Presentation by Joost Meulenbroek at Alice Springs 2007 - Part 5

We drove to the marina, but couldn't get to the boats, as there was a closed fence at the entrance of the jetty. John went to the marina-office and from there they phoned to Runagate, but there was no answer. Than they phoned to the boat next to Runagate and asked the owner of that boat to tell Runagate that there were visitors.

Mike, John and I started walking around the marina. We could see somebody moving inside the cabin of Runagate. After a while the person came up to the deck and we waved to him. He waved back and we indicated that we would like to talk to him. He made signs to us to go to the entrance of the jetty and that he would come to get us. We went to the fence and decided that we would tell him, that we were interested in Hillyard yachts.

After a while the man came and introduced himself as Barry. We told him about our interest in Hillyard yachts and could we come and have a look at his boat. He said that that was OK, but if we could come back in an hour. It had been a very late night, and he had just woken up. We said we would be back in an hour and went to the pub next to the marina, for an early lunch. After lunch we went back and called Barry from the quay. He came after a few minutes, came to the fence door and let us in. So we went to Runagate.

I felt like a teenage girl, touching her favorite pop-star, when I put my hand on the deck of Runagate. Putting my hand on the deck of the boat, that Nevil Shute must have had so many pleasurable hours in.

Barry came and invited us in. It was very cramped with the canvas spanned over the cockpit, but inside it was roomy and cosy. Barry lives in the boat, together with a parrot. To put it mildly, it was noticeable that there is no woman living on the boat. She wasn't, what you would call clean. As we sat in the cabin, Barry told us that he has bought the boat about 2 years ago. The boat had been owned by an elderly gentleman, together with his son. (probably the Henderson's).