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.
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‘We have a leak – a big leak,’ I shouted to Lin. I’d reached into the cabinet under the galley sink for a bottle of Fairy liquid (yes, I really was about to do the washing up), but all I felt was wet. A lot of very wet, wetness.
Quickly looking inside with a torch …
Continue reading Oh no! to Elation
May we immediately assure everyone that our radio silence for the last two years has not been because we’ve finally navigated to the great marina in the sky.
No. With considerable quantities of fuel left in life’s tanks, we’ve loved many months in the magnificent country of South Africa,… …
Continue reading It’s Christmas!
Double First winning the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise has provoked me to write a post after seven months of posting silence.As the founder of Double First Ltd, I can’t tell you how proud I am of the staff’s achievement to have produced Engage, a School Management Information Software (MIS) which is respected worldwide by leading fee-paying schools. …
Continue reading Double First Ltd wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise
Wanting to jump straight onto the gearbox technical issues quickly, I called TwinDisc’s UK distributors on Monday and explained the oil spill from the flywheel housing.
‘We’ll fly in first thing on Thursday and take the late evening flight back on Friday,’ said Paul Masey, Service Manager. What service. What a star. …
Continue reading Gearbox and tacho – sorted
Play d’eau’s been brilliant and had very few engineering problems over the years. Maybe it’s a sign of her age (she’s 13 now), but we’ve had a few coming to the surface, recently.
So here’s a list of issues from our Tech Log which remain outstanding, together with ones we solved during the holiday …
Continue reading Play d’eau’s holiday technical issues
Drat! Given a recurring gearbox problem and deteriorating weather forecasts, we made the decision to forgo our ‘jolly’ along the north Brittany coast and return straight to Beaucette.
After a day off and a lovely walk into Roscoff, we were ready to leave. …
Continue reading Leg 20 (2015) – Roscoff to Beaucette
Even though we’d had a somewhat tiresome passage yesterday, it had been unexpectedly rewarded by the second best dinner we’ve had whilst on holiday this year.
If ever there’s a reason to visit Camaret, it’s the Restaurant of the small Hotel Vauban. Having eaten and although tired, we felt back on form. …
Continue reading Leg 19 (2015) – Camaret to l’Aber Wrac’h to Roscoff
We’ve never, ever been in such threatening seas.
Leaving Sainte Marine heading south, the wind was calm and the sea flat but soon we were heading into a slow, smooth swell which I have to say was rather enjoyable, even soothing. …
Continue reading Leg 18 (2015) – Sainte Marine to Camaret
The forecast knew it, we knew it, and it was – lumpy.
But well worth it to reach Sainte Marine from which we can judge the attack on the Finistère Peninsula. Camaret, L’Aber Wrac’h and Roscoff, here we come …
Continue reading Leg 17 (2015) – Lorient to Sainte Marine
Having had a dinner of Lin’s luscious mince (heavy on the onions, mushrooms and thick, shiny gravy) accompanied with sweet corn and peas and followed by cantaloupe melon with a touch of framboise liqueur and lime juice, we fell into bed soon after 8pm.
I was up at 0500. …
Continue reading Leg 16 (2015) – Pornichet to Lorient Port Louis
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