I'm Gilbert and was born some 53 years ago in Antwerp, Belgium. I had a rather happy childhood in the times that it still was possible to play "soccer" on the street with a tin can and explore to now vanished open land on the edge of the city.
We lived very close to the port of Antwerp and being an "open port" this was a childrens paradise as a playground. It was the time when cargo ships stayed in port for two or 3 weeks to load and unload their cargo.
School was not my first interest as there was so much to do and to see around the small village and I rather spend my time on the street than on my school books.
To no one's surprise this led to me leaving school at age 14 and I started working as an apprentice in a nearby factory where the huge electric motors of the ships staying in the port, were overhauled. A dirty job and the pay was a joke but who cared about that? I was released from listening to things the whole day that didn't interest me and now I belonged to the "big people's" world of the working class. It didn't take me long to realize that this was probably not the best choice as a substitute for school but in those days there was no way back.
I was lucky enough to be released from getting drafted in the military because I had two older brothers who served the military before me so the next "logical" step was to get a job in the civil service. I didn't pay good but it was a steady job and for someone with no education at all it probably was the best solution.
34 years later I'm still working in the civil service for the City of Antwerp !!
Sailing was allways something that interested me and the only positive thing about being a school dropout was the fact that I realised very early that sailing was way too expencive for a young guy earning peanuts!
Inspite of hating school I loved to read books, not the one's neccesary for my education, but "real books" about people who sailed around the world on their own boat.
Hannes Lindeman who first sailed his dugout Liberian canoe accross the Atlantic and later repeated this with a Klipper folding canoe was one of my favorite's.
James Wharram, who sailed his home made catamaran Tangaroa to the Carribean, was another favorite who's books where read by me several times.
Chichester, Robin Knox Johnstone, Moittesier where names that occupied my mind rather than Archimedes or Mendleyev.
During my 20's I replaced the desire for sailing with a back-pack and was able to see a bit of the world on my own and with friends.
One thing led to another and I met my girlfriend Christel (who 25 years later is still my partner and best friend) in the early ' 80's.
In 1994 we decided that it was time to leave the good old village we both have been growning up in and moved to a small country town some 45 kilometers from our native city Antwerp.
We bought a modest piece of land and started building our own brick house. Needless to say that during this period sailing was not the first thing on my mind but mortar and brick's was.
Somehow we never got around getting children but instead we took our first dog who we spoiled like child. Her name was....Skippy and she probably was the best that ever happened to us. She gave us so much joy and never asked anything in return for it. Sadly after 14 years one of her kidneys suddenly stopped working and we had to put her to sleep.
She died in my arms the 9 th of January 1997, the same date the Around in Ten will start in 2009.
In tribute to "Skippy", one of the best friends I ever had.
