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 .

Thursday, April 13, 2017

ILES DE SAINTES .

The further north we sail the better our wind angle gets and as the season progresses there is more south in the trade winds and with both these factors it all adds up to excellent sailing . To explain in more detail , if you look at how the Caribbean island chain from St Lucia starts bending to the northwest in an arc and the second factor being that as the sailing season heads towards summer the trade winds tend to veer more to the south , these two factors bring the wind either on the beam or aft of the beam and our boat loves beam-reaching and performs really well with these particular wind angles .


Our passage from Dominica to The Saintes was fast and comfortable and having spent four hours cleaning Windward's bottom in Prince Rupert Bay before we sailed she was super slippery through the water . The one feature of this passage that really intrigues me is that one of the greatest naval battles ever fought took place on this same stretch of water between the French and the British with the British defeating the French .
We visited Fort Napoleon high up on the hill on Terre-de-Haute which is where the story of exactly how this battle panned out is told in graphic detail with displays showing how the two fleets engaged each other and how the British out outmaneuvered the French . Each display depicts the positions of both fleets at hourly intervals during the battle and how the English split the French fleet . Beautifully built models of the flagships stand in glass cases and paintings of the battle being fought hang on the walls .


Getting back to the islands of Les Saintes , what a contrast after spending time in the tropical jungle of Dominica . There are eight of them in total with only two being inhabited namely Terre-de-Haut and Terre-de-Bas . We anchored off Le Bourg the main town on Terre-de-Haut , the most developed of the islands with a population of around 1500 people . Having tied off to one of the town's solid mooring buoys the view from the anchorage was of red roofs on just about every building we could reminding us of our hometown of Port Owen in South Africa . There are virtually no cars at all on the island , only 50cc scooters and electric buggys being the most sensible means of transport as the island is small . We were going to hire a scooter until we realized that it would take about an hour to walk to the far ends of the island , so “ walk & see more “ was our choice of transport . Our morning routine became a walk to one of the beautiful beaches , a swim in 30 degrees of water temp and then a stroll back through the town sight-seeing and carrying out our daily missions before heading back to the boat late in the afternoon to either complete boat projects or just to chill . I can highly recommend the lifestyle .

The town of Le Bourg is very quaint and everyone is very French . Traditional Creole houses built out of wood and painted in bright colours are part of the island's heritage . Most are beautifully maintained and give Terre de Haut a certain character . Talking about character , one unique structure shaped like the forward section of a ship was built in 1942 by Adolphe Catan , a famous Guadeloupean photographer . Because it resembled a ship it received the naval salute from many navy vessels when they entered the bay . The waterfront has some really cosy restaurants and cafe's overlooking the bay and a neat town square with a memorial dedicated to fisherman lost at sea . The only downside for us is that each day from around 10.00 to 1700 the place is invaded by tourists who arrive on a fleet of ferries from nearby Guadeloupe . They are day-trippers so before and after those times the island is relatively quiet with the locals carrying on with their daily lives . I have no doubt that these tourists are the life blood of the island's economy so who are we to complain .

While anchored off Le Bourg we had many visitors including the French Gendarmes. We had noticed their police launch cruising around the anchorage with five officers onboard . They decided that out of the multitude of yachts in the anchorage we were the ones that looked like drug smugglers . They motored up to us and notified me that they were coming aboard . They asked for our Ship's Papers and said they wanted to conduct a search of our vessel . Knowing that our paperwork is spot on and our boat is squeaky clean we welcomed them aboard and suggested that they should conduct a full search of our waterhome . Apart from one guy ( Chuck Norris ) who thought he was on some sort of special mission the rest were very pleasant and friendly and after completing tons of paperwork they duly left . According to them they claim the drug trade out of St Vincent and Dominica is huge , but why they felt we might be part of it still puzzles me . It must be my mis-spent youth again .
But the other group of visitors we received were really nice people , all members of the OCC . The Ocean Cruising Club is made up of sailors who have completed a passage in excess of a 1000nm port to port as the skipper . As members ourselves we fly the OCC burgee and it is surprising how many fellow members have spotted us and popped in for a visit . Always great to swop stories and share information .

After eight days of practicing our french , eating french food and generally enjoying the french vibe we set sail for Deshaies in Guadeloupe .

What we are fascinated with is how each island is totally different from the other particularly the French islands .        
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)