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

Pea Soup

The peas, parsley and stock just a-bubbling in the pan

When visiting France, we always look forward to our first can of Petit Pois. Only recently, did we realise the one we really liked had lettuce with it. Lettuce? Well, that sowed the seed for this recipe …

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Croutons

Cut the bread into 15mm squares and place them in a bowl

Although we are fans of Crouton Soldiers, ‘normal’ square croutons can be used to great effect to bring ‘le crunch’ to any liquid dish. Crunchy and gorgeous, they won’t taste of olive oil if you use a light one …

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Herm looking to Jethou and on to Guernsey

Having started in March, it’s been six months since Lin and I started adding posts to our re-vamped website. We’ve had great fun taking over 2,000 photographs and writing 94 posts, and from the number of hits each post receives it’s so worthwhile …

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The highlights of our 2013 summer cruise

Returning to Beaucette from St Helier

Wow. We’ve just completed our longest cruise ever of three months and six days. Departure from Beaucette was on June 17 in poor weather, but we returned to Beaucette yesterday in bright sunshine and flat seas. A great welcome home …

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Leg 25 – St Helier to Beaucette – 26 September 2013

Back at our berth in Beaucette where even the pigeons were there to welcome us

We didn’t want to go home. Having spent three months and six days of cruising to new and exciting places, the explorer bug had set in. Yet, we both knew the time was right to be back home in peaceful Beaucette, Guernsey …

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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 …

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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… …

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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…

Raspberry Coulis

Three ingredients are all that's needed

When made with really fresh and ripe raspberries, this simple recipe makes a rich and sumptuous coulis which can be stored in a fridge for two or three weeks provided it’s covered with cling film so no air can get at it …

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