SAIL AMSTERDAM 2025 - Once every 10 years edition

One of the most historic gatherings of ships and boats is the SAIL Amsterdam event on the Ij. Historically, it is celebrated every 5 years, but the last event was cancelled due to COVID, making this edition a unique "once every 10 years" event. The celebrations are held close to the Amsterdam centre, mainly in the Ij area, but during the SAIL days, it is noticeably busier on the touristy canals of Amsterdam.

SAIL is a multi-day event celebrating a plethora of things all around maritime and sailing. It celebrates the rich history of Amsterdam and the significance of the Ij, the history of sailing, and gathers a whole different crowd than what Amsterdam usually gets. People from around the world come on their own yachts and boats to sail on the Ij and enjoy the historic and massive sailboats that are flaunted on the water.

From small boats to large, inactive warships from the past, SAIL is an eye candy for anyone remotely interested. I had absolutely no clue what SAIL was all about going into this. Saw a few posters around the city, got a few invitations from friends to tag along on their boats, but didn't really budge until we were warranted for a "work event". Hmm what fun. And it turned out to be an excellent experience!

We had an excellent guide who knew everything about SAIL and the ships on display. The majestic ships have sailed in from different countries and some of them are open to the public. I'd seen ships from as far as Oman; they had sent in an older ship from their naval fleet.
The Portuguese ship you see above has those sails that I have only ever seen on Mythbusters and movies. Not gonna lie, the impressive size and how enormous the sail ships is intimidating.

It was apparently the calmest day of the event. SAIL usually begins with a celebratory "sail-in" with a massive ship taking the lead and hundreds of boats following it. There is a lot of drinking, dancing, music, and festivities involved. Throughout the multi-day event, everyone can come in on their own boats or a hired one, climb up into whatever ships are open to public, but there is also a specific area which is reserved for boats and people with tickets - that is where the "official" festivities are; namely more dancing, music, and concert like vibes.

Day 1 was pretty intense, with almost no space on the Ij - a massive contrast to whatever you see in these pictures with lots of space on the water. This is still significantly busier than regular days.

Some Hivers may recognise this place. During HiveFest Amsterdam, we crossed this section of the water on ferries and then headed to The Eye, and then again headed to the boats that took us to the next destination.

Usually, the ferries, a couple of oil tankers, cargo ships, tour boats, and a massive cruise ship every Tuesday and Thursday is what I normally see here. So seeing a real Dutch warship was an interesting change. I think there were 2 Dutch naval ships, both open to the public if I can remember correctly.

Fun fact, the Dutch king was also among the crowd here on the first day, sailing on a humble boat which eventually crashed with another. I couldn't find any videos of that online, just stories. But what can you expect? It is, after all, one of the busiest events on the Ij. What is more impressive than the king coming out is that even after it being so busy, one of my favorite forms of public transport - the ferry, remained 100% active.

I found a video for you all to see how busy the SAIL event was on the first day and also take a look at those sifty ferries making their way to and from Amsterdam center to the North: Reddit link.

I really enjoyed myself. I can see why this attracts so many people. Appreciating the Amsterdam "skyline" from the top of a ship with an incredible foreground of some of the most impressive ships is an incredible experience. Learning the history of such an event, about the ships, and so on. This taking place after 10 years brought extra enthusiasm to the event and I can happily say it was 3 hours spent very well!

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