zeilstra clan

De zomer komt eraan (ja echt) en dus kan onze boot weer bijna te water. Vorig jaar lag hij op grote vrachtwagenbanden de hele winter op de oprit maar dat wilde Marion niet meer dus nu stond hij de hele winter op de trailer, weet niet of dat is wat ze bedoelde. Een site van een gezin waar ik regelmatig contact mee heb is de Holderness family uit Canada. Nu moet je niet gelijk aan koud weer denken want er is een zuidelijk uitsteeksel en ze wonen op ongeveer dezelfde hoogte al New York. Ze hebben ook een Ouyang Matilda 20 en hebben een paar hele mooie fotoseries op hun site staan. Overige info op de site van Keith Denham (ook Canada). We zijn aan het bekijken of het mogelijk is een uitwisselingsprogramma op te zetten, wij een paar weken zeilen in Canada en hullie op de Friese meren. Als je de foto's ziet snap je waarom, vooral het Long Point tripje lijkt me te gek.

I was driving in Amsterdam Noord when I remembered a mail I received from Julian Bell, he is renovating his boat somewhere on a shipyard. I kept checking the waterfront and after a few minutes I noticed its bow sticking up, couldn’t miss it. I wonder if he is going to sail this summer.

Here in the Netherlands if a trailer with load exceeds 750 kg. (1.653,47 lbs.) it needs to have breaks and must be inspected by rules of the government and then al lots of demands will show up. So I bought an American trailer just for winter storage usage and hope that the police in this area isn’t a good estimator. On the last weekend of the season I took the Garfield to a local trailer ramp en pulled her out. The trailer, originally for a speed boat, can actually carry twice the load of a Matilda and even if it didn’t fit exactly (some adjustments have to be made) it was very stable. The ride home is just a mile and now it is parked on the driveway. I still have to do some work and after that I will park it in some barn, somewhere in the area. Pictures (here and here) are taken with a cellular phone.

Bought myself a new trailer. Rather late actually because the season ends at the 1st of November. Off course it is a not so expensive former speedboat trailer but I hope there isn't too much modification needed to store the Garfield. Check the album for all the pictures.

Here the correct site of kathy & Shawn Blackwood, it is also about a Matilda. Or should I say the Matilda.

In my first post I mentioned Julian as the other Matilda owner in the Netherlands. He has also some pictures of his renovation project on the internet. Pay extra attention to the leaflets in dutch!

Okay, first post! Its about our boat named Garfield because of its round shape and orange color. As far as I know there is only one similar other boat here in the Netherlands, owned by Julian Bell in Amsterdam. A very good site about the boat, which was mainly built in england, Canada and a few in Australia, is the site of Keith Denham. I am actually on the owners page and there are a few pictures of my boat on the pictures site, can you recognize them? If you really want to dream away about how great sailing trips can be then check out Chris & Lenores website, the pictures of the Long Point trip are spectacular. Have also a look at the photoalbum with pictures about how I found her, how she was transported (a real adventure with a 18 m. truck and trailer of a friend of mine) and how she looks now.

Peter