About this site

Piers and Lin du Pré bought their new Fleming 55 / 129, Play d'eau, in 2003.

She was berthed in Beaucette Marina, Guernsey in the Channel Islands at N49° 30’.197 W002° 30’.350 until she was sold in October 2021.

This site charts the thrilling adventures they had in her.

You can contact us here.

Where’s Play d’eau?

If the new owners have the AIS on, you can find where Play d'eau is right now.

Click here.

Zoom in and our position will be shown on a map.

Recent Posts

I flew on Joey

Joey, the courageous Trilander
of Aurigny Air Services.
Can you see his smiley face?
click to enlarge

I had to attend a 3 hour meeting in Dubai the other day. The round trip took 6 days. How crazy is that!

The route from Guernsey was to Dinard, Rennes, Paris de Gaulle, Dubai (for the 3 hour meeting), Paris de Gaulle, Rennes, Dinard and finally home to Guernsey, using small, big and huge planes, taxis, hire cars and hotels.

Aurigny – Norman French for Alderney

Aurigny Air Services was launched in 1968 with a fleet of small 12 seat Trilanders. Soon, short childrens’ stories of Joey the Trilander were being published. Joey had a bright red nose, big eyes and a lovely smile. He was strong and very courageous.

Ever since our children were tiny, we read them the stories of Joey and his exploits.

I flew on Joey

It was raining, blowing and really dull, but imagine my excitement as the airport bus drove us (us = 4 passengers) the 50m drive from Guernsey’s International airport departure door to an Aurigny Trilander.

On the return journey, I was at the back of the long thin Trilander
click to enlarge

It was Joey!

Squeezing through a tiny access to my seat, I climbed in and fastened my seatbelt. Joey started. With full power on his three engines, the small plane rattled a bit (he’s rather old) as we took off and flew the short journey to Dinard, landing so sweetly at this tiny country airport.

The return to Guernsey

And Joey was there, six days later, to fly me home. I’m sure he winked when under my breath I said, ‘Hello again.’

Soon after take-off, Joey flew into cloud and the turbulence started. It was bumpy, and became more and more bumpy the closer we flew to Guernsey. The rain was so heavy it started to leak into the plane and drip on me.

Joey tried to land but couldn’t see the runway at the minimum height of 200′. With full power he roared as he overshot, climbed away and completed another circuit.

Even though the Captain was helping all he could, the weather was still nasty so Joey had to overshoot again. Rather than keep trying he flew us back to Dinard.

After refuelling Joey, the Captain checked the weather and decided to have another go.

Joey was determined. Yes, it was still bumpy, but he managed to see the runway through the rain at the last moment and land.

Airborne from Dinard
we climbed above the cloud as the sun set
click to enlarge

By now, it was late but I knew Lin would be there to meet me.

As I climbed out of Joey, I looked back and thanked him for being so clever. You know? I’m sure he winked again as he was towed towards a warm hanger for the night.

Joey’s fun zone

Enjoy visiting Joey’s fun zone and hearing one of his latest daring exploits.

Piers
From the imaginary cockpit of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

(All photographs taken with a Smartphone)

Joey was helped by his Captain
click to enlarge

G-JOEY proudly displays the Puffin logo of the airline
click to enlarge

4 comments to I flew on Joey

  • Hil

    I love it! What a lovely welcome to see Joey, particularly on the way home.Beautiful sunset photo. In the photo Joey’s tail looks as though it is being held up by a triangular support! Maybe he is just very tired- is that why he might be retired? What a huge journey. I am glad you are back- for a day or two.

    Lots of love, Hil x x

  • Paul Rastall

    Love it! Although the line ‘couldn’t see the runway’ part scared me more than a little..

  • Pip Flynn

    Just trying to work out if the time taken to get to/from the meeting justified the time spent in the meeting??!!
    Glad the third attempt was successful!

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