Adventure is adventure!
"I want to do something else than what I know how to do", said Brel at that time. It was already the idea of a world tour under sail. He asked around, phoned around, then came across a classified ad and alerted his wife: "I think I've found it, it's in Antwerp and it would be the ultimate to find it so close to Brussels". The boat belongs to the architect Hugo Van Kuyck, a character who literally fascinates the singer. After visiting it from top to bottom, he closed the deal and bought the Askoy II.
Preparation for the world tour
The journey requires a lot of documents but also equipment. The sails, for example, have to be replaced. Brel heard of a name that sounded very Flemish: the Wittevrongel master sailmakers in Blankenberge. He placed his order with them and a friendship quickly developed. The one who is also called the Great James will say : "Jan Wittevrongel was a fantastic guy and we hit it off right away. He suggested that I change the ketch to a sloop but it would be a long and expensive job and I wanted to leave in the summer to be on the trade winds in the early fall." .
Askoy II, powerful but tricky to handle
The crossing of the English Channel went without a hitch. The boat is heavy but holds the sea remarkably well. After a stopover in Coverack at the southern tip of Cornwall, the Scilly Islands and the Azores were next. Then the Canaries for the big jump to the West Indies and the Panama Canal. Askoy then set off to attack the Pacific; he ignored the Cocos and the Galapagos. He dropped anchor in Tao Ku Bay in the Marquesas Islands. There, the singer rents a house and, against all odds, sells his sailboat to buy a plane!
Brel, an unknown pilot
Apart from singing and performing, Brel was a pilot at heart. He has owned many cars, some of them racing, and has passed his yachtman's and airplane pilot's license with flying colors. In the Marquesas, he returned to his first love by buying his fifth plane, the famous Jojo, a Beechcraft Twin-Bonanza, the one the islanders need so much. The page of the sail and the sea is thus definitively turned...
Wittevrongel to the rescue
During an exhibition organized for the 25th anniversary of the singer's death, Staf and Piet, Jan Wittevrongel's brother, meet France Brel, his daughter. She told them that Askoy II had been stranded on a beach for many years "at Baylys Beach, somewhere in New Zealand". The idea of saving the boat was born in the two brothers' minds. Without further ado, they went to the spot. "The ship was just a twisted, rusty hull. The masts, deck, rigging, engine, interior and deck equipment were gone." they say. "The quicksand in the vicinity prohibited the approach of large equipment, cranes, trucks, etc."
At the very beginning, when the Wittevrongels made their intentions known, many people shouted "to the madmen! No one wanted to help them. So they financed the New Zealand desiccation operation with their own money. "We'll see what happens next." they say to themselves! Once the boat was out of its gangue, attitudes changed. They even obtained support such as the free transport of Askoy II to Antwerp. All of a sudden, people started to believe in them! However, the ship was really damaged, especially in the metal part, which required major repairs. The deck had disappeared as well as the bulkheads. A company took care of the sandblasting of the outer hull, but it went bankrupt.
Then, nothing for two years
Fortunately, the winds eventually changed. One day, the owner of a shipyard called the Wittevrongels and offered to install the boat there. His goal was to use Askoy II as a calling card. It was a deal. The boat was moved by road from Ostend to Rupelmonde on a heavy trailer. The renovation of the hull was completed there, including the deck and the cabins. This was the final stage of the metalwork.
A refit in the rules of the arteuros
Financial constraints also require choices. So the Wittevrongels found a compromise. "Outside." they explain "It will be totally identical to the original plan, including the Oregon pine masts and the aft cabin, the one occupied by Brel at the time. However, the front cabin has been redesigned and two small cabins have been added to accommodate more people on board. We also installed an autopilot and a new engine, less cumbersome and more powerful. These are the only concessions to modernity that we have conceded compared to the original .
What about the release date?
This one has been postponed many times, especially because of Covid, but it is now scheduled for April 8, 2022, the 93rd anniversary of Jacques Brel's birth. Askoy II will first be welcomed at the Zeebrugge Yacht Club and will then take part in various harbour parties in Ostend and Blankenberge. These short trips to the North Sea will be used to test the boat and to make the thousand little adjustments that are necessary after all these years of rest. In September 2022, a stopover is planned in the marina of Bruges where, not far from there, stands the small statue of Marieke that pays such a beautiful tribute to the singer...
A foundation with a social vocation
If the first objective of the Wittevrongels was to save the "Cathedral", the second was to create a foundation with a social vocation and to make disadvantaged young people sail. Money being the sinews of war, the sailboat will also be rented out for team building and company events, and for sea trips for tourists. In 2023, there is no lack of ideas. The Wittevrongel brothers: "It's an appealing idea to take Askoy II to the Marquesas Islands, taking the same route as Brel did back in the day!" Until then, the event to mark with a white cross is the christening of the refurbished sailboat. Maddly, Brel's former girlfriend, and France, his daughter, are expected to attend. Piet Wittevrongel : "Despite some differences with the Brel Foundation, we are on our side men of good will and we sincerely hope that they will accept our invitation..." . And Piet concludes with a smirk: "I'll let you guess the brand of the whiskey bottle that Brel loved and that will burst on the bow of the ship euros it is not without link with famous initials!" .
