‘She comes majestic with her swelling sails,
The gallant Ship: along her watery way,
Homeward she drives before the favouring gales;
Now flirting at their length the streamers play,
And now they ripple with the ruffling breeze.

Robert Southey, 1774-1843, Poet Laureate. Sonnet XIX.

Waterfront Charters name stems from the rather obvious fact that we provide charter opportunities. What the nomenclature doesn’t include is the vast array of other options that our range of boats and expert crews offer. Waterfront Charters and Cruises would be far more relevant. Over the three plus decades that we have been operating in the amazing V&A Waterfront, our fleet has expanded to seven versatile boats, and our cruise range, well, let’s just say it’s wide ranging.

Cruise. it’s an interesting word, and it’s probable that most of us have used it regularly (certainly we at Waterfront Charters do, once again for obvious reasons) without ever thinking about its origins. It originally stemmed from the idea of predetermined rather than random ocean (or river and lake) travel, especially a journey that stopped off at numerous destinations en route. This was obviously very common back when sail power was the vessel’s motivating force and getting around the globe, even on short journeys, was fraught with a plethora of difficulties. Safe harbour en route was much desired and necessary to revictual and restore tired crews. What was also a given was the fact that the vessel would always aim to return to home base; trading rather than pleasure was the main task of these fleets, and it was only on docking back at your point of departure with a hold full of saleable exchanged goods that the journey was considered successful.

And this is where the word was created: originally stemming from the Latin crux meaning ‘cross’ – both in the literal and figurative sense – it was derived from the fact that a journey was, in effect, a crossing. The Germanic languages modified the word to kruis (now Kreuz),this in turn became kruisen in the Dutch language. Given the Dutch population’s penchant for sailing the World Ocean, the term was soon taken up by sailors of all nationalities and we ended up with the English adaptation ‘cruise’. Originally the English meaning was similar to the original ‘crossing’, but in time it became more generic. The navies of the world picked up on the concept quite early on, and their interpretation of cruising referred to certain kinds of missions—independent scouting, commerce protection, or raiding. Frigates and sloops were the ‘cruisers’ of the oceans, and eventually a specific type of vessel was created to handle this type of scouting. Cruisers were intended for distant waters, and were classed as capital ships, ultimately ending up as ‘battle cruisers’; a more lightly armoured and therefore speedier class of battleship.

There was, of course, an even more scary version produced in variety by a number of nations. cruisers which had absolutely no intention of ever returning to base: the infamous Cruise missile. These ‘aerial torpedoes’ come in a wide variety of guises, categorized by payload/warhead size, speed, range, and launch platform. Those of us who think only in terms of the anti-Cruise Greenham Common demonstrations in the 80’s might be taken aback to learn that there are still around 130 different types of Cruise missile (from subsonic to hypersonic, and payloads from conventional explosives to nuclear warheads) stockpiled by a wide variety of nations: a chilling way of checking on this is by researching weapons of mass destruction…

But enough of cruising and warfare; it is thankfully far removed from our use of the term here  in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Town. We prefer the more popular current definition: ‘to sail about in an area without a prior destination, especially for pleasure.’ Now we’re talking. This takes us neatly back to the Waterfront Charters cruises. Yes, you can charter any or all of our vessels for private functions, but on a daily basis they also head out for scheduled cruises: Sunset Champagne in the evening, Sailing in the Bay, Ocean Safaris, Harbour Tours  and Coastal Motor cruises during the day – as well as other destinations such as our Clifton Cruises.

Add to this our Specials: each year we dish up a boatload’s worth of Special Cruises that cover a variety of delights. Mimosa Brunch cruises, Tequila Sunset cruises, date specific cruises like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve Specials; Morning Prosecco adventures and Cruise and Dine options; Djembe Drumming cruises for team building or party fun, and the annual summer favourite – our Clifton Yacht Parties. With top DJ’s making music magic, these offshore cruises take you out – and back, of course – for unlimited viewing, partying and fun. Our website is the place to check everything out, and also make handy (discounted!) online bookings.

So in summary, with a nod and salute to the Beach Boys we repeat our headline: Waterfront Charters – still cruisin’ after all of these years!