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#1
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
While the "Jewish problem" and politics seem to be the overwhelming interest in the past few days I thought I'd post Peter's last e-mail for any who might still have an interest in Cruising. Peter is on the way through the canal and by now is camping out on the west coast of Panama, somewhere. Hi Bruce, Five years ago, when I was in Cartagena, Spain, there was an old French boat along the dock from us who I got on with very well. Sebastian the father spoke good English which is just as well as my French is and was abominable as I find it extremely difficult to talk through my nose. Perhaps if I had a French nose such as De Gaul had it might be easier. The two children, then aged 6 and 8 only spoke French but used to come onto my boat and watch videos and I ate meals a lot on theirs. When we needed a translator we used Patrice, a single-hander Frenchman who was next to me. Patrice and I also got along well and talked together a lot. Sebastian asked me then to take photos of the kids and burn him a cd as they had a computer but no digital camera. I still have the photos. The kids were very photogenic and when I first met the boy, he was so pretty that I thought he was a girl. He soon put me straight. My family had left and could not take Piccolo the 'amster (hamster as the French can't speak properly) back to Australia so I gave him to the kids for their birthday. Well, they are here now. I thought I had seen the boy somewhere before as he still has long honey blond hair when he was riding his two wheeled skateboard around the other day. Lancelot, will be 13 later this month but says, like all kids, that he is 13 now. Isobelle is now 11 years old and is turning into a very beautiful young girl. Piccolo died two years later in Senegal and was buried beneath a tree there with due ceremony. The kids now speak reasonable English and also Portuguese as they spent some time in Brazil where their parents Sebastian and Oceoine bought a house and started a business with a partner dealing in wood. It was so nice to meet them again. The kids are still small enough to pick up and squeeze hug - several times. For some reason many of the Americans do not like the French so I made the point of taking the children by the hands and introducing them to those Americans I am friendly with and introducing Sebastian as well. I have taken some photos and Sebastian now has email and wants to keep in touch. They were really nice to me at Cartagena after my family went back to Sydney. I often wondered what happened to them. They are going through the canal in early March and it is a pity that I have to go through tomorrow as Sebastian and I got along well. He said that Patrice, the French single hander next to me in Cartagena is in Belize and is heading here and would like to catch up again with me now that he knows where I am. Sebastian said that when I left Cartagena they and Patrice were worried about me as I had never single handed before and it was mid winter with rough weather and high seas. Unfortunately Sebastian is going tonight on another French boat to act as a line handler on a canal transit and won't be back until tomorrow night when I go. I shall post some photos of them on Myspace when I get to Panama city. Isn't it such a wonderful and delightful small world. It was so wonderful to meet up with them. Lancelot said that he thought it was me but wasn't sure. BTW, he has the name Lancelot as his father liked Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe'. I go through the Panama canal tomorrow night. I unfortunately had to have 4 Americans as line handlers as no other New Zealanders or Malaysians were available. They are a couple who I have traveled with over the last month through the San Blas, Steve and Heather from 'Last Resort' who only work 7 months of the year in the States as fire fighters (Steve flys a helicopter and Heather is his boss) and two New Yorkers who I first met in Colombia. We communicate well together if I talk and listen slowly. Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. cheers Peter Cheers, Bruce |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
BruceinBangkok wrote:
Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. Thanks Bruce... Cheers Martin |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
BruceinBangkok wrote in
: Peter is on the way through the canal and by now is camping out on the west coast of Panama, somewhere. Thanks, Bruce. Great mail.... |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
BruceinBangkok wrote:
.... probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. Glad to hear from 'absent friends' and I found it very interesting.... thanks Bruce! DSK |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. cheers Peter I'll add my thanks too. Relay back next chance you get that it was VERY interesting, an hope he got through the ditch ok - with his American line handlers! Richard |
#6
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:32:14 +0700, BruceinBangkok
wrote: Thanks Bruce. Though there are many coffee-drinkers posting here, seafarers are rather rare birds. --Vic |
#7
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
In article , BruceinBangkok wrote:
[snip] Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. Thanks, Bruce. It's *always* good to hear tales from people out there 'doing it'. Justin. -- Justin C, by the sea. |
#8
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:04:04 -0600, cavelamb
wrote: Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. cheers Peter I'll add my thanks too. Relay back next chance you get that it was VERY interesting, an hope he got through the ditch ok - with his American line handlers! Richard Will do and I'll also say that "the lads" might be interested in a blow by blow description of his trip through the canal. (if y'all are, that is :-) Cheers, Bruce |
#9
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
BruceinBangkok wrote:
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:04:04 -0600, cavelamb wrote: Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. cheers Peter I'll add my thanks too. Relay back next chance you get that it was VERY interesting, an hope he got through the ditch ok - with his American line handlers! Richard Will do and I'll also say that "the lads" might be interested in a blow by blow description of his trip through the canal. (if y'all are, that is :-) Cheers, Bruce Excellent! We are still leaning towards shipping the boat home by truck - mostly because of all the horror stories about the canal. Current first hand experience would be invaluable. |
#10
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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A Letter from Peter
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 08:06:28 -0600, cavelamb
wrote: BruceinBangkok wrote: On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:04:04 -0600, cavelamb wrote: Also BTW, you are free to post anything I write to the newsgroup but it is probably of little interest to them anyway thouigh it is definitely cruising. cheers Peter I'll add my thanks too. Relay back next chance you get that it was VERY interesting, an hope he got through the ditch ok - with his American line handlers! Richard Will do and I'll also say that "the lads" might be interested in a blow by blow description of his trip through the canal. (if y'all are, that is :-) Cheers, Bruce Excellent! We are still leaning towards shipping the boat home by truck - mostly because of all the horror stories about the canal. Current first hand experience would be invaluable. A while ago one of the "day cruise" operators here decided to put two boats at Ko Samui for the S.W. Monsoon season. Samui being on the east side of the Thai peninsular and protected during the S. Westerly's.. That is a fairly long trip, say the better part of 2,000 miles, and they found that it was much cheaper to ship the boats by truck then it was to sail them. Of course, they would motor all the way as they would want to get there and start work but I've done some costs on moving boats various distances and, surprising to me, it doesn't take a very long voyage to make trucking cheaper. Cheers, Bruce |
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