Tag Archives: sailing

Sail Away

April 19, 2015 Andrew Harvard 2 Comments

Good morning Durban!

“If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without soul, life ceases to have meaning…. The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living.” – Marion Woodman

One way to nourish your soul is to get up early, at least an hour before the sun, and watch the day break; slowly, methodically, gracefully. Photography isn’t just about the photo for me, it’s about the preparation before the shoot, the meditation while shooting, and the artistic licence you give yourself while shaping the end product in your digital darkroom.

Canon South Africa 6D from Orms, Canon EF 17–40mm lens, F16, 1/250 sec, ISO 640 – Durban Royal Natal Yacht Club: Sunday 5 April 2015, taken off marina pier – “Sail Away”

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Photography, Travel

Durban #mycity 2015

April 9, 2015 Andrew Harvard Leave a comment

durban-mycity-2015 (Large)

“The Royal Natal Yacht Club is situated at the Yacht Mole in the Durban harbour. The club is synonymous with the early days of Port Natal, where the gentlemanly pursuit of yachting was high on the social and sporting agenda. Much of the history of early Durban can be linked to this club and the early regattas were always popular occasions.

The Royal Natal Yacht Club has a fascinating history that stretches over a few centuries. It was originally known as the Durban Regatta Club and was formed in 1858, when the first-ever sailing regatta was held in Durban.

Further down the line, it became known as the Natal Yacht Club and, in 1891, much to the delight of those who had settled in the port city of Durban, it was officially declared the Royal Natal Yacht Club. These days, the Royal Natal Yacht Club is an active yacht club with racing on offer. Wednesday evenings in summer are good for sundowner sailing, while dinghy racing takes place on Saturday afternoons and Sundays are for keelboat racing.

This yacht club in Durban is open to the public and these days guests can enjoy the grandeur of yachting with a modern twist as the Clubhouse is available for a delicious meal or drinks at the end of the day. The Britannia Room is situated on the upper level of the club with incredible views over the Durban Marina. Sunday carvery lunches here are legendary and the kitchen is known to serve a good Indian curry.

The Lower Deck is where diners can enjoy relaxed meetings, breakfasts or lunches and it opens onto the lawns, where visitors enjoy alfresco dining on the grass overlooking Durban’s harbour.

There is also a swimming pool and a jungle gym for the children.

There are regular regattas and the sight of yachts in full sail out on the Indian Ocean or coming in to the harbour is certainly something to behold.” ~ SouthAfrica.Net

The cloud bank was hanging heavily over the sea this morning and the sky turned pink for only a short while. Some of the pink carried over the yacht mole.

The inserted photo was taken off the pier looking North towards Victoria Embankment / Margaret Mncadi Road and the CBD. It was nice to see the water was a little blue and mullet / other predatory fish / birds are still active in this area.

Canon 6D, F14, 121 sec, ISO 50, Canon 17-40L lens

Photography, Travel

Durban Yacht Mole

Image November 11, 2013 Andrew Harvard 2 Comments

Travel

Why we love Durban: South Beach – 3

January 13, 2013 Andrew Harvard 7 Comments

This post is the follow-on of “Why we love Durban: The Bluff – 2“.

It has an unnamed addendum “Why Durban confuses us”.

I previously threatened to let the “photos do the talking” about this series.

However, I am scratching my brain (head) about the old Addington Children’s Hospital shown above in two of the photos.

In November 2011 a local newspaper reported: “Reconstruction of the dilapidated historic KwaZulu-Natal Children’s Hospital is to start in January (2012) with an initial tranche of R50 million injected into the project by the provincial department of health”.

If you look at my photos (end of December 2012) above and the newspaper’s photo here (November 2011) you, like the blogger, may struggle to spot the difference the initial R50 million reconstruction has made in 11 months.

In addition, we have the “parent” hospital, a hundred metres away, also undergoing a refurbishment to the tune of R142 million and suffering problems of its own (while the patients struggle in less than favourable conditions – I visited a relative there a few weeks back).

In its day, it was a top Government Hospital – not the “Admin failure ruins health system” now reported by IOL.

While the architect’s envisioned result looks appealing, I believe that both hospitals would be better suited and positioned elsewhere.

I have a sneaking feeling that the underprivileged who use the parent hospital would have preferred something something “closer to home” in more ways than one.

I am not one to promote the rich & famous and their exclusive use areas, but having two hospitals looming over an area of spotless beachfront, that the City has refurbished a number of times in recent years, seems odd.

Both hospitals could surely have become hotels or fancy residences that would have further enhanced the area and helped its upliftment.

But what do I know, I am just a photographer and the promoters of both projects must have (should have) done their planning well and investigated all options to care for the interests of the City and its people.