In the Arabian Sea

We are in the middle of the Arabian Sea. We have been sailing and motor sailing for several days. The winds have not been cooperating as much as we would like, coming a little too much on the nose. Makes for interesting sleeping conditions. We had very light winds one day and we all stopped to clean the props and the bottoms of the boats. It was great to get in the water except for all the tiny jellyfish stings that Kikki and I received. On the 13th we had a little excitement, the running backstay block broke and startled us. It was easily fixed though.
The vessel I am sailing on is called Endelig which is Norwegian for 'finally'. The couple who own the boat, Henry & Kikki, are from England, but Kikki is Norwegian. They have just become grandparents for the first time so when we get to land we will try to find an internet cafe so they can see pictures of their new grandson, George. The vessel is a 44' cutter rigged sloop, built in Holland by Contest. It has a center cockpit and 2 suites. I am in the v berth, though I have been sleeping in the salon when conditions make it difficult to sleep so far forward.
Sailing in a group is interesting. You need to frequently adjust sails and heading to maintain position in the group. I will definitely expand my sailing skills with this trip. We take shifts of 3 hours on 6 hours off. This gives you the time to get a reasonable amount of sleep and your shift times vary from day to day.

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day (and birthday Christi!).

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Changes...

I am not sure when I will be able to post my next blog entry, but I wanted to let you know that Rick & Suza on Voyager have decided not to do the rally and are heading south to the south of India and to the Maldives. I have moved to another boat named Endelig with a wonderful couple from England. They have a blog also, so you can follow along on their site also. It is www.yacht-endelig.blogspot.com. The adventure continues!

Mumbai .

We arrived in Mumbai on January 30th and have several days here to provision and get ready to cross the Arabian Sea. Once we left Cochin we had one day of strong winds so we could sail (with a double reefed main) and after that we motor sailed the rest of the way. Some days and nights with the wind right on the nose so you felt like the boat was a bucking bronco. That, plus the fun of dodging fishing boats and fishing nets definitely kept you awake when on watch.We caught up with the rally in Goa. The rally group that left Cochin on the 20th had a few days there, we had just one night.  That night, the local Vasco da Gama Club hosted a dinner for us. The next morning we left for Jaigarh. We spent one night there. The local government hosted a dinner and local dance program for us. We are eating well.

Mumbai has been quite interesting so far. We arrived around 11am on the 30th. We have travelled about 600 nmi so far.We are anchored right outside the Gateway of India. We cleared immigration around 6pm and then went into town. We had a drink at the beautiful Taj Mahal Hotel (quite expensive) and then had dinner at one of the local street eateries. Great food!

The next few days have been spent searching for the items we need and a vet for the cats. The two cats that travel on Voyager, Senna and Schumi, are getting old and starting to have age related health issues. Finding parts for a sailing vessel is not as easy as you might think, even in a city as large as Mumbai. We have refueled, filled the water tanks, and had laundry done. Still need to get food and decide exactly when and where we are going. Some big decisions ahead on that front.

The way people drive here is quite an experience, buses, taxis, tuk tuks, motorbikes all trying to fit in the same space. What amazes me is that I have not seen an accident yet. There has been a little time for sight seeing and shopping. I took the train to Dhobi Ghat which is a pretty amazing place, the world's largest outdoor laundry. I have also made time to add some new Indian attire to my wardrobe. 

Last night the Royal Bombay Yacht Club had a dinner and party for us. Food, music and dancing what fun! Have I mentioned how great the food is here. It is wonderful!

 Jaigarh

 

Jaigarh

Gateway of India

 Dhobi Ghat

Pictures from Cochin

Here are some pictures from Cochin. Cochin is in the state of Kerala on the southwest coast of India.

Local dance costumes

Chinese fishing nets, this traditional method of fishing around Cochin is being replaced by newer methods

The Voyager crew for the Vasco da Gama Rally

Departing Cochin

Voyager arrived in Cochin on Friday the 21st, which was great because all the offices to get checked in are closed on Saturday & Sunday. I have now moved onto Voyager, home for the next 4 months. Saturday we stocked up on provisions, etc and in the evening went to see a cultural performance of the local dances of Kerala. Cochin is in the state of Kerala. Today, Sunday, we will leave Cochin. Since we are running several days behind the main rally group we will probably skip Goa and go directly to Mumbai (Bombay) which is around 600 nmi up the coast of India. 

In Cochin

After 3 days, 2 nights, 18 hours of flight time and somewhere around 6800 flight miles I am in Cochin, India. It's nice not to have to get on another airplane! Rick and Suza are still in Sri Lanka, so I get to go to the captains meetings etc. for the rally. I met the rally organizer, Lo Brust, yesterday. He is Dutch and is the founder of this rally. He has been sailing between India and Turkey for 8 years. The rally departs on the 20th. Rick & Suza are hoping to leave Sri Lanka tomorrow and arrive in Cochin on the 22nd. But with sailing you never know. As Rick says, you can pick the place or the time to meet someone who is sailing, but not both. Hopefully they will have good weather and we will be able to catch up with the rally.
I went to a local Temple festival last night. Beautiful costumes, dancing and singing. Unfortunately, my little point and shoot doesn't take good night pictures. It was nice and though people seem rather shy around westerners (I did not see another one at the festival) a few talked to me and told me about the songs. A nice way to start the trip.

Departing

Tomorrow I leave for India. After overnight stops in Manila and
Singapore, I arrive in Cochin, India on the 15th of January. Voyager has
run into some weather issues and stopped in Sri Lanka. Their arrival in
India will be delayed until at least the 22nd. It looks like I have a
week to see the sights in southern India.