Sailing along the Indian Coast to Om Beach
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Tue 8 Feb 2011 19:11
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Tuesday 8th February
With dolphins guiding us out of Cochin we
felt optimistic about the journey ahead. It had been decided that we would be
the lead boat out of the group, meaning we'd suggest the speed and
course and then get agreement from everyone else. It took a bit of
getting used to to get the five boats to motor, sail or motor sail all at the
same speed so that we could move along with all boats in close formation. It
wasn't easy as all boats behave differently and what might be the
slowest boat under motor isn't necessarily the slowest under sail. But after 24
hours of trial and error we had a system that worked well and we were managing
to sail within a 1 mile radius.
 Two radios on the go whilst
sheltering from the wind!
The first two days were glorious,
particularly when the sea breeze developed in the afternoon, enabling us to
sail. The rest of the time was spent motor sailing but the revs weren't too
high, the seas were calm and it was all very pleasant. A fantastic spot of
sailing!
But after two nights and 3 days sailing past
miles and miles of glorious beaches we just couldn't resist it any longer and
planned to stop overnight in a bay just south of Gokarna, at Om Beach. The
village of Gokarna provides a glimpse into vibrant Hindu rituals and a medieval
way of life. It is where hordes of pilgrims gather through the year to pay their
respects in the ancient temples. After finding this out it was no surprise to us
to find that Om Beach was a very low key settlement with brightly coloured
shacks dotted along the shore. From the boats we could see lots of people moving
around in amongst the cows with back-packs on and a girl swimming alongside
the boat informed us that it was very much a hippy town.
 Om Beach
 Cows on the beach as the sun
goes down
Miss Tippy were the first to anchor
and within five minutes were boarded by the local police who didn't really
know what to do with us as it would appear they don't have many, if any, boats
arrive in this bay. They said they'd be back at 9 o'clock the following the
morning and that we should have our documents ready for them to check.
A few of us went ashore and chose to eat in
a tiny Nepalese shack. The food was great as was the atmosphere. A group of 6
Europeans and Americans sat on one side of the restaurant strumming on a sitar
and guitars and singing away, it was beautiful and we couldn't help but
sway along to the music. Once we'd finished eating, a young guy introduced
us to a 'local wizard' called John. He was 59 and originally from
Scotland, now living in Amsterdam, and had been coming to Om Beach for
5 months of the year for 9 years, and in all of that time he had never seen a
boat enter the bay! Apparently we caused quite a stir when we all turned
up.
  Paul and Gavin chill out with
the cows outside the restaurant
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