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

Cooking onboard

Rose (violet) garlic, the best of all garlics,
at Paimpol’s farmers’ market, Brittany
click to enlarge

Eating out appears to be the choice of many boaters rather than cooking onboard. Whilst away, it’s a holiday in itself not to have to cook but we sometimes we come away disappointed with the fare we’ve been served.

Despite the ‘effort’ involved, preparing an exciting meal onboard, full of mouthwatering flavours can be such fun and so rewarding.

I mean, after you’ve moored up and decide to go exploring on foot, search out the world of the local farmers’ markets and supermarkets and explore their great produce. In France especially, you are spoilt for choice with seafood galore, vegetables, cheeses, speciality vinegars, wines, breads – just smell the aromas. Is your mouth watering yet?

Making it fun to cook onboard

Over the years, Lin and I have developed some specific solutions to cooking onboard and making great food. So we’ve decided to share this by adding Cooking posts to get you going.

We’ll start soon by adding posts under a new ‘Cooking’ category on quick and easy ‘wow’ goodies such as Parmesan cheese crisps before becoming more adventurous. We’ll also be adding ‘food goodies’ when we come across good sources at the various ports we visit and, when we want a break and really don’t want to cook, we’ll add comments about the restaurants we visit and recommend – or otherwise.

Cherries, peaches, melons….
whatever you want at one of the many fruit stalls
click to enlarge

So, if you use any of our ideas and find you like your initial creations, do keep going. Much is about simple technique and preparation with nothing too complicated or time consuming.

Keep going!

As I’ve said, we’ll start with simple ‘nibbles’ which go really well with early evening drinks. If they work for you, you can then decide to start climbing the ladder with our starters, main courses and finally, desserts.

Our experience is that there’s nothing like sharing an on-board prepared meal with newly found boating friends from neighbouring berths.

Wine, conversation and laughter all flow amidst the high praise the chef receives.

Best of Breed ingredients

We will keep our Best of Breed ingredients page updated as and when we find worthy and outstanding products.

Something to share?

If you’ve found a recipe that works for you onboard, please send it to us and we’ll publish it for you. Whether it’s simple or complex, let’s get cooking!

Inspiration

We’re often asked where our inspiration for cooking comes from. Lin’s been cooking brilliantly for many years, but for Piers, it wasn’t until he attended a five day course at the Ashburton Cookery School accompanied by Kim Hollamby, that his love of cooking took off.

So, to whom do our thanks go?

Piers and Lin
from the Galley of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.

Dried meats, hams and sausages, anyone?
click to enlarge

Seafood galore
straight from the sea that morning
click to enlarge

Onions, shallots, garlics….
click to enlarge

….and Lobsters just waiting to nip you!
click to enlarge

Latest cooking onboard posts

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