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 .

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

SALVADOR . AFRO - BRAZILIAN CULTURE AT IT'S BEST .

Our first sight of Salvador was a row of skyscrapers that slowly grew out of the hazy horizon while we were still way offshore . The city lies at the entrance of the Baia do Todos os Santos , Brazil’s largest bay and is quite unique in that it is divided into two parts , the upper city ( Cidade Alta ) which is the original colonial city and the lower city ( Cidade Baixa ) which runs along the shores of the bay incorporating the port and commercial area . These two levels are connected by the Elevador Lacerda , the world’s first urban elevator which ascends 236ft in about a minute or you can travel on the Plano Inclinado , a funicular lift . The city has over 300 churches but as our blog is starting to resemble a catalogue of Brazilian churches and being wary of boring you with more historic buildings , all l will say is that some of them are magnificent which is our interest in them . In some of them the intricate hand carved wood-work layered with gold is something to be seen and apparently the Igreja de Sao Francisco dated 1708 , one of Brazil’s most impressive churches has over a ton of gold adorning it's ornate carvings .
Salvador has many interesting markets including the Mercado Modelo , once a holding pen for slaves . It has dozens of stalls where you can buy anything from musical instruments to amulets that ward off evil spirits .

We spent some time exploring the historic Pelourinho section which showcases the largest collection of colonial buildings in Latin America . The Largo do Pelourinho is also the place where slaves were punished , whipped while tied to posts but thankfully the posts have long been removed . Strangely enough it was also where Michael Jackson shot his controversial music video “ They don’t care about us “ and in the process changed the lives of the cultural music group Olodum forever . Salvador’s best known percussion group also collaborated with Paul Simon’s “ Rhythm of the Saints “ tour . One evening while sitting with our mates at a pavement bar we had the strangest looking apparition walk slowly past us on two occasions . He wears what resembles a suit of armour and apparently has never shown his face to the public in over thirty years . A little further on from where we sat he appeared to open a facade that looked similar to a stone wall and stepped into an opening which apparently leads to his abode. The result of this eerie mystery surrounding this character has made him world famous .  

There is so much that is different about Salvador from the street food prepared and sold by baianas , turbaned women in voluminous lace trim dresses to the street drummers to Capoeira , a dance and martial art all in one . Apparently the Carnival in Salvador is Brazil’s wildest party and in one street bar with a great band playing we were mesmerized watching people dancing the Samba .

The gods were smiling on me when while booking into the five star Bahia Marina l casually asked Saulo the guy checking us in where l could get to see some jazz and blues . He pointed to a historic building a couple of hundred metres away and smiled saying “ hey man , the best jazz and blues in Salvador “ . The building turned out to be the Museum of Modern Art and they refer to the gig on Saturday nights as the JAMnoMAM and he was right . Young musicians alternate throughout the night playing every instrument you can imagine and of course there is a strong percussion influence in their music . They even had a blind guitarist playing a Fender Stratocaster “ Jeff Healy style “ with the guitar on his lap and he was brilliant . Every Saturday night since arriving is JAM night . Salvador has been a great experience and what made it even more enjoyable was the friends that we have met here who showed us the city with its African heritage clear to see in their dance and food and to hear in their music .

But the highlight of our time spent while in Salvador was our five day trip into the mountains of Chapada Diamantina where our visit coincided with the annual two day Jazz Festival . But that’s a complete experience on its own and as soon as time permits l will do a separate post on this beautiful place .


Right now we are preparing our boat to sail to our next destination , the city of Maceio which is 268nm up the coast and hopefully we will get a bit more south in the wind direction that is blowing right now when we set sail
JAMnoMAM .
WHAT A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A SATURDAY NIGHT , SITTING UNDER A CANOPY OF STARS LISTENING TO CLASS AFRO - BRAZILIAN JAZZ .

BAHIA MARINA .
WE BASED OURSELVES IN THIS FIVE STAR MARINA WHILE WE EXPLORED THE CITY NEARBY .
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