From childhood fantasy to Adult reality

TOLLOS — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:56:00 +0200

As a very young child I dreamt of being a captain of my own tall ship fighting the pirates of the seas. "Oloff Bouwer", a storybook pirate character, who was something of a sea Robin Hood, was my hero.

As I grew older the fantasy world made way for a more realistic view of the sea and sailing on it. I saw the sea for the first time in my life when I was 16 years of age.

After many years of dreaming of owning a boat and reading magazines I became a very well established armchair sailor.

My first encounter on the sea, a fishing trip, led to severe sea-sickness. Back in the harbour I told my wife, who by this time bought into the dream, that our dream lies shattered. There would be no way that I could live on the sea. Fortunately all of that was soon forgotten and their would have been another experience on the sea.

Although the sea-sickness happens every time I am still convinced that I will eventually be able to cope with it. We therefore decided to go for a catamaran for it is much more stable and would certainly help to minimize the rolling effect of the yacht, which contribute to the sea-sickness.

My Ultimate Dream

From childhood fantasy to Adult reality