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 .

Sunday, April 2, 2017

THE CARIBBEAN . A RUM DRINKER'S PARADISE .


Born in Addington Hospital right across the road from the beaches in Durban , then as a young kid growing up on the coast and being involved in ocean related activities from an early age , arriving in my late teens and sampling alcohol for the first time rum seemed the appropriate spirit to me and soon Squadron became my tipple of choice at parties . That probably accounted for a bit of “ pirate “ behaviour at times but we all survived . Many decades later when socializing with family or friends , nothing quite beats a good ole Captain and Coke .

So here we are today cruising on our yacht in the Caribbean , the Rum Capital of the World . Rum is the most popular drink by far on every island that we have visited and there have been many . Every beach bar and restaurant offer a wide range of rum punches or just your standard rum and coke or as we have noticed ginger ale is also very popular as a mixer .

Martinique in particular has many rum distilleries but the Habitation Clement Distillery is very impressive . Maison Clement has forged its reputation on it's famous old rums that lie in wooden barrels patiently maturing over decades in warehouses on the estate . I spotted a 1952 vintage of this famous rum selling for 1250 euros , definitely not the bottle you would haul out to share with your mates over a braai . Rum is definitely not only the tipple of the sailor but it is widely enjoyed by connoisseurs all over the world . Granted a lot of islands that we have visited and l am thinking of some in the Indian Ocean right now , you could most definitely launch a rocket with them but here in the Caribbean there are some seriously smooth variations that are only affordable to the most distinguished palates with deep pockets . It almost seems a shame to put a mixer in them . These distilleries at the upper end offer tastings without mixers to enable you to choose the rum that tickles your fancy . We met a tour guide the other day who specializes in rum tours and he claims that he regularly has to assist his clients out of his vehicle and into their hotels as a result of over-indulging at these tastings .
It happened to me in Madagascar while trying to purchase two bottles of vanilla rum . The little Chinese guy behind the counter must have mis-interpreted my “ Please may l have two bottles of vanilla rum “ for “ l am not leaving until l have sampled every rum you stock “ . He insisted that protocol requires you to taste a rum before you buy so every time after sampling a particular rum l would give him the thumbs up , meaning this one is great only to have him whip another bottle off the shelf and pour another taster .
With each tasting being the equivalent of a double tot we worked out later that l must have had at least 12 singles in quick succession , all neat out of the bottle at 9.00am in the morning . Personally l think this rum salesman had a warped sense of humour and got a real kick out of watching me outside his shop trying to work out in what direction l had come . It was a long walk back to the boat through the appropriately named town of Hellville .

Getting back to Habitation Clement , this historic distillery is set on the most magnificent property . A 250 year old Creole plantation home is now a listed building and it's design lends itself to life in the tropics with plenty of airflow through louvred windows and being perched on the top of a hill the consistent trade winds keep the interior nice and cool . An interesting feature is that the kitchen is a separate outbuilding and not part of the main house .

The original garden has now been incorporated into a 16 hectare estate . Beautiful old trees provide plenty of shade and now there is a palm grove with numerous different species of palms along with 300 species of tropical plants .

Having served an apprenticeship as a fitter/machinist in a sugar mill on the KZN South Coast , walking about in the old distillery brought back memories of those days in the seventies working in the mill albeit this plant was on a much smaller scale and the final product is a high quality rum and not a pocket of sugar .


After a very informative visit to this famous distillery , l now have a much clearer understanding of what it takes to produce my tipple of choice , hic , excuse me . 
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