After waiting in Arraial do Cabo for a big front to move through we jumped onto the back of it and had a perfect sleigh ride up to Buzios . With her squeaky clean bottom Windward is really fast and we had an exhilarating sail with a big swell and some good surfs . After rounding the peninsula we dropped our pick in front of the Buzios Yacht Club and went ashore to check in .
Apparently up until the sixty's Buzios was a quiet and peaceful little fishing village , that was until it was discovered by the famous French actress Brigitte Bardot who would sneak off there to escape the paparazzi for a bit of peace and quiet . Unfortunately for her the international press spotted her in her hideout and the rest is history . There are avenues named after her and her name appears everywhere . This event put Buzios on the map and today it is a vibrant buzzy kind of place that only seems to come alive around mid-afternoon when the multitude of restaurants and upmarket shops open for trade .
I was a little disappointed when we went to see the bronze statue of the french actress only to discover that in its place was a large wooden box with a picture of the statue plastered onto the front face . A young local lady obviously noticing my disappointment explained that the statue had been removed for some cosmetic repair work and that l should stay in Buzios until it was returned to its rightful plinth . We presume that she meant that Brigitte had gone in for a facelift or boob job or something along those lines ( excuse the pun ) . The last l heard was that from years of sun worshipping she had aged quite badly . I am not surprised standing out in the sun like that all day .
Getting back to Buzios , it is a quirky touristy sort of place with a vibrant night life where it seems people only wake up mid-morning to prepare themselves for a busy evening . We tried a number of their restaurants , our favourite being an upmarket per kilo place where the selection of food was excellent and the usual problem with this type of eating house prevailed . You select your food from a massive buffet and head for the scale where your plate is weighed and you get a barcoded slip with the weight times the cost per kilo . The initial plan is to have a light and health orientated kind of meal . The reality is that your eyes are capable of eating a lot more than your stomach can handle , so it usually ends up with you staggering towards the person at the scale with this overloaded plate and this guilty look and wondering what the hell must be going through their minds . My parting words as l head off to our table is that " l am from Africa " and for some reason they must understand as l always get a nod .
We really enjoyed this town even though the prices for food , drinks , coffee e.t.c were a bit steep particullaly when your currency is the South African Rand.
After five days we were ready to leave for Vitoria , two hundred nautical miles up the coast . We will see you there .
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.
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 .
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