Seen here at Goole on 30th December 2014 where she was in for maintenance.
She is a traditional Dutch sailing Ketch, built in 1929, and was designed by her original owner Jacob Van Rietschaten for her to be sailed around the world with his family. She was built at the De Vries Lentsch shipyard in Amsterdam.
During the Second World War ‘Maybe’ was taken to the Dutch town of Jutplaces where she was hidden in the mud in a remote backwater.
After the war ‘Maybe’ was completely restored at the same boat yard where she had originally been built but with a new rig replacing the original gaff rig. Many happy years of sailing were enjoyed by the van Reitschoten family during the time ‘Maybe’ was in their ownership.
A major milestone in ‘Maybe’s history is that she took part in the first ever Tall Ships Race in 1956. In 1962 ‘Maybe’ was bought by the Swiss family of Hans Fehr, who were experienced sailors and enjoyed sailing in warmer climates. She sailed mainly around the Mediterranean and in the 1970’s regularly crossed the Atlantic between the West Indies and the Mediterranean. In the 1980’s she also sailed through the Panama Canal and up the east coast of the USA to Canada.
‘Maybe’ was sold to her present owners in 1989 and underwent another complete restoration returning to sailing in 2007. She returned to the Tall Ships Races in the Baltic's in 2009 and successfully completed a full season of Tall Ships Races and Regatta’s in 2010. During the winter months of 2010/11, ‘Maybe’ underwent a further face lift to transform her back to her former glory, sailing with an original gaff rig again for the 2011 sailing season.