Captain (Brad) B Wallace-Bradley

Table Bay,RCYC waters,thats Astra on the left with Acushla center and Paragon 3 to the right,Achusla has just found a new owner in Durban and I assume she will be well restored.

Astra afloat,hard standing and marina space was donated for no charge by the HBYC,which I thank them for.

Astra,as I restored her.
Astra Tumlaren 27 Astra . 0.840 0.000 11.02.2009 the rating by RCYC for Astra.

Astra arrives in Hout Bay Harbour.

Brads blue VW Beetle as the back up car high on the top of Ou Kapse Weg.

Brad with Astra,checking props in the FBYC boat park.

I first met up with Brad at the FBYC due to to the by now famous words from my good wife Jean, 'You could fix this boat' we were standing in the Simonstown municipal car park and next to a wreck of a boat named Astra,she was in a shocking condition and had been towed from the FBYC club boat park as a way of getting rid of her.

Astra was saved from a watery grave when she sank on moorings a good year before,the club raised her,the owner,Georgie Kholer gave her to the club on the undrestanding Astra would be restored? a group formed what was called 'The friends of Astra Asscociation'meetings were held and donations received but work never actually came to the point where Astra was ever going to float again,when Jean uttered those famous words to me,Astra had two end destinations waiting for her,a chain saw and a skip,or a watery death going down in flames in the bay,the later would never have worked,she would have sunk long before she made the bay.

So I agreed with my good wife and the rest became history,its documented well enough if you care to look for it,I asked the club could I have the wreck that was Astra,I was asked to discuss this with The Friends of Astra,the result was a letter saying Astra was mine on the single condition she was restored,sounds like moving the liability on to me a little?

So it was I then met Brad,what a great man,we got on great and we both moved Astra from her tempoary set of wheels onto an L 26 road trailer,would you ever imagine a Tumlaren would fit on an L26 trailer,well it will but backwards.When I arrived to load the boat with Brads help he was a little shocked ( i think) to see me drilling holes all over her where ever I needed a prop to stay put,it was the only way I could use the borrowed trailer with out any damage to it,worked too? Thanks a stack Brad,we made a good job of things that day,Brad was my back up driver as we went over Ou Kapse Weg,was this the first Tumlaren to do so,I thinks so,Astra is now 75 years old and is on moorings at FBYC.

Brads General Botha years:

Wallace-Bradley, Capt B., Cadet No.1696 [1951- ... 1945 term] in 2004 Wallace-Bradley, Capt B., Cadet No.1696 [1951 ... 1945 term] in 2004 Wallace-Bradley, Capt B., Cadet No.1696 [1951
www.generalbotha.co.za/memorabilia.html