Tall Ships participating in the Sail Amsterdam 2015 event.
From 8.00 hr on to 10.00 hr the Noordzeekanaal would be saileable from Amsterdam To IJmuiden only and the other way around from 10.00 hr till approximately 16.00 hr it would be one way traffic from IJmuiden to Amsterdam. No freight was allowed at all during the parade.
Directions were given that the absolute speed limit would be 6 km/hr for everyone.
RWS 70 is a patrol vessel of Rijkswaterstaat. Sometimes Rijkswaterstaat is called a state within a state. It was founded in 1798 as the Bureau voor den Waterstaat. Currently it is as an agency part of the Dutch ministry of Infra structure and Environtment. As it is incorporated long before Trains and Cars became en vogue, waterways were the way to transport people and goods. From there Rijkswaterstaat has 3 tasks: Make and maintain the Dutch waterways. Protect The Netherlands from the water by creating and maintaining water defence works (think dikes and dunes) and create and maintain roads.
It is clear to me that the RWS 70 is speeding here at minimal twice the 6 km speed limit without apparent signs that it was on duty. Moreover as the maximum speed of this class of patrol vessels is around 28 knots, I fail to see why it doesn’t give an example.
By this bad example the two small boats following it also apparently believe they are in their right to speed.