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

Upgrades for 2019

Play d'eau's new carpet

We started planning this year’s upgrades by having new carpets in December 2018, ready for Christmas.

After 16 years of sterling service the backing of our brown saloon and companionway carpets was sad and disintegrating. It was decided …

Continue reading Upgrades for 2019

Out with the old, in with the new

The end splice of our new rope

We’d suffered the most horrendous effects of a NNE storm whilst moored in St Peter Port’s Victoria marina in October 2018. It had taken 11 of our 18mm multiplait ropes to hold Play d’eau but seeing the immense strain… …

Continue reading Out with the old, in with the new

Clean water, please

Our new Dockside Filter

We’d become irritated with having to change Play d’eau’s costly onboard 2 micron water filter every few months. The removed blackened filters showed just how dirty local water supplies were, wherever we happened to fill the 1,150 litre water tanks. Whilst… …

Continue reading Clean water, please

Return to Carentan

Carentan marina

After 21 years we’re back in Carentan on the Normandy coast. I was first here with the MBM Cruise in Company fleet in the mid-1970s (can anyone remember those days?) and then with the family in 1997.

But seeing the mile long yet narrow marina now, I just wonder …

Continue reading Return to Carentan

Oh no! to Elation

Out with the old, in with the new

‘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

It’s Christmas!

Play d'eau follows the bright star

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!

Gearbox and tacho – sorted

Gary checked the shims

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 holiday technical issues

The gearbox oil leak throws oil out of the flywheel housing

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

Leg 20 (2015) – Roscoff to Beaucette

A Mach 2 fly-past

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

Leg 19 (2015) – Camaret to l’Aber Wrac’h to Roscoff

Against the black clouds, the sunlight was breathtaking

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