Allan & Ursula Ward: Port Owen, Cape West Coast, South Africa.

Shearwater 39:
- L.O.A. 43ft (13.22m)
- L.O.D. 39ft (12m)
- L.W.L. 34ft (10.3m)
- BEAM 13ft(3.9m)
- DRAFT 6ft(1.8m)



HOW IT ALL BEGAN .

I placed my order on Nebe Boats on the 19/10/1992 for what was initially planned to be a complete factory built yacht that l would sail home to Durban from Capetown once she was completed. Unfortunately due to the demise of Nebe Boats in the early days of her construction it did not turn out that way, so l decided to truck her home to Ramsgate on the KZN South Coast to finish building her in our garden at home.

For many years we could proudly boast that we had the most expensive piece of garden furniture in town, but at the time l had no idea of how massive this project would turn out to be. As anyone who has built a blue water cruiser will tell you, particularly if she is kitted out with all the systems and the equipment that a modern cruiser has onboard these days, it is a daunting task . Looking at the positive aspects of this project, l know the boat intimately in that l designed and installed the systems, so from a repair and maintenance perspective l have no issues carrying out the work that is necessary from time to time.



The big day arrived on the 29/8/2008 when we craned her out of the garden onto a rig to truck her through to Durban for launching . What followed was three months of preparations to ready her for the maiden voyage to our home port in Port Owen on the Cape West Coast.

We had a fast passage down the South African East Coast including a storm off the notorious Wild Coast and arrived in Port Owen in dense fog. Windward had passed her first test with flying colours and since then we have enjoyed some great sailing on the West Coast.


The master plan has always been to go cruising, so our plans are to leave for Brazil via Luderitz and St Helena Island at the end of February 2014. So far everything is on track although the “To Do“ list still grows each day.

The purpose of this blog is to record our adventure for ourselves, family and friends. Although it will probably end up being a brief summary of events while we are cruising, we hope you will enjoy and share some of our experiences with us.

LIVING THE DREAM .

Monday, March 10, 2014

PASSAGE TO LUDERITZ .

After a benign start Mother Nature decided to put us to the test and on the first night out we experienced windspeeds in the mid thirties , gusting to 40kn.During the graveyard watch with a big swell running and the boat surfing down big waves , Hlameni ( our autopilot ) decided he had seen enough and handed the helming over to me . Great opportunity to brush up on helming skills particularly on a pitch black night .For the rest of the passage the winds were a steady 25kn and we enjoyed a fast downwind run all the way even having to slow the boat down to afford us an early morning arrival although it ended up being in thick fog so we sailed in under radar .
One of the best pieces of equipment onboard is our AIS system which proved to be very handy with a lot of southbound shipping traffic allowing me to call up the vessels that were a little too close for comfort . A supertanker that was definitely going to be a problem very politely offered to alter course by 5 degrees and l was even able to watch to see that he was good for his word . Fortunately l did not need to remind him that power gives way to sail . Every interaction with the vessels that we called up was very polite and seamanlike .Radar is great , but a yacht at night in breaking seas is difficult for ships to pick up until you provide her with your co-ords .
If you can afford to install AIS do it as it provides great piece of mind .
ROBBIE SNUG AS A BUG.
Sadly my mate Billy who apart from suffering from seasickness , fell down below while
LOOK WHO FLEW IN DURING THE NIGHT.
coming out of his cabin and injured his arm and he decided to call it quits and has flown home to be with his family .
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. UnknownMarch 21, 2014 at 3:19 AM

    Ruwan and I are loving following the oosts. You look great Rob. Thise strong winds sounded intense. love the flying fish.
    sorryvtook so long for my post... could not get google authentication on my phone in Kenya... which by the way was fantastic... great hotel in Malindi. . could imagine you guys anchored offf the reef there.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)