JJ Provoyeur and Richard Bertie, with a team of artisans, built the DH550 "Friends Forever" on a golf estate in Devon Valley, near Cape Town South Africa. She travelled on a boat transporter along 30 miles of country roads and highways to her launch at Royal Cape Yacht Club, into Cape Town Docks.
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| Richard "Thirsty" Bertie with "Friends Forever" as she nears completion. |
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| Loaded and ready for the road. A very wide load. |
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| Under the gantry crane at Royal cape Yacht Club. |
After launch parties and sea trials on Table Bay, "Friends Forever" went cruising, with JJ and friends aboard. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean to cruise the Caribbean, she crossed again to cruise the Med from West to East, then back again, ending up in Spain.
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| Sea Trials on Table Bay. |
"Friends Forever" has recently been sold and was sailed by JJ Provoyeur and his friend Alexandre Monat across the Atlantic again. She is now in Edenton, North Carolina, for some modifications to her interior layout to better suit the needs of her new owners, who plan to live aboard and need office space for their online businesses.
I met "Friends Forever" when she arrived in Edenton and was pleased to meet up again with JJ, who I last saw nearly 10 years ago. It was great to have the opportunity to reconnect and I invited JJ and Alex to spend the night with Dehlia and myself in our home in Virginia Beach.
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| Chatting with JJ in the family room of our home, surrounded by boating memorabilia. |
Next morning our two guests were to travel by Amtrak train to spend a day in Washington DC before flying off, JJ to Portugal and Alex to Cape Town. We have a nice photo of "Black Cat" in our entrance hall and Alex, A Frenchman living in Cape Town, asked for a photo of the three of us with "Black Cat".
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| "Black Cat" and friends. |
JJ and Alex, thank you for visiting us. And "Friends Forever", I hope that you will be happy with your new owners.
