India after 50 Days!

Filed November 14, 2008 at 5:08 am under Boating by Administrator

 

 

 

 

 

So… we are finally in Cochin, India!Since our last update we have;

 
 

 

·been at sea for 50 days
·crossed the Indian Ocean
·been caught in a force 9 gale
·hand steered 850 miles with an emergency tiller
·been becalmed for three weeks 

But we got here!

It all started with a really good wind which took us out of Assab and whisked us almost to Aden in less than 24 hours. Then the wind died, and after a few hours up came the wind which was to be the bane of our lives for the next two weeks. It was a strong easterly, dead against us, and turned out to be helped by a strong current setting north west. For five days we tacked back and forth, and arrived opposite Aden every evening. This was annoying, since as Israelis we can’t enter Yemen, and it really looked inviting. Also, it is nerve fraying tacking in and out of the shipping channels at night, especially without lights. ( So the pirates can’t see you!) Actually we were mistaken for pirates ourselves a few times, and had to light the sails with a projector to calm people down. The hysteria in the Gulf of Aden is amazing- ships seeing us on radar would take a 2 or 3 mile detour round us and put on all their deck lights to make sure they weren’t boarded. The French warships which patrol up and down were amazing, they really made us feel safer, and kept on checking to see that we were ok, sending a plane several times to fly over and check us.

So, gradually we made our way up the Gulf, tacking all the way, and eventually got out. Then we had another good day of wind, which left us near Socutra, where we bobbed up and down for 5 days without a breath of wind. The North-East monsoon gradually filled in, and we had a few good days sailing before hitting a huge storm 850 miles from Cochin. Thunder, lightning and torrential rain were accompanied by waves of 15 metres. Oren put out a sea drogue, we shortened sail to a handkerchief and set the autopilot to keep us running before the waves. Then we got into bed, wearing lifejackets, and stayed there for 3 days, while Chasamba was blown south, handling the enormous waves without complaining, but pitching and rolling quite violently.We took turns to keep a lookout, and it was lucky we did, because Oren stuck his head out at one point and saw a huge container ship about 400 metres away on a collision course for us. The waves were so big that even at that distance we could only see the bridge, and there was little chance that he could see us at all. We raced to the radio and tried to call the ship, but there was no answer. We were towing a drogue and slewing down waves with very little control, but there was no choice- we made a sharp starboard turn and came side on to the waves. As the ship steamed by, barely 50 metres from us, slicing through the waves at the spot where we would have been, I looked up and read the name on the bows. Oren called again on the vhf using the ships name, and a laconical answer came- “Oh …yeah, well sorry about that…”.

By the way,Sheva was under the table in the front cabin, and felt quite safe there- she didn’t want to come out after the storm!

After 3 days the wind and waves started to calm down, and we managed to get under way again. We had been blown south, and considered changing course to the Seychelles, but decided against it because from there it would be hard to continue on our way. We got some canvas up, and two things happened- first of all the stays fell out of the shrouds, leaving the mast unsupported at the sides above the shrouds. We were very lucky to catch this and immediately took all the sails down, then somehow managed to persuade the stays to get back onto the shrouds and tightened them up. Probably they were loosened in the storm from all the vibration, but if they had fallen during the storm we would definately have lost the mast! The second thing which happened was that the hydraulic steering failed. It must have taken a beating too, with huge waves banging the rudder about. But it too kept us safe during the storm and only complained afterwards! So we got the emergency tiller out, and for the next three weeks, through calm after calm we drifted our way gradually closer to Cochin, hand steering in shifts.

About a week before we got to India we met three Sri Lankan fishing boats. Apart from accidentally ramming us and breaking two stanchions, they were very nice, and we traded some old bottles- quarter of a bottle of gin, some old Cinzano and so on, for a huge tuna, 25 litres of water and some packets of milk shake. This really made our day, and most of the tuna I dried, so that it provided food for the next week, until the dog got at it and finished it all!

On the 9th of November we finally entered the Cochin channel, and as a finale thick weed blocked our path, and clogged the propellor when we tried to plow through it. But we were unstoppable, and even though the engine started to heat up and our speed went down to 1.5 knots, we just kept on in, and in the end the weed gave up and we anchored off the Taj Malabar, in the customs anchorage, looking just like a boat sitting in the middle of a field!

Soon we will update on Cochin, for now I will just say that the food is marvellous, and that we are very glad to be here!

 

 

3 comments »

3 Responses to “India after 50 Days!”


Comment by
zahi
November 15th, 2008
at 12:02 pm

Wow, really a 1001 nights story.
lucky you are still with us.
we will phone you when we can. maybe today.

Comment by
amos
November 20th, 2008
at 8:20 am

mdua atem lo onim li ? 6 haprakim shpirsamti baiton hashuvim lachem kedey shetishaaru bamudaut hazibur. katavti beshimchem lfi hasipurim shelachem .
im hatem maadifim lishloach levad . shilchu lezachi vehu yetargem veyaaroch.

Comment by
yasmin
November 25th, 2008
at 12:35 pm

hi mom and oren weve been tring to get a hold of you so we can say- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! love you hope youre having lots of fun. yasmin, inbal and hilah

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