Beer-can used to repair crippled sloop Truth of UK slogan underlined Nine hundred nautical miles on one can of Heineken! That is the remarkable record achieved in the Gulf of Genoa by medical student Christopher Besse piloting a 45-ft sloop. Writing to tell CONTACT of his extra ordinary feat, Mr. Besse explains how he suddenly came to understand the meaning of the UK advertising slogan -"Heineken refreshes the parts other beers can't reach." Holidaying in southern sunshine last year he set off in his sloop from the French Riviera for a cruise in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Suddenly smoke from the engine began to pour into the cockpit from the aft starboard locker. A quick examination of the ex haust manifold and one-way valve re vealed a hole about half-an-inch by one from which exhaust gases were spewing into the rear of the boat. The situation was complicated by the fact that the hole was at the junction of the outlet gases and the salt water outlet - a moulded copper pipe de signed to mix the sea water with the exhaust efflux. "It happened to be a Sunday," Mr. Besse continues, "a day on which no Italian would break his siesta to come to our aid. Having no welding equipment on board, and a hard and fast schedule to keep to, as well as no wind and a strong swell, we all felt very miserable. Having tried various Heath-Robinson devices, none of which worked, we decided to do some serious thinking. The sun was beating down in the mid-afternoon and it seemed a good idea to 'crack a tube' as the Australians say. After a few minutes of contemplation (and humidification of the oral cavity) the answer suddenly came to us - for there in our hands lay the solution. We dissected a Heineken can and by strapping it over the perforated pipe with two jubilee clips we were able to restore normal function to the engine. From the time of this little pro cedure to the end of our unfortunately short holiday we were able to do approx imately 900 nautical miles on one can of Heineken!! The repair gave us no further problems and we were able to enjoy one of the best holidays ever. Since then I have vowed to make sure that our stock of Heineken never reaches dangerous limits and that it will be the recognized brand of beer on board!... "Thank you, Heineken, for saving our holiday!" Mr. Besse certainly found the UK slogan especially apt. 9 Heineken salvages a nautical holiday The Heineken repair Our correspondent and crew member toast Heineken s health and their own success. The sloop off Corsica.

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Heineken Contact | 1980 | | pagina 9