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

Leg 4 (2015) – Audierne to Port la Fôret

An unhappy house near the entrance to Port la Foréet

The NE F6/7 had been relentless, howling across Audierne ever since we arrived accompanied mostly by strong sunshine with the occasional spot of rain.

But the weather was no match for Play d’eau. She was becoming uneasy and wanting to move on with her holiday. Play d’eau won, of course. …

Continue reading Leg 4 (2015) – Audierne to Port la Fôret

Letter from Audierne

The cellars of De Vigne en Vin d'Audierne

Oh how we love this small, unspoiled market fishing town which has no pretensions or modern glamour to smother its original reality. Thankfully, the long arm of ‘Progress’ has kept its destructive hands away from Audierne.

Meanwhile, the town’s extensive shell fish industry has kept it firmly on the haute cuisine map by serving much of France with fresh crab, lobster, langoustine, sardines and line-caught fish. …

Continue reading Letter from Audierne

Leg 3 (2015) – Camaret to Audierne

Ocean Pearl squeezes into the marina

After our horrid yet triumphant marathon passage making yesterday, we had a day off to recuperate – with croissants and hot chocolate.

If we missed tomorrow’s weather window we’d be stuck for at least a week whilst the forecast NE gales played endless and annoying percussion by slapping rigging against masts of neighbouring yachts. …

Continue reading Leg 3 (2015) – Camaret to Audierne

Leg 2 (2015) – St Peter Port to Camaret

Descending into the trough of the 3m swell

By 1am we were up and dressed. The light of the full moon was reflecting off the glassy flat harbour sea untouched by any hint of a wind. Perfect.

Yet we knew that when we rounded St Martin’s Point we’d meet a 3m Atlantic swell topped with 1m waves stirred up by a NE4 wind. …

Continue reading Leg 2 (2015) – St Peter Port to Camaret

Leg 1 (2015) – Beaucette to St Peter Port

Hot sun and blue skies at Beaucette

With shouts of ‘fine weather and calm seas’ from friends Ricky, Dawn, Terry and Margaret, Play d’eau gave a long, echoing blast on her shiny Kahlenbergs signalling her exit from Beaucette with the west coast of France firmly in her sites.

Lin and Piers just happened to be travelling with her. …

Continue reading Leg 1 (2015) – Beaucette to St Peter Port

Leg 24 – Paimpol to St Helier – 21 September 2013

Piers doing the houskeeping

With fresh croissants collected by Lin and safely stowed in the galley (away from Piers), we cast off ending our delightful nine day stay in this glorious Brittany port. Exiting the lock, we waved goodbye to the lock-keeper, headed out of the harbour and into the long, narrow channel …

Continue reading Leg 24 – Paimpol to St Helier – 21 September 2013

Paimpol – our extended stay

Play d'eau about to wake up as dawn breaks

Paimpol is such a beautiful, small old Brittany town, built around its original granite harbour from which many sailing trawlers crossed the Atlantic to fish for cod off the Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. The harbour remains a fishing port yet today’s trawlers have swapped sails for engines, salt for refrigerators, and only venture a few miles out to sea …

Continue reading Paimpol – our extended stay

The winner of the 2013 Croissant competition

The first bite of the winning croissant

Having cruised the beautiful coasts of north and west France and their hidden treasures of marinas for the last three months, we’ve tasted croissants in 22 ports from 31 boulangeries. And the winner is… …

Continue reading The winner of the 2013 Croissant competition

The boats insured but…

The channel between Ile de Brehat and the mainland

Whilst transiting the rocky channel between Ile de Bréhat and the mainland on the leg between Tréguier and Paimpol, I was reminded of an incident on an MBM (the UK magazine Motor Boats Monthly) cruise in company in the late 1990s …

Continue reading The boats insured but…

Man Overboard

The height of Treguier's the 30m pontoon is 3 feet off the water

It happened so quickly. In our report on Tréguier marina we made the point about the strong tidal flows which pass diagonally through the pontoons. Given this, mooring should always be into the current. Well, there was an incident two days before we left. …

Continue reading Man Overboard