Posts

Showing posts from October, 2019

Storm in a teacup

Image
Dussehra morning Dussehra night had us scrambling again. Around midnight we had winds gusting to 37 knots and the boat had drifted towards the seabirds moored in the bay. We cranked up the engine and moved out of there as fast as we could. The winds were strong and the engine was barely able to move us. The next 3 hours has us parading up and down the river waiting for the squall to move on. Swifts at their morning toilette We went right back to sleep after that. It's amazing how quickly one adapts to circumstances and eventually find joy in the little things. A gorgeous sunset, birds on a wire, fried fish and wine dinners, scrabble by torchlight, a skyful of stars at 0300.  So we need to fix two things and quickly. One is the mooring and the other is hired help for the dinghy and other odd jobs. The mooring needs more weight and we have ordered for a cement packed truck tyre to supplement the car tyre we are using. That should be ready in a couple of days. 

The Elephantas

Image
Sunset at anchorage The retreating monsoon often offers a parting kick in the form of sudden thunderstorms called elephantas. One such thunderstorm caught us off guard on the night of the 5th. A local GYA assistant, Jaydas woke up for a pee at 4 in the morning and noticed a mast close to the jetty. A closer look shook the sleep from his eyes and he called Dilip. A look at the caller ID was enough for Dilip to surmise the worst and jump out of bed. We tore down to the jetty to find Antara just metres away. The strong winds and tousled seas had lifted the mooring and dragged both the boat and the mooring. Jaydas started up his dinghy and we clambered in. He dropped us to Antara and we promptly started up the engine. Yesterday's escapade and our subsequent gentle administrations saw the engine purr into prompt action. We cleared the mooring lines and motored away. The next few hours were spent parading up and down the river till morning broke. We came back to our original

Season start 2019-20

Image
Sailing to our anchorage at Dona Paula  The last 4 long, slow months were spent alongside accompanied by many sighs of boredom and repeated bouts of cleaning. Finally, on September 30th, we slipped the lines and sailed across to Dona Paula, our home for the season. The sail across, from the Mandovi to the Zuari was a lovely, uneventful one. We had put down the mooring lines the earlier day, so we simply sailed in, hooked the lines and voila, Antara was home. Itching with ennui, we promptly set off for an overnight sail to Bhogwe beach, near Vengurla. After leaving at 0630 on October 2nd we reached around 2000. The day was slow and easy, with a gentle breeze filling the sails. The winds picked up by evening and Dilip decided to turn around and sail back instead of getting bumped around at anchor. My first night sail in India, and with Dilip. The starry night and the Milky Way made for a memorable sail. Antara added the spice with a moody, on again off again auto pi