Jackamy - A bumpy trip to Cochin

A bumpy trip to Cochin

Jackamy

Paul & Derry Harper

Mon 24 Jan 2011 12:52

09:31.700N 076:16.365E

Monday 24th January

360 miles would be easy, or so we thought, silly us! We left Galle around 10:30 on Saturday morning and by late afternoon we had short lumpy seas causing a very uncomfortable motion. As 25-35 knots of wind came round on to the beam with 3 metre somewhat confused waves from the same direction we were in for an interesting night. All I can say is, thank goodness the moon was out, because had it not have been that would have been a scary experience. We had wave after wave coming across the boat and straight through the cockpit whilst we were harnessed and hanging on to stop ourselves from sliding through as the boat was continuously knocked on the side by vicious waves. Amy and myself were very ill, the worst we have both been in a very very long time. But thankfully it did work in our favour, as during the night whilst leaning over the side I spotted that one of our side windows had fallen out and was leaning up the stantions. At over a metre long and half a metre wide it was a heavy piece of glass, and it was incredibly difficult to get it down below in the conditions. At first we panicked and fetched a piece of wood to board up the window but then realised the windows are double glazed and only one side had fallen out, thank goodness.

Non of us had much sleep that first night, it was impossible to move downstairs, as the boat lurched Amy was thrown onto the sofa almost taking Paul with her and another time I was thrown out of bed into the cupboards and onto the floor even though the lee cloth was attached. The weather continued into the next day and it was only as the sun went down that the winds and seas began to die down. We were lucky as we were now motor sailing along the coast of India in between hundreds of fishing boats. Again Amy had the spotlight on them but came to the conclusion the boats didn't have nets out, just lines from the boat. In the early hours of the morning though a large boat did cut just metres in front of the boat trawling lines. And it was only as the sun came up that she realised the boats did in fact have nets out and it was only by chance that we had made it through safe and sound.

Fishing boats in the haze off the Indian coast

A beautiful welcome and the pain of the last 36 hours begins to fade

Chinese fishing nets line either side of the entrance to Cochin port

The old and the new mix together

After 24 hours of horrible weather and 15 hours of sheer concentration we were elated to reach Cochin. We dropped our anchor outside the 5 star Taj Malabar Hotel and waited for customs and the port authorities to board the boat. After filling in and signing dozens of forms we ventured ashore to complete the process only to find that the offices were closed. We weren't too upset as it meant we could go to the hotel for a well deserved drink and meal. We were even lucky enough to catch a martial arts performance laid on for the hotel guests. Our time in India had begun well.