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

The ensign is lowered

The ensign is lowered

In late June 2021, we cast off from Beaucette and headed north for the UK. Why? Our local COVID restrictions had been sufficiently relaxed.

It felt as though we were on COVID parole and if we didn’t…. …

Continue reading The ensign is lowered

Where did the last two and a half years go?

Oh my! Even with COVID bursting over all of us with its indiscriminate attacks, it feels as though Lin and I haven’t… …

Continue reading Where did the last two and a half years go?

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

A child is born

Grandson

At Christmas, what could be a better present than a new addition to the family? Our son Toby and his wife Amy, having married in April 2014 have given birth to a … …

Continue reading A child is born

Diesel

Rubis, Channel Islands

I have always been fastidious in ensuring Play d’eau’s diesel comes from a known source. But is all diesel the same?

An emphatic no. It’s changed and continues to change as further laws are …

Continue reading Diesel

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!