Restoring wooden boats is usually a gradual process. One starts with a canoe or dinghy and gradually as experience and skills increase, one moves on to more challenging projects. This was not quite the case with Arend Dijksterhuis and Arjan van Engen. Their first project was a 17m wooden S&S yacht they rescued and restored in Zaandam. After three years of hard work, she sails the North Sea again in as new condition. Tipped off last winter that there was a ‘nice’ boat in Zaandam near Amsterdam, I stepped into the shed there where I met Arend, who was busy assembling the old, now fully overhauled and polished, winches and deck fittings while Arjan was making coffee in their workspace next to the boat. Seemingly, this was a division of labour that was quite common. High above us, a truly beautiful classic was gleaming in the cold shed. I was immediately sold. Between piles of parts yet to be assembled, an improbably beautiful yacht stood there and immediately one could recognise from her flowing lines yet another gem from the vast oeuvre of the genius Olin Stephens.
How did a pub landlord and a TV director therefore come to tackle such a large-scale project? Ajran commented: “We have always sailed. Arend was just more into Lasers and fast things like that than big, classic yachts. I myself live on a historic, sailing tjalk from 1892. When I grew up my parents had a Schakel and I learned to sail in that. Later in life, I often rented a bigger sailboat with
