With the wind on the beam blowing a steady 16kn occasionally gusting into the late teens we had a dream sail to Ilheus arriving just after sunrise . We were welcomed by a prawn boat crew who kindly pointed out the Ilheus Yacht Club mooring buoys and suggested we use them as against anchoring in amongst their fleet . It turned out to be great advice .
We were not really expecting much from Ilheus probably because most of what we had heard about the place was the rock & roll anchorage and how exposed it was to the swell and how uncomfortable it can get . If it got out of hand we were ready to sail at short notice .What a pleasant surprise our visit turned out to be .
First of all upon meeting the commodore of the Ilheus Yacht Club , he welcomed us through an interpreter telling us that we had full use of the club's facilities free of charge and that we must make ourselves at home . Secondly , they have an excellent restaurant serving great meals everyday except Mondays. We met some interesting people at the club including a cacao farmer who immiediately invited us out to his farm for a visit . What a fascinating story that turned out to be when we discovered that he had a museum on the farm with the entire history of the cacau ( cocoa ) story and how it evolved to where it is today . Their farm Fazenda Primavera is now 200 years old and has seen seven generations of his family . After giving us a tour of the farm on a horse and cart he told us the story of how the super wealthy cacau farmers were brought to their knees by a disease which wiped out their plantations . This disease a fungus known as Vassoura de Bruxa was secretly introduced to the area with the sole intention of destroying their industry and the power that these cacau coronals wielded in the land . This event ended an era of great fortunes .
As you will notice by the pics we took of the city , Urs and l have a thing about old and beautiful buildings and Ilheus has no shortage of them . We were fortunate in that virtually all of them we were able to enter and marvel at their interiors as well . We were even introduced to the Mother Superior ( the lady in charge ) at the magnificent convent on the hill Igreja Nossa Senhora da Piedade. We learnt all about the goings on that took place at the Bataclan during the golden years of the cacau industry . In its heyday this cabaret club/casino/brothel was frequented by cacau coronals along with the wealthy and influential men of Southern Bahia and if you have a rampant imagination like mine you can still feel their presence today .
We got to know Jorge Armado one of Brazil's best known 20th-century writers who spent his childhood here and many of his world famous novels are based on places in and around Ilheus . His stories bring to life the " golden age " of the region when cacau ( cocoa ) production was so prosperous that it was often referred to as " black gold ". We visited his home and a number of his favourite haunts in the city .
Eventually the rock & roll anchorage got the better of us and we set sail for the peace and quiet of Camamu Bay .
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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