Passage to Kochi
Wildfox
Anthony Swanston
Wed 31 Jan 2018 03:52
It took 17
days to get to India, pretty much in the middle of my time estimates. For much of the way I was in touch with
Mersoleil, an American boat but once I got past southern Sri Lanka my
connection with the radio station in Brunei was lost – just too far away. I logged 1,525 nautical miles but only some
of this passage was open ocean. On two
occasions little land birds found me, clearly lost. As always they would eat nothing that was
offered and soon died on deck. In
between the Nicobar Islands, all around Sri Lanka and along the SW coast of
India I am close enough to land to need a crew to help keep watch for small fishing
boats (all wooden so no radar reflection until very (VERY) close). And lots of
ships to keep sleep to a frequently interrupted minimum.
Anyway I am
interviewing crew and fingers crossed that that goes well. More later.
I arrive in
Kochi Channel with two ships coming in behind me. I am the meat in the sandwich. I get to the designated anchoring point and
immigration are aboard before I get the anchor down. What is all the rush when the formalities are
going to take until late the next day with many hours of standing around?
At 0100 I am
awaked and discover somebody in the cockpit.
It is clear that I am being robbed but then I hear loud voices and a big
engine. My anchor has dragged (discarded
fishing net around it) and the harbour master has seen this and sent people to
help me re-anchor. And then I see the
urgency. I am in the channel and a huge
ship is being towed out stern first by two tugs. Such is sailing.
Next morning
customs are aboard, I move to the small marina and go by tuk tuk to complete clearance
formalities. It is said that the British
invented bureaucracy and the Indians then turned it into an art form. An understatement if ever I heard one.
That night a
nice party aboard a bid catamaran where we had a lunar eclipse followed by a
blue moon. They left for the Maldives
early next morning, leaving just four boats in the marina, soon to be
three…
