Our two hundred nautical mile sail to Vitoria would take us around the well respected Cabo Sao Tome shoals , a very shallow area with depths down to three metres in places that extends over ten miles offshore . Judging by the charts , many ships have come to grief on these banks so we went well offshore to deeper water .
It is also probably the busiest section of the entire coastline with Brazil's biggest oilfields east of these shoals and the normal north and southbound shipping tends to funnel through at this point so good watchkeeping is the order of the day . There are numerous oil related vessels sailing back and forth from the oilfields to Macae which is the shore base for this industry in this area . With our new fancy AIS transponder it was wonderful tracking approaching ships and seeing them alter course once they had picked us up . One fellow was zooming up our rear end rather quickly but when l radioed him he assured me that he had us clearly on his screen and would alter course in good time which he did soon after .
That evening was really pleasant as we sat out in the cockpit under a canopy of stars and a phosphorus trail streaming off our stern and on the eastern horizon the lights and glow of probably over one hundred oil rigs . Through the night we passed numerous fishing boats that seem to operate in formation of long lines abreast of each other .
The following day we arrived off the Iate Clube Espirito Santo Marina as Paul and Rachel Chandler were leaving their berth . By the way , they are the British couple who were hijacked by Somali pirates and their story is now well known particularly in sailing circles .
Vitoria is the capital of the State of Espirito Santo and is located on an island which is connected to the continent by the second tallest bridge in Brazil . It reminded us a little of good old Durb's by the Sea albeit that its an island . The most fascinating feature of Vitoria is that is is connected by an undersea mountain range which has its highest peak on Ilha da Trindade some 650nm off the coast and an island that we visited when we did our Transatlantic crossing . That blew my bush hat off .
Once again a really nice Brazilian couple Pedro and Claudia befriended us and went out of their way to make our stay in their city as enjoyable as it was . Claudia drove us around the city being the perfect tour guide which we really appreciated . She took us to the authorities and acted as our translator then off to shop to restock the boat . Brazilian people are wonderful hosts .
The bad was the marina . Very nice facilities and everything you could ask for except a lousy berth . Visiting cruisers tie up at the entrance to the marina fully exposed to the NE/E wind sector and the chop generated from across the bay hammers you literally beam on . I was not happy about the loading on the mooring buoy that we were attached to but the marina guy that l spoke to gave me the thumbs up indicating that it would hold . Well l won't repeat the whole story as it is on a separate post but l was a little grumpy when there was a loud bang and our boat was in serious trouble .
The other crappy feature of this marina is that it is situated directly downwind from an iron ore loading facility and what looked like a large steel plant . The resultant dust and dirt blown down onto the city must make the cleaning trade a really profitable business .
We were quite happy to leave after the strong easterlies that we had endured throughout our stay in Vitoria .
Our next destination the Abrolhos Archipelago lay 170 nautical miles ahead of us and we were keen to get 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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