A Trimaran Sails the Seven Seas

Ted Thring is a book reviewer for the Queen’s University radio
station.

Heutink is a native of Holland who has lived in Canada for many years.
In 1970, he acquired plans for a Cross 46 trimaran and over the next
eight years constructed the 10-ton vessel. When he went to register the
ship, he was informed that the name “Trilium” belonged to a Toronto
City ferry; he settled for “Trillium II.”

So began a seagoing career that took Heutink and his ship to Holland,
the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, India, and finally to the West Indies where
the boat was sold. During this time, he and his son Harry operated a
quasi-charter business, carrying passengers who were part crewmen and
part paying guests. The accounts of their voyages include the usual
nautical adventures—great storms, an encounter with a rogue wave, fog,
calms, collision at sea, and navigation in dangerous surroundings—but
the more interesting part of the saga involves their encounters with
three groups of people: the passengers, who range from beautiful French
girls to cantankerous and lazy males; the natives of the various
countries they visited; and the officials, who were friendly in most
places but hostile and corrupt in Arab countries.

Well written and carefully edited (although it would have benefited
from a clearer description of the dates involved), Heutink’s book is
an interesting read.