Barefoot Millionaires
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| Team Antara at Captain of Ports jetty |
Week 1
We motored her to the Captain of
Ports jetty and put up her mast with the help of a crane and a dozen helping
hands. Antara sailed to Dona Paula the next day. It was a bit tricky putting up
the genoa near the casino boats on the Mandovi river, even with Chatty helming
and Dilip and I managing the sail. The Genoa is two thirds the length of the
boat and tends to get stuck in the stays. Eventually we made our way around the
headland and into the Zuari river. Where we inadvertently rubbed noses with a
submerged wreck! A dive late in the week showed no damage, so that was that.
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| Office space |
As she was to be anchored offshore,
our first task was to put in a sinker to which we could moor Antara. It took us, newbies, the better part of the afternoon to figure how to place the sinker, tie
the anchor cables and float the marker.
The next day, Dilip discovered that the
hook holding the genoa to the deck was twisted and the pin missing. Thanking our stars that it had stayed together
for our maiden sail, we got down to sorting it out. A local tourist water
scooter circling around Antara made it that much more challenging, with Dilip’s
colourful language adding flavour to the exercise. A complete review of the
boat followed including a mast climb to ensure all other pins were in place and
appropriately bent.
We closed the week parading up and
down the mouth of the Zuari for the local windsurfing event.
Week 2
Accessing Antara was an exercise in
patience as we were used to simply walking on to her from the pontoon at Divar.
Now we had to wait for the local motorboat kindly put to our help by the Goa
Yachting Association. Ravi Shankar, a sailing buff and CEO of Dhristi was our knight
in shining armour, riding up in a spiffy dinghy to solve our woes. We could now access Antara by ourselves. It
only meant Dilip had to kayak (thanks to Hemant Arondekar) from the beach to
the dinghy anchored a few metres off the beach, put the kayak into the dinghy,
motor over to the jetty, pick me up and motor out to the boat.
That week we did two sails to Grande
Island with Chatty and then with Pratibha. But, the genoa continues to be a
problem. We think it needs to be shortened as it has a bit of a curve to it.
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| Alongside at the boat pool |
Week 3
Two weeks at anchor had us knackered
with worry and the unwonted exercise. So, we were thrilled when Dilip got
permission to keep Antara at the naval boat pool for the monsoons. Dilip and I motored
down from Dona Paula the very next day. It was quite the adventure towing along
the dinghy along, in choppy waters. Worried that the engine would fall
off, Dilip even crossed over mid-sea, to correct the engine setting.
Once alongside, we made better speed
with onboard jobs: bringing down the genoa, fixing the furler, welding the
stanchions, diving to check the keel and propeller and washing her with just a
jerry can of water. There is no direct water supply to the jetty.
We celebrated with a sail out with
Appers and Vikram. Lovely weather and great company.
Week 4
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| Dinghy ride to Divar |
Having settled the boat, we turned our
attention to her baby, the dinghy. The new 6hp outboard motor had just arrived.
We took it over to the boat pool and got it started. As usual, not without its
hiccups. Then, as per breaking in instructions, we had to run the OBM at less than
half the power for about 4 hours. The solution: a trip upriver to Divar and
back. Since we were with the ‘kid’ we took kid-friendly food – chips, coke and
sandwiches. A lovely, sun-soaked, peaceful -easy- feeling kind of ride.
Reality struck, again, when we came
back to discover we had dropped our anchor; literally dropped it. We managed to
recover and realised that its shackle had opened up. This time we
tied it up with additional lashing.
A couple of washes and Antara looks like a million dollar baby; no more footwear on deck! We also did a couple more sails; one with the family
and another with the extended family from Aquarius.
On June 10 Antara completed a month
in the water and celebrated with a rain dance in Cyclone Vayu’s company. More about
that in my next blog.
Now, with Antara, you now have the opportunity to sail, safe in Covid times - on a large sailboat, along the coast, in the deep blue yonder! You decide and we'll design a sail just for you.
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