Arnel sent a message to Hiroyuki Yanagi ,President and Representative Director, Yamaha Motor Co Ltd. Email Address that said:
Good morning
I really do not know whether this letter will reach the correct destination, but I pray that it will get into the right hands.
I am Arnel, the wife of Giel and we live in Mossel Bay in South Africa. I will be married to my husband for 19 years on 15 March 2016 and he will turn 60 on 17 March 2016. That is the reason why I am writing this letter.
Since the day that I met my husband, I realised that this wonderful man has a few passions in his life, of which me and the children are definitely priority, but the BIG LOVE AFFAIR of his life is Yamaha!
You see, my husband is totally in love with his motorbikes has been forever. I am not quite sure about all the detail, but I know that he has been riding Yamaha motorcycles since the early 1980âs. He had a YZ490 (with which he competed in Oranjemund in Namibia), where he used to stay then. He was the MX champ of the town for six years (and we have many paper clippings to show his victories)!!!
One of his first bikes was a XT500 and up till this day he says that he is sad that he sold it! After his children was born, he stopped racing competitively and focussed more on road bikes (as a hobby).
When I met him, he had a FJ1200, but we dreamt of owning a Yamaha Thunderace! We never thought that we would be able to own one, but the Lord provided for us to buy a brand new Yamaha Thunderace on 28 November 1997. We travelled through the country on that bike and loved every minute of it. Then he bought a Yamaha MT01 (with which he had a freak accident), but he bought it back from the insurance and fixed it. We still have that bike at home.
Because of his MX and Endurance background, he always wanted to buy a Dual Purpose Bike, but would NEVER buy anything else than a Yamaha, so we waited until Yamaha launched their Super Tenere and we bought a First Edition. We travelled all over South Africa, Namibia, Lesotha, etc. with that bike and what an amazing pleasure!
Then he bought himself a Tenere 660 which he uses when I am not able to join him on a trip, and to commute to work and back every day. The beginning of last year we bought a new Super Tenere 2015 (silver one with the blue rims, which is the most beautiful Dual Sport bike I have ever seen) and we have travelled to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe through Botswana with that bike.
All three the motorcycles get parked inside the house (it has been designed that way) and I think he is THE BEST ambassador for Yamaha that any brand can wish for. In the biking world in our area, you could ask anyone who is Mr Yamaha, and they would say that it is Giel Huisamen. (Sometimes I joke and say that he only married me because I have a Yamaha piano)!
Why I am giving you all of this background, is just to proof the fact that he truly is a loyal ambassador to the brand. When I thought about what he would like the most (if he would be able to choose ANY GIFT for his 60th birthday) I think it would be to watch the MotoGP in Japan and to take a tour through the Yamaha Factory! That is his big dream!!!!! We are MotoGP-fanatics and he never supports a rider, but ALWAYS Yamaha!!! Since the days of Wayne Rainey and we never ever miss a race. I always joke and say that I think he knows the results of all the races he ever watched!
I love my husband very much and he is so very very good to me! It is my greatest pleasure to see him happy and apart from the fact to see his family happy, I think this is the one thing in the world that would make him the most happy.
So, I am writing this letter to ask you whether this would be possible for Yamaha to bless him on his 60th birthday with a ticket to get him to Japan and to attend the MotoGP and a tour through the factory. I canât think that you will ever get a better ambassador and I also think that it would be a great opportunity for Yamaha to show that the normal person on the street (any place in the world) could have so much pleasure, satisfaction and fun on your motorcycles for nearly 40 years!
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
Kind regards
Arnel
