Tomorrow, Land

A drenched morning at Dona Paula
After 10 days of stressing over the next thunderstorm, rushing to Antara and spending nights onboard chewing our nails about if the mooring will hold; we decided to speed up our plans for Bombay.

On October 17th we set off on our first long sail on Antara. Casting off at 1030 that morning, we cruised our way to Ratnagiri, reaching there the next morning. We came alongside one of the tugs used by Finolex, in their beautiful anchorage at Pawas Bay. 

The Patankars ensured a warm welcome and Finolex followed suit. Casting off the next morning, Devdutt Patankar filmed our first video of Antara sailing with both sails up.

We sailed right into a squall and the wet weather saw us all the way through to Bombay.
Good morning Mumbai!
The winds gave us speed though and we moved at a regular clip of 6kts. After spotting the skyline at 1530 the next day, we had Murphy ensure that the winds came at us from our destination. Sail boats can only sail at an angle to the wind, so we spent a few hours tacking repeatedly, till the tired First Mate called it a day and insisted on starting up the engine. We motored into the Gateway of India and settled at our mooring at 0030. It was too late to get a boat to motor us to shore so we spent the night onboard and went home the next morning for breakfast. It’s a good feeling to have a home at both ends of a journey!


Jaya Sengupta
We had scheduled a series of sails with friends and family while in Bombay, as well as with the media. Friends made time and even travelled in to join us on Antara. For most, it was their first time on a sailboat. 

An unforgettable experience and immense learning” Jaya Sengupta, former editor and now a life coach

From initial fear to a thrilling feeling overcoming that fear” Smitha Shetty, restaurant owner

We had the privilege of having all these adventurous souls sail with us; and, were honoured that AK Singh and Aarohi Pandit chose to join the band




AK sailed with us the day before we left Goa for Bombay, but how can I not bring up his name in our guest list!
Aarohi Pandit

What an experience and honour to sail
with you two stars” Aarohi Pandit, First Indian woman to attempt a circumnavigation by flight

A singular honour for us to be onboard Antara with Dilip and Sucheta, as a fine sailing song” AK Singh, Crew Trishna, India's first boat to sail around the world. 

The weather was different on every sail and we had flat calm seas, choppy seas, wind, no wind and just the right amount of wind, and of course rain. Typically, we motored out of the harbour and put up the sails as soon as the winds picked up.

Most times we sailed towards Mandwa and back. It was a new experience, and revelatory, as much for us as for our friends.


  
Anneites
Sahyadri Parents
Diremites 

Fauji friends


        Lynn and friends



Unfortunately, our sojourn there was bookended by two cyclones which caused some panic with the Port authorities and had them shut down the harbour and harbour access for days. As a result, we had to reschedule or cancel a few sails. As usual, family bore the brunt of it and they are still to sail on Antara. But then, we’ll be back soon! 

Having celebrated Diwali and my birthday at home, it was difficult to drag myself off and away. But Goa and the prospect of charter bookings lent us wings. We set off on our return trip on Nov 14th

A lovely long uneventful sail ground to a rude halt when our propeller jammed up with a host of fishing nets. We then got into a verbal duel with a fisherman who questioned our right to own a boat, to be out at sea, to be sailing at that time of night. After dragging ourselves all the way into Murud harbour we came to a grinding halt a few cable lengths away from Janjira fort. We were completely enmeshed. Nothing we did seemed to help. So, Dilip went off to sleep. On waking up, knife in hand, he went to work. The boat floated free and we sailed up slowly to drop anchor at the opposite end of the harbour. 
Cutting the nets

Two hours of sleep later, hope dawned anew when the Coastguard laid out the red carpet for us. They not only sent in a diver to clean up the enmeshed propeller but also fed us delicious, steaming meals in their officers' wardroom aboard ‘Amal’.

That evening, having caught up on our sleep, we met up with an uncle in Murud for dinner, hitching a ride on a local fishing boat. Next morning, we were off again. With the propeller in shipshape condition again we made a beeline for Jaigad, reaching there at 0200. Enroute, we used the paper charts to create waypoints of the channel markers on the chart plotter. These came in handy and helped us steer our way to a safe anchorage. Falling asleep at 0400, we were up again at 0630. Jaigad’s Shastri river has good depths for almost 2nm upstream and we were delighted at the opportunity to motor up there in a sailboat.

Turning around at 1000, we motored out and turned left to head for Goa. The rest of the sail was quiet and truly uneventful. Sailing through the night, with minimal fishing traffic around, we were moored at Dona Paula on the 18th at 1630, exactly 31 days later.

It was a first for us to have sailed along the Indian coast on our own boat!

Grateful thanks to all who made it one of the most amazing times in our lives!

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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