"Ramprasad" - Diu to Chapora

An Account of a novice's single-handed voyage down the West coast of India in a newly-acquired 28ft Marathi fishing boat

On the night of 14th March 1980 at the start of the spring tide ebb, I pulled up my two anchors from where I had been moored just a stone's throw from the town square of Diu (known as Bunder Chowk in approximate position 20 43N and 71 00E) and I set my single lateen sail to run before the auspiciously favourable Westerley. I had planned to start my single-cylindered Bukh diesel but the Zephyr had rendered the disturbance unnecessary. However pulling anchors, spreading sail and steering all proved a bit much for this novice single-hander.I touched bottom a bare 150 yards downstream (just outside a run-down hotel in which I had once stayed). However I managed to pole her off towards mid-stream before getting properly stuck.. With bamboo pole at the ready (and a prayer in mind!) I safely sailed over reefs and past at least one dangerously incomplete navigation mark (whose steel starter bars were almost covered by the tide) to pass out of the Sesalkhada Creek to begin my first solo voyage.

That night I kept myself quite busy - rigging the tiller-lashing and bottom yard-brace, starting and running the engine with its predictable complications. I passed a solitary Ghoghla fishing canoe going home with its sail faintly glowing with the reflected light of its lantern. Shortly before dawn I saw the last of Diu Head lighthouse, the last positive sign of land that I was to have for nearly 10 days.

Day 2 - Morning broke to reveal scattered fishing craft. I manage to make tea on my primus and have breakfast. I get the noisy machine going again to pass through the fishing grounds in daylight and also to try to fix the engine water pump. My feeble attempt at the latter task failed, for in the afternoon I reconcile myself to a manual water circulation method. I try out my simple log-line and record speeds of 3 knots with the engine ticking over and 2 knots by sail in the light breeze. In the first 3 days of the passage the breeze gradually shifts from West to the expected prevailing Northerley varying in strength from Moderate at night to very light at mid-day.

I prove to myself the presence of fish by losing one valuable imported fishing lure and hook very soon after casting it. I look at the chewed end of the line and decide that I should have used the stronger trace. So I make do with a vegetarian supper and as the breeze freshens and the waves get bigger I look aloft and wonder for how long the old coir halyard will hold such a heavy yard.

Day 3 - With a bit more of a breeze all night and consequently larger waves I get my first spasm of feeling seasick when collecting my morning tea and bread from the galley below the deck just forward of the mast. I manage to get a noon sunsight and find my latitude to be 20 07N having made 36 miles Southing in approximately 36 hours - an average gain South of 1 mile an hour using sail and motor. Not very impressive you may think but I was not bothered so much with speed as to the fact of progress.

Day 4 - In the morning the inevitable happens to the halyard and the heavy lateen yard comes crashing down into the sea along the starboard side. I manage to get it inboard and I choose to cut a piece off my main anchor cable to be a replacement halyard. Then I consider the problem of going aloft to thread it through the single sheeve at the top of the mast. The mast is solid timber, unstayed, with a locating tenon at its foot, securely lashed to the thwart and at least only 17 foot high in total. The previous owner's son Prakash had had quite a job getting up to thread the original halyard. I was happy that I had had the wisdom to go against his advice and given it a coat of glue and sand to make the job easier in the future. Nevertheless my first couple of attempts fail for the frequency and amplitude of the roll was so great with a short heavy mast and appeared greater and more frightening as I ascended. But I come to the decision that there is no alternative to shinning up the mast and I must at least partially ignore my fear of the wilder motion. I rig part of the old halyard as a "ring ladder", that is tied around the mast with clove hitches. This gives me at least something for my feet to push against as my head and hands approach masthead height. By this method I reach the necessary height and manage to thread the new halyard before coming down. I can then secure the new halyard to the yard in same manner as before, then I re-apply the protective cushioning around the lashing and then eventually I can hoist it back up and get under way again. Since it seemed important for the prevention of chafe to have the halyard tight, I spend part of the night planning tensioning methods.

Day 5 - I try securing the halyard to a point further aft but this has the unfortunate effect of fouling the hatch which must be opened to crank the engine, but it has the important advantage of making the halyard act as a backstay. To have the yard tight up against the mast seems to be important so I tension it more with a line secured near the foot of the mast. In the afternoon I get the yard down and re-serve the halyard as a precautionary measure, and after rehoisting I play about with the tiller lashing to try to get her sailing straight downwind since the winds are now Northerley. I eventually decide that this is impossible. If I try to get her sailing any further from the wind's eye than say 140 degrees then the boat starts to gybe. So with a wind slightly East of North I can either steer WSW or SE. I choose the latter since I have some Easting to make even though I want to be very careful about approaching the coast.

My bilge pump has by now stopped working and I am having to bale the bilges with cup and bowl - a rather tiresome operation. Also my supply of ready-to-eat food is finished and going below to prepare food starts the approach of sea-sickness. I tried a noon sun sight in good time for local noon but I find the sun to be sinking already. Perhaps I have not anticipated how far East I have come! 

Day 6 - I look at another watch and I decide that the first one had somehow lost more than an hour. This is in the early days of the cheap electronic wristwatch! I get the bilge pump working again with a piece of inner tube rubber and I get a mid-day latitude of at least 18 30N.

Day 7 - Perhaps a more accurate mid-day latitude is obtained of 16 53N. This shows me that I have made 230 miles of Southing and I am at about the latitude of Ratnagiri - I am approaching the point at which I shall turn East for my approach to the coast. That night the halyard parts again and the heavy lateen yard comes crashing down into the sea alongside. I secure it on board, I caste out my makeshift sea-anchor and wait until daylight to start the repairs.

Day 8 - (21st March 1980) In the early morning light I find a small flying fish on deck. I consider this to be suitable as bait and so I secure my largest hook with steel wire trace on to a lead weight and some stout synthetic string. I then bait the hook with half of my flying fish and drop it over the transom to accompany the sea-anchor. I then get to work at the rigging repairs and this time I find it much easier to climb the mast, having done it once before.

In a couple of hours I get the boat sailing again and when I look back to haul in the sea-anchor I'm rather surprised to see the fishing line at such a angle to my direction of motion. So I pull it in and am quite astonished to see a 5ft long dark grey shark swimming along with the hook in its mouth looking just as tame and obedient as a city-trained dog on a lead. However I am not taken in by this placid behaviour and the home-made landing net being insufficient in strength, I plan to lift it up by the line and dump it straight into the amidships space. This I accomplish and I stand well back while it wriggles and writhes, and I give it an extra five minutes after it stops before I go at it with the knife. I cut into its belly and caste the unwanted entrails over the side until I find the liver which I know to be a delicacy. I put that into my frying pan, I get the primus going and I fry it lightly on both sides before my appetite gets the better of me and it seems to dissolve in my mouth. This seems to give me immediate strength. The flesh of the fish I cut up and some I fry immediately to fill my belly with concentrated protein but the majority I fit into my large saucepan to await another day.  The skin is very thick and tough, its head seems to have the purpose of only supporting its jaw which mounts an array of small and very sharp teeth.  Its backbone is cartilaginous and supports no bony skeleton and the flesh is ready to break away from the backbone in large nourishing chunks. Not being a trophy collector I caste the useless parts over the side keeping only those parts from which I expect to gain nourishment.

Day 9 - (22nd March) A rather bumpy and windy evening - The halyard breaks again at about midnight - I stream the sea anchor and it remains very rough for the rest of the night. I see one ship rather close in the early hours. I repair the halyard at first light in rough and windy conditions. By evening the rest of the shark in the saucepan is smelling very strongly so I throw it over the side. It remains windy and bumpy.

Day 10 - (Sunday 23rd March) It's a lot calmer by morning - I'm hoping for a sight of land soon. My noon sight gives me a latitude of 16 23.7N which is approximately the latitude of Devegargh. So in 48 hours we have gained about 20 miles Southing and gone a long way East. ( I am using old-fashioned pre-chronometer style astro-navigation - the sort of navigation that led Sir Cloudsley Shovell to wreck a whole fleet of ships in the Scilly Islands in the early 1700's - a disaster which actually led to the development of the chronometer in order for navigators to determine their longitude). My proposed destination is Chapora at 15 36N 73 44E so I want to go 50 miles South and then go East.

Day 11 - (24th March) We went South sometimes very fast (at over 3 knots!) with a SW breeze until midnight and then turned East. In the morning calm there is still no sight of land. The halyard breaks again - so I repair it again - it's almost becoming routine! In the afternoon the SW breeze restarts and I steer East. My guess of yesterday's longitude must have been wrong - I must have sailed further West than I had supposed.

Day 12 - (25thMarch) In the night I approach the light which I identify as Vengurla Point. I go about to gain sea room and I take down the yard and stream the sea-anchor. It really is a hairy night from start to finish! By morning there is nothing to be seen, so I resolve to continue on my Easterly heading until land is seen. I should look out for Redi Rocks.

My noon sight gives me a latitude of 15 26.8N which is about 9 miles North of the latitude of Chapora. From a couple of minutes before local noon we have a Westerley breeze. Still no sight of land but plenty of ships. After lunch I catch sight of more ships but these are at anchor. Could they be anchored outside Marmagoa or Port Redi? Also I see sailing craft. The ships must be off Port Redi. I start the engine to speed my approach to land. I identify Tiracol (the old Portuguese fort at the Northern edge of Goa which I had visited some two years previously). Chapora seems to be further South along the coast from Tiracol than I remember as I motorsail South-Eastwards. It's approaching dusk as I lower the yard, furl the sail and motor into Chapora. I drop anchor among the fishing boats and then I can at last sleep ... and I do sleep soundly!

I subsequently work out that based on the positions of Diu and Chapora that the straight line distance between the two is 344 nautical miles which I completed in 10.75 days. And so I averaged 32 miles progress per day. However I did not sail in a straight line and probably sailed more than 600 miles through the water considering that I reached almost the right latitude on 21st March.

I end up getting the boat hauled out on to the beach and staying in Chapora for almost a year (excluding a few land trips). By making this trip without customs clearance from Diu (the requirement for which I was not aware) I have by now got on the wrong side of the authorities - so I have to go to considerable effort to make amends - for as many of you may be aware dealing with bureaucracy in almost any country can be a very time consuming process!