Features
Resurrecting Bernie’s
boat Planesong
Words Stephen Becket & Karen Courtis
Sometime in March of 2013, Karen and I were having dinner as
guests of the Maddens at the Club. As often with people of our
vintage and situation in life, talk turned to plans for retirement
in the next couple of years. We mentioned that our ideal would
be to get a good cruising boat and spend some time in different
parts of the world cruising off the beaten track. We have both
done a reasonable amount of sailing and it felt right that the
time for becoming serious about it was closely approaching.
Mike Madden, with the usual twinkle in his eye, then told us the
tale of Bernard Holland and how unfortunately he had died the
previous December and that three of his children were in town
sorting out his boat and were at a loss as to what to do with it.
It was too good to scrap but in too poor a condition to attract a
serious buyer. It just so happened, Mike said, that the boat was
alongside.
We trooped down to look at the boat, which we learnt was
called Planesong. She was very low in the water with about
six inches of freeboard. Her topsides were piled with junk of
all sorts. She was festooned with old car tyres and had
enough green mould growing on her to redefine the
meaning of hydroponics! We couldn’t go inside as she was
locked up and his children had gone for the day. The pontoon
was pile