Fai Tira blog Sunday 23rd Jan 2011 

Arrived in Cochin 09:59.103N 076:16.091E

It was Friday 21^st January, and all too soon we were leaving Sri Lanka and turning our backs on this island of spectacular beauty, lovely proud people, deep devotion, colour, beaten up roads and countless flights of stairs.

Most of the last few days were spent recovering from our various tours Peter, Jeremy, Maureen and Steve from the official one and young Richard and myself from our alternative, slightly shorter, but cheaper and more exclusive excursion.

There was also a whole list of jobs to complete, as well as the irritating task of re-

provisioning. Both our expensively repaired sails needed to be hung, there was a new bilge pump to be fitted. Our newly purchased depth sounder required installation, lots of tidying to do and the errant winch still to be sorted out.

However, the main briefing about the security issues of the Gulf of Aden crossing took centre stage and almost a whole day. Peter Seymour, a BWR director and Middle East expert was the main contributor, and he gave chapter and verse on the worst-case scenario of events.  I think we all came away a little pensive but far more aware bunch, who felt as though we were in the capable hands of experienced people.

So it was a busy short period. However, there was still time for one last fling, and while many of the crews, including the balance of Fai Tira’s, attended one last party and cultural evening at the Unawatuna Beach Resort, Richard and I took ourselves off for a meal to a Chinese restaurant we knew of from a previous evening and  indulged in what, eventually, turned into a pub crawl,,,, Well about as close as you could get to one in Sri Lanka anyway.

Before we left the restaurant, we came across Joseph, our alternative tour organiser, who was rushing around attending to the needs of Phyllis off Journey who’d been rushed to hospital with a serious eye infection. There was no thought of financial gain in his actions just genuine concern and care. We ended up sharing his tuk tuk into town, and receiving sincere hugs with the final farewells (this would be the last time we’d see him).

Once in town we made our way towards the station, and what we were told was the oldest pub in Sri Lanka. It was a real spit and sawdust place, dimly lit, with a rudimentary bar, peeling paint, dirty floors and makeshift seating and tables. With our purchases in hand we sat back and drank very black, and very strong stout (not quite Guinness, but what the heck?) before being joined and adopted by a friendly, very well educated, guy who said that he knew me, was a cousin to just about everyone in Galle and took great pleasure in introducing us to most of them!!

  They’d long shut the doors by the time we, together with our new companion, tumbled out, along the street and into the entrance of another restaurant owned by,,,, you guessed it, another cousin of our new friend. By this time all the genuine dining customers had gone, and we were left with the place to ourselves and spent the rest of the time with the staff and owner, drinking and talking nonsense behind locked doors.

A great evening ended, after a tuk tuk trip back, on board Fai Tira for a last drink in Sri Lanka,,,,,, tomorrow we were off!

It was about midday as we cast off our lines, pulled up the anchor and gently drifted away from the Naval Harbour that had been our home for the last 10 days or so, but not before we’d collected our new blue boat cushions made by the ladies of the Tsunami charity stall located within the dockyard.

Initially there was little sign of the 20-25 knots of winds that the forecasts had predicted. However, what there was allowed us after a short period to hoist the main sail. The wind soon increased but it was on the nose. It continued to build and veer as we gradually lost the influence of the land mass, and as we hoisted the genoa the initially benign sea became more than a bit irritated, and began tossing us around.  At this stage we were close hauled with the engine on and making slow progress.

It was early afternoon when a sudden and unexpected change in wind direction caused us to pull the genoa through, setting a pattern that remained, in various stages, until we reached the shores of India.

We were now powering forward under full sail, with the engine silent, on a beam reach with two reefs in the main and one in the genoa, in 25-30 knots of easterly wind, very big and rough seas and making between 7-8 knots. This is Fai Tira’s stomping ground and just the sort of trip we’d hoped for. Problem was there were two passengers on board who weren’t used to being at sea. Movement around the boat was now difficult with the crashing waves regularly invading the cockpit, causing both Maureen and Steve to suffer.  Steve with a back strain and Maureen with severe motion sickness that had them both almost debilitated.

The weather continued unrelenting and I’m sure that if Fai Tira had a face, there would’ve been a smile on it, with the penultimate 24 hour period resulting in a distance covered of 144 miles. Our ETA was constantly changing and as the lights of India twinkled off the distant emerging land at about 01.30 am. the sea started to calm and the winds drop. Then the peace was shattered by a turn of the ignition switch when the engine fired into life and we were motor sailing once more.

By now our ETA had gone out, extending to the early hours of Monday morning, leaving us with the prospect of a fishing boat strewn approach, with all the hazards of accompanying nets, during the hours of darkness.....It didn’t happen.

In all honesty, the hours of darkness weren’t that dark, as the waning but still bright moon illuminated the surroundings, reflecting off the tranquil, rippling water, and what few fishing boats there were always seemed to be on the horizon. Then as I gazed forward, assessing our passage, I was treated to a cameo performance from a single firefly. Here we were 6 miles off the nearest shoreline and somehow this tiny creature had managed to locate us, and amazingly proceeded to put on a captivating display in the form of a beautiful, delicate, flickering white light  that danced amongst the rigging, accompanied by the drifting delicious sweet scented smells from the land, of plants and flowers as they wafted in on warm breezes. The only thing missing was the sounds of violins....... Oh well you can’t have everything.  As it was, for me this was almost the ultimate entertainment...

What an enchanting welcome to Cochin!

I intend inserting a picture blog and descriptions of our alternative tour as soon as Wi Fi connection permits.