Hello from Belgium

[Patrick4002]

Hello, im new to this great forum.

boating for 10 yaers now and we just have bought a Trader 54 sunliner
I'ts a boat from 1990 with cosmetic work on the inside wood and do a refit of the electronic and electric system.

We have at the moment a Gallar 38 cruiser who is fully pimped over the last 6 years. it was a good learning platform to get a good idea wath we liked.
I learned a lot about energy managment abourd and have now a electric sytem that let us use only solar energy for 8 months a year also i learned a lot of heating abourd. now a lot to learn.

The planning is to get the Trader to our harbour next week.

Best regards
Patrick, Martine, and Pluisje (the boat cat)

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat. It looks great!

[dpil222]

Welcome, and enjoy your new boat.

[GFC]

Bienvenue sur TF. C'est un beau bateau que vous achetez. Profitez de nombreux moments heureux à son bord.

[Happy Frog]

Wellcome aboard and enjoy the ride!

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by GFC

Bienvenue sur TF. C'est un beau bateau que vous achetez. Profitez de nombreux moments heureux à son bord.

More than 20 years ago I had just finished our second week at a French language immersion school in Spa for a new job with a French company. We drove over to Bruges to spend the night afterwards and I was keen to practice my French on the desk clerk at a small inn we were staying at.

I said "Nous avez un reservation por un chambre cest nuit" (or something like that). In beautiful English he said "Sir do you speak English?". I said "Oui, je suis Americain". He said again in English. "You are in the Flemish section of Belgium and people here much prefer it if you speak English to them rather than French". I said "Yes sir" and finished the rest of our business in English.

So you never know . Oostende is pretty close to Bruges and it probably is in the Flemish area. And FWIW even though my surname is French, I didn't speak a word of the language before I got this job (and I didn't speak much of it afterwards).

Anyway, welcome aboard or however you say that in Flemish.

David

[Southern Boater]

Originally Posted by djmarchand

More than 20 years ago I had just finished our second week at a French language immersion school in Spa for a new job with a French company. We drove over to Bruges to spend the night afterwards and I was keen to practice my French on the desk clerk at a small inn we were staying at.

I said "Nous avez un reservation por un chambre cest nuit" (or something like that). In beautiful English he said "Sir do you speak English?". I said "Oui, je suis Americain". He said again in English. "You are in the Flemish section of Belgium and people here much prefer it if you speak English to them rather than French". I said "Yes sir" and finished the rest of our business in English.

So you never know . Oostende is pretty close to Bruges and it probably is in the Flemish area. And FWIW even though my surname is French, I didn't speak a word of the language before I got this job (and I didn't speak much of it afterwards).

Anyway, welcome aboard or however you say that in Flemish.

David

A few months ago we had a great cruise around southern Sardinia with a fantastic Belgium couple in their boat, they explained to us that the Flemish language has localised variations in different areas of the country that only locals can understand, and of course Belgium is a physically small country. Switzerland has four languages within its tiny borders as well.
Of course English is the general go-to language to cater to the transient visitors.

[Patrick4002]

thanks all for the welcome