Sailors ride the tide to Madagascar

Two Westbrook budding sailors, Richard Cowan (19) and Duncan Blewitt (20) could not believe their luck when they landed a once in a lifetime trip to Madagascar on the Dolfann last month.
Cowan said he took up sailing to keep busy during his gap year. He did a month-long sailing course with Offshore Sailing Academy and his trip to Madagascar was the longest distance he has ever sailed.
“The captain, Paul Jorge, was very good to us and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity,” said Cowan.
Blewitt also has his sailing masters from Offshore and is currently working towards his diving masters. This self proclaimed “ocean enthusiast” wants to take up sailing as a career.
The rough seas messed with the young men’s appetites and they sometimes went an entire day eating only an apple. However they say the sights at the other end more than made up for the knocks their bodies took en route to Madagascar.
“We met some of the locals and the trip made me appreciate life back home even more. Once you see how people in other countries live you realise South Africans, myself included, are guilty of complaining about things that are actually not important. Madagascans live off the land and they are happy despite not having all the fancy stuff that we have this side,” said Cowan.
Blewitt said Madagascar had some of the most amazing beaches he has ever seen but they were not as clean as they looked.
“Many people over there do not have bathrooms so they do their business on the beach,” said Blewitt.
Yet despite a few smelly beaches they said Madagascar was an incredibly beautiful country.
During their 15 day trip the trio dived, spear fished and visited renowned tourist attractions such as Morondava and the avenue of baobabs.