Now some of you must be wondering what is fact and what is fiction from reading the stories about Zander and his crew, throughout my first two books in the Zander Trilogy. I can tell you that the following ‘trick’ is based on fact, however the names of those responsible will never be revealed!

In my second book More Ports More Storms, the crew decide to have some ‘fun’ with a rival skipper of another nearby yacht, as part of an on-going fued with Zander. After enticing the rival and his crew ashore to have a peace-making drink in Tobermory, Zander’s crew get on-board the rival’s yacht and get to work!

With the rival’s yacht’s larder full of whisky bottles, Zander and his crew come up with a cunning plan…….

What did they do? They emptied the contents of the whisky bottles into whatever containers they could find , and removed them from the scene.

With a packet of tea bags mixed up with cold water, they manufactured their own version of ‘whisky’. Carefully straining the water of tea leaves, before refilling the whisky bottles with this golden liquid to mirror the original amber nectar.

From a distance it appears like there is nothing amiss! They would be miles away before anyone noticed (or so they thought).

As I mentioned at the beginning, the silly pranks that the crew got up to were typical of factual events; perhaps embellished a little for effect, but memorable enough!