One foot in the Vilaine

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THE EARLY YEARS IN INDONESIA
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats. Was that not from The Wind in the Willows? My first boating experience started with a sailing dinghy moored at Tandjung Priok, the harbour of Djakarta in Indonesia. Those sailing trips to the small coral islands in the Java Sea, I will forever remember. Our little sailing boats left port early in the morning. The sea is usually calm, with just enough wind to make 3 knots. After a 2 or 3 hour sail a small island appears and soon we drag the boat on shore. Coral is very sharp and we all wear old tennis shoes for protection. The servants arrived before us in a motor launch and chairs and tables have been set out with a lovely spread of food for lunch. Spicy dishes made with fish, prawns and pork. There was a fire on which they made sate kambing, goats meat on sticks with spicy peanut butter sauce. I noticed that the island had grown bigger and my father explained that the tide had gone out completely. We played on the coral beach whilst the older people had their afternoon nap under beach umbrellas. After a few hours the tide started coming in. The motor launch was packed and the skipper sat at the bridge waiting for enough water to return to port. We boarded our sailing boats and sailed back towards Tandjong Priok. Looking behind me I noticed that our island had disappeard, swallowed up by the raising tide. Growing up in Indonesia was wonderfull. The war was over and the Dutch were enjoying life again, in a very colonial way. We had a home in Djakarta with lots of servants. There was Babu Anak the nanni, Babu Boen the cleaning woman, Babu Chuci the washer woman, Babu Kookie the cook, the driver, the gardener and the night watchman. Djakarta was hot and everybody enjoyed siesta during the afternoon. I went to a primary school in Jalan Busuki. An international school where the main languages were Dutch, Bahassa and English. A few years later the school was attended by a young boy who later became the President of America, Barak Obama. Amazing to think that he possebly sat at the same old desks I once scratched my name on. Most weekends were spent in the hills where it was cooler. We owned a bungalow on the Puntjak, the mountainous interior of Java where I once witnessed the eruption of a vulcano on the Tanguan Prow, translated the upside down boat. The ash was blown over our home and it suddenly went very dark. A scary experience for a young boy. Mum called me in as inhaling the ash was unhealthy. This is where my parents relaxed and I remember the great parties they had. Old fashioned parties where the wifes played piano and everybody had a singsong and drank lots of alcohol and late night swims in the pool to sober up. Those Dutch knew how to have fun. Perhaps it was their way to forget the war and the horrible time they had in the Japanese camps.

HOLLAND
Colonial life had come to an end for the Dutch and in 1958 we were forced to return to Holland. A bitter pill for everybody. We spent the first year living in hotels, as there were not enough houses for everybody returning from the colonies. Finally a flat was allocated, just outside Amsterdam. A shock for my parents, who were used to huge colonial homes with high ceilings and mosquito netting rather that glass windows. My father fortunately found employment and he even managed to buy an 10 year old ex fire brigade Hillman Minx. The years in Holland were unpleasant. I learned Bahassa in Djakarta, now an obsolete waste of time language. I was 3 years behind with French and 2 years with English and to add to my problems, my father suddenly died. The only good part I remember was sailing the Westeinder Plassen in hired BM class yachts with my friends Frans, Tony and Pim, and the many evenings spent in nightclubs in Amsterdam. At 18 I did my compulsory army training and soon after left for South Africa, never to return to Holland other than an occasional visit to my mum and only brother.

SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg in the late 60s was swinging. Employers were crying out for young “European” workers and I soon found excellent employment in the computer industry. I shared a house with 4 other Dutch rebels and a great time we had. It was like the old colonial days, with servants and dinner parties with drinks on the pool and many a braai (BBQ). I spent 18 months there and returned to Europe. Been there, done that, let’s do some more travelling.

ENGLAND
After a trip around Europe, visiting Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, I crossed the Channel to the UK. England, I have arrived, let the fun begin. Libby and I met at a party in Earls Court and we married a year later. We rented a house in North Kilburn. Our first son, Richard was born at Charing Cross Hospital. London was a lovely place, but once we got married I longed for the sun once again and in 1972 I returned to South Africa with my wife and baby son.

SAILING IN AFRICA
After 6 month in Johannesburg we settled in Cape Town where we had 2 more children, Edward and Tamara. Growing up in South Africa was great, so the children always tell us. They went to good schools and enjoyed the outdoor life with lots of sport and boating. I took up flying, but missed the relaxing life on the water and soon returned to boating. The Cape Peninsula is near the Southern tip of Africa where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Our boating days in Cape Town started off with a catamaran called a Carousel. The name was a good choice as she spent more time upside down than upright. She had the tendency to nose dive and it took a lot of effort to get her upright again. We exchanged her for a speedboat, which was more suitable for a family with young children. We learned to water ski and had a lot of fun skiing on lakes and the sea. When the children got older we decided to change to sailing and we bought a 25ft yacht called Carinthia. We sailed her from the Royal Cape Yacht Club to the Langebaan lagoon, 60 miles North of Cape Town. There we joined the Saldanha Bay Yacht Club. We owned various yachts including a 50ft steel sailing cruiser, a 1929 Hillyard Cutlass build of Pitch pine on Oak, a Vivacity called Tickey and finally a steel Robert Tucker 33 called Clementine. Once we sailed the Hillyard to Saldanha bay. The boys were only 8 and 10 years old and Libby decided to stay home with Tammy. Our old diesel engine had died, buy so what, Joshua Slocum navigated around the world in a similar boat without engine power. After a stormy night and a blown jib, we returned to port, the same port we left 24 hours earlier. I borrowed another jib and took off again. It took us 2 days to get to Saldanha. A great adventure. Something the boys will remember their whole life, like my first sailing trip on the Java Sea. We planned to sail Clementine to the Caribbean but things did not work out that way. Libby wanted to return to England and spend time with her elderly parents. We sold Clementine and left in 1998. South Africa has been great. Been there done that!

BOATING IN THE UK
Back in the old world, we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do next. I have always liked Arthur Ransome's adventure books and could not wait to do some cruising on the Broads. We purchased an old 17 ft wooden boat called a Silhouette. On a summer's day during 2001, we left for the Broads in our Volvo trailing the Silhouette behind us. We found a suitable slip in Horning. "Where do you come from?” the mooring master enquired. "Cape Town", I said. "That's a hell of a long way to travel in such a little boat.” he replied. "Mmmmm, yes, let's go for a beer", I suggested, realising how silly my reply was. The Broads were great, but we did not expect all those motor boats. Our boat had few comforts. In fact it had none, except for two bunks and a large bucket with a lid. Most of our meals came from the pubs on the way. We resolved the domestic problems by asking the yacht clubs en-route if we could use their facilities and showers. As we were flying the South African flag and had a Royal Cape Yacht Club membership card, nobody objected and we spent 2 weeks sailing from club to club! We were invited into the clubhouse to have drinks with committee members and explain what we were doing in such a little boat. Many happy hours were spent talking about sailing adventures at exotic places and strange ports. The holiday lasted 2 weeks and we had a great time. Been there, done that! The following year we sold the little Silhouette and started looking for a narrow boat. Reasonably priced narrow boats are usually over 20 years old. Unlike yachts, the hulls are lined with bricks for ballast. There is no way to keep it treated and rust starts from the inside. I would not buy a 20 year old boat, unless I have complete access to the bilges, so after a few months we decided to build our own. Not from scratch, but a factory made hull to complete ourselves. Our 40 ft shell arrived at Foxton locks in the spring and I took 4 weeks holiday to start completing the interior. Libby painted her, inside and outside, with the help of some students. I fitted her ballast, put in windows and fitted a full interior of Oak panels with Mahogany trimming. The galley came from Focus and the engine was fitted by a local yard. She turned out a very nice and comfortable boat. We spent the next 4 years cruising her through the English countryside. Once we met a group of musicians on the Oxford Canal. They invited us on their boat and we spent the night listening to English folk music. A memorable occasion with plenty of drinks and laughter. We did not get to sleep until well into the night. One morning Libby decided to go for a jog along the river Trent. I explained that we were on a river without a towpath to run on. It also could prove difficult to find a place to pick her up. " Mmm, yes, but I still like to go for a run", she replied and off she went. The river side was very overgrown and I soon lost sight of her. I steamed along to the pre-arranged meeting place. There was no jetty and when Libby finally arrived, I decided to point the boat toward the shore to pick her up. When I thought she was safely on board, I reversed, pointed the boat upriver and continued the cruise. After a minute I heard a cry for help coming from the bow. "Help, help, HELP HELP!". I slowed down and had a look. Libby was hanging from the bow, unable to lift herself on board. I quickly gave her a hand and unceremoniously lifted her on board. We enjoyed our cruising trips during the summer holidays. As we did not really use the boat full time we decided to sell shares of 25% each. We advertised the shares and found 3 great partners. The scheme worked well as each partner has 13 week use per year and they all helped a bit with the upkeep of the boat. After 4 years we decided that we were ready for a new adventure and we put our last share up for sale. Been there, done that.

THE FRENCH CRUISE
The last share in our narrow boat has been sold. We cut our summer cruise a bit short to give the new owner time to cruise. This gave us the opportunity to travel to France and Holland to look for a motor cruiser. We took the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff and drove along the coast to the South of Brittany. Near Vannes, we found a huge lagoon. It looked like we had moved back into the 70's. There were no marinas in sight, just clusters of little boats on swing moorings. There were lovely old villages and little stone cottages near the water's edge. Beside French, we also met Dutch and British couples who settled in the area. This looks like a nice place to retire to one day, Libby said. Something to think about after our big cruise. After a week looking around we continued our journey and travelled to Holland to look for a motor cruisers. Prices were a bit higher than in winter due to the nice weather. We decided not to buy until we were ready to start our cruise through France. The two weeks were well spent and we returned to the UK. We are completing some renovations on our house and hope to find a tenant from the first of December. I can not bear another winter, so we booked a flight to Cape Town to spend 2 months with Edward, Janine and the grand children. Living in the UK for the past 10 years has been great. Libby had some quality time with her parents. We have worked hard, renovated properties, building and renovating boats and we managed to build up enough capital and pensions to do something new. Been there, done that. Let's get on with our travels.

A CHANGE OF PLANS
During September 2008 I had a triple bypass operation. Fortunately I recovered well, but we have to stay in the UK for some time for regular check-ups. We bought a Volkswagen Bus and converted it into a camper. Next we decided to buy a sailing boat again. A small trailer sailer with a bilge or drop keel should be easy to tow with our camper and not too much of an effort to launch. We did like the Silhouette MK1 made of plywood we owned earlier. A great little boat with just enough accommodation for the two of us and Lady, our Cocker Spaniel. The Silhouette MKll and MKlll were made of GRP. Perhaps we can find one of them somewhere. I also like the Express Pirate and have seen them with a drop keel. If we find one before the summer we can have a few weeks on the Broads or Lake Windermere. After a few weeks looking we found a Manta 19 with a drop keel on a fast trailer. She is slightly more spacious than a Silhouette, and has 4 bunks. As I was still recovering from the operation, we stayed in the UK and once again went to the Broads. We visited the same clubs, but found the Broads much more crowded than a few years before. It still turned out a lovely holiday. Been there done that, time to go to France.

FRANCE
I have now fully recovered from the operation, but have lost a lot of strength. We returned to Brittany a few times and finally bought a house, or rather, a farmhouse near a small village on the river Vilaine. It's a bit East of the Golfe de Morbihan, but away from the touristy part, which is not only overcrowded in summer, but also much more expensive. The house has 3 floors and 2 barns all build in local stone. It has been partly renovated and has a new roof. The location is lovely as we overlook the Vilaine valley. We are less than a kilometre from the slipway and jetty. For Libby there is a garden of 1100 sqm, very challenging, but she will enjoy it. The barns can be converted to rental accommodation and I can have my boats. This is great, we are moving to France. Yippy.

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