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 .

Saturday, August 25, 2018

THE FINAL PASSAGE : BARBADOS TO TRINIDAD.

     
After a magic week in Barbados enjoying Bajan hospitality to the full we were ready to sail our final passage for the season to Trinidad and end our seven month Caribbean sojourn . We had booked our haulout at Peakes Yacht Services for the 15th May and we needed to be prepared for living on the boat on the hard until the 1st June when we would fly back home to Capetown, South Africa.

Sailing from Barbados to Trinidad would be a 200nm broad reach all the way back, a point of sail the First Mate really enjoys. At least her house almost stands upright and it's a comfortable surf all the way back making it easier to work in the galley and move about the boat.

After settling our account at the Port St Charles Marina office (which amounted to the equivalent of one year's berthing fees in our homeport) we backed out of our slip, motored out into open water and hoisted sail. Being in the lee of Barbados the seas were flat and with steady trade winds blowing we were soon up to speed and making good progress. Once we had cleared the shadow of the island and were out in the open North Atlantic swell we settled down and watched the island disappear over the horizon.

The one feature about this passage that was quite disturbing was the large amounts of pelagic sargassum seaweed that we came across while underway. Huge rafts of the orange grass that stretched from one horizon to the other. A common sight at first light usually after a bumpy night at sea would be clumps of sargasso mixed with flying fish lying on our side decks.
Apart from minor problems affecting boats like fouled props and rudders the influx of sargassum weed that originates off Africa and drifts in the currents via South America is now having an impact on the windward coasts of the Caribbean islands from Trinidad north. In many bays and on many beaches piles of off-gassing sargasso are creating serious health issues and environmental problems which will have an impact on island tourism. The gas given off by the decomposing seaweed is Hydrogen Sulfide which at levels of 100ppm is deadly. According to experts 2ppm can cause spontaneous abortion in pregnant women and if you suffer from any respiratory issues, lying on a beach with a shoreline littered with the weed you will find breathing very difficult. The accompanying appalling, nauseating smell the rotten weed gives off could become a major problem for holiday resorts if they cannot devise methods of removing the weed quickly and effectively.
Apart from health issues other problems like plugging the intakes of reverse osmosis watermakers, metal tarnishing, paint damage and the corrosive effect on electronics have surfaced and in one case in Virgin Gorda the influx shut down the island's watermaking plant for several weeks seriously impacting on the water supply to the inhabitants and tourists.
There is also a huge environmental impact on sea life. Turtle nesting beaches of which there are many suffer with adults getting trapped in the weed while trying to gain access to the sand to lay their eggs and similarly the hatchlings become trapped while trying to gain access to the sea. Lobster and many other marine species are killed which then directly affects the local fisherman. 
Poor beach-cleaning practices have been a big problem so lots of effort is now going into establishing quick and effective methods to deal with the scourge.  


Getting back to our sea life, closing in on Trinidad we had a number of pirogues cross our wake and with all the talk of piracy in these waters nowadays, we kept a beady eye on them. We arrived off the entrance to Monos Bocas on the outgoing tide and snuck around the edge of the opening to avoid the strong outflow in the middle of the channel. We headed straight for the authorities in Chaguaramas to be able to clear in before they closed for the day. By the time the formalities had been completed and we had motored back to Peake Yacht Services their staff had all knocked off for the day. Not knowing which berth had been allocated to us in their small marina off the yard, we took the liberty of backing into Peter Peake's private slip for the night. The next morning he arrived on the dock and after a handshake and a warm welcome he suggested we make ourselves at home until we move into our allocated berth before hauling out. 

Apart from a group of dolphins paying us a visit, rafts of sargasso weed and a couple of rain squalls through the night, our final passage of the season was pretty uneventful which most sailors would agree is not a bad thing.