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 .

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

CHAGUARAMAS . TRINIDAD . A BOATING MECCA .


Trinidad is the most southern of the Caribbean islands and therefore arguably the safest in terms of hurricanes (touch wood). Grenada roughly 80nm to the north got hammered by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 devastating the island with 90% of the buildings on the island laid to waste . This makes Trinidad the logical choice to store your boat through the hurricane season .

Chaguaramas is where it all happens in the world of boats whether they be sailboats or motoryachts . When it comes to haul-out facilities , long-term storage , chandlers and every service that you would require being a boat owner , its all here . Having done my research on the available boatyards here in Chaguaramas prior to arriving l am now very comfortable with my choice of Peake Yacht Services as these guys are super professional . Their storage facility is a huge flat property that can accommodate approx 350 vessels and with their 150 ton travel-lift there are a number of big boats in their yard including an 82 footer that was recently attacked by pirates on route between Grenada and Trinidad . Strangely enough the second boat a 32 footer that was attacked as well is also here but on the water in Peake's Marina . These incidents by apparently the same pirate boat caused great consternation in the cruising world and the boating industry along with the Trinidad & Tobago Government have taken the issue very seriously as it seems to have affected their business quite badly in that even in late May there is still a lot of available space in the yard .

With 2016 being our third season of cruising l needed to catch up with some long overdue maintenance , mainly cosmetic work to keep appearances up and a few minor mods that now sailing in the tropics are proving necessary.
Apart from fitting fans around the boat to cool the interior , the fridge/freezer compressor compartment now has a cooling fan and the few lockers that weren't fitted with louvered vents are now all well ventilated .
I still had to repair the damages our boat suffered in Brazil when the mooring chain broke in the marina at the Iate Clube Espirito Santo but with all the resources available here in Chaguaramas there is not much left to do on my list.

The plan is to leave our boat on the hard here at Peakes through the hurricane season and return home for a break and catch up with our land life . Early December we will return and stock the boat with all the good things in life and start our Caribbean adventure . Tobago,Grenada,The Grenadines,St Vincent and St Lucia would be a good start and if time permits this coming season we could probably squeeze in Martinique and Barbados before heading south again back to Trinidad to haul-out for the 2017 hurricane season .

I am still trying to get my head around the fact that these long thought about cruising destinations are now just up the road . Eish l can't wait .






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