Welcome to Gilbert's page . . . . .

I'm a 52 year (old !) draftsmen by trade working in the service of the City of Antwerp for the last 33 years. My main interest has been aviation and small helicopters in particular but ever since my childhood stories about man who single handed sailing their boats across oceans where fascinating to me.

I fiddled around trying to build my own helicopter but this was up to now not a great success. Building my own sailboat was "that second dream" but for one or another reason, I never got started on one Until I heard of the "Around in Ten".

Constructing a boat of "only" ten feet long was perhaps something I could handle. I don't consider the "Around in Ten" as a race but more an event and the only thing I expect from it is that it will be fun. I have not much experience both in sailing and designing/building a boat and that's why my boat probably will be the ugliest-slowest-heaviest but .... if the event (race) will be as fun as the building so far than I surely have a winner !