Year 3 -10 February 2026 – Arrival at Kochi -India

I took over at 2.00am and there were lots of fishing boats about and Paul and Rhys had been dodging them throughout their watch. There were lights everywhere and it reminded me of Indonesia.

I then had to plot our way through these lights and you had to keep a good and regular look out. Mark came up after 3.00am and joined me and so I had some company which was nice.

I decided to go out a bit and to my relief after 12 nm from land Starlink started working again and so I was able to send the agent a message to let him know when we were likely to arrive and to finish my blog and send it. I will try and ensure that later as we get closer I can do the same thing so that we can keep the agent informed.

The rest of the watch was reasonably quiet and we were still sailing. I had anticipated that the wind would die and we would have to put the engine on. However, we were still able to make 7kts plus. The problem was we needed to charge the batteries and I had delayed this as I thought we would be turning on the engine.  Mark and Peter took over and within an hour I heard the sail being furled and the engine going on. It would now be probably the engine only until Kochi.

I slept until about 8.00am and Paul and Rhys were on watch. I heard the genoa go out and we were then motor sailing and this worked quite well and it gave us another knot. I made some smoothies which everyone enjoyed and we also cut up some mangoes which we had with cereal.

It was a sunny morning but quite dry and hazy. We have still not actually seen any land yet and I wonder whether the haze is due to the pollution in India.

We motor sailed on well and fast and it was now a question of making the miles to try to ensure we got into Kochi this evening, otherwise we would have another night at sea.

There were many fishing boats about with very few on AIS and some were pairs of boats with a net between them so we had to avoid getting in between them.

The hours ticked away and we had lunch. I managed to connect to Starlink once we were more than 12 nm offshore. We then proceeded on and at about 10nm from Kochi’s buoyed entrance I called Port Control. They did not answer. I tried again at 7.5nm and again at 5nm and eventually they answered and after answering a few questions gave us authority to enter the port and proceed to the anchorage off the Taj Malabar which is where customs and the port authorities are located.

We first saw India when we were about 2nm off the harbour due to a haze – I wondered whether it was the pollution.

The port was quite large and busy with little ferries buzzing back and forth to cargo ships, tankers, cruise ships, coastguard boats and Indian naval ships. There were crane derricks from the port and little landing stages here and there.

We eased in past a departing cargo ship and down to the anchorage which was very shallow. As we arrived the first set of officials was there to meet us. They were the Kerala Police and some soldiers. We anchored and they came aboard and wanted to see our papers and passports etc. They were sort of friendly but somewhat reserved and slightly suspicious. I answered their questions and they seemed satisfied and left. The next set were from the health department and there were 4 large sets of papers they had prepared (or my agent had). They loved my boat stamp and stamped everything it seemed to make it look official. We passed despite the fact that they never went inside the boat!!

The Immigration officers came next and checked our passports and asked a few questions and then customs. They did not like the fact that I had a satellite phone even though it was switched off!. They put a piece of paper over it with Sellotape to seal it and asked me not to use it.

We then had to get the dinghy down and we put the small engine on the back as it was easy but it would not start. We therefore had to get the big engine down and it worked. We followed the Immigration Boat and moored at a pontoon. We then all had to have our fingerprints taken and eventually all our passports were stamped. We then needed the Port Authority to give us permission to go to the marina. Our agent says we could not do this tonight but they would get us to move to the marina tonight and help us. We were tired and it must have been 8.00pm when we got back to the boat.

We upped the dinghy on the davits and then called the Port Authority as instructed to ask permission to move. Thy told us that they were wating for confirmation from Immigration and they would call us. This was not great but permission came through at about 8.30pm.  We therefore upped the anchor and headed down the river passing a large cruise ship as we did so heading out to sea. I wondered -I am sure most to the passengers will be dining or be in the bars watching their departure from Kochi -who knows where they are going next.

We found the narrow channel to the marina and whilst there were buoys to follow flashing every few seconds I stuck to the channel on the chart plotter and whilst depths came down as far as 2.4m it mainly stayed about 2.9-3.0m. We followed the channel left and right and then headed to the marina. I say marina as clearly it was one at some time. It is now three large pontoons and one of them had very little planks on it. The agent met us there and suggested a small pontoon to moor against. This was not really suitable. There were two hammerheads and both were occupied by large boats, the only other boats here. We looked around and there were very little options so I decided to med moor and reverse back to a small pontoon just inside the hammerhead. At this point having come all this way the situation was not great. We were all tired and hungry and we just had to make the best of it. It was a bit like one of those hamlet cigar adverts years ago. The one where the man had a problem but when he lit the cigar the problem seemed to fade. We got ready and I positioned Stormbird but we were already aground in the mud. We put the anchor out and reversed using the engine and reversed through the mud to the pontoon and then slid ourselves or tried to toward the pontoon. I put a rope on the pontoon and then on to a winch to pull us over and this was working until the metal cleat on the pontoon snapped in half. This shows you the state of the cleats!.

With patience we tied ourselves up and whilst we desperately wanted a drink I had to go off with our passports again to the hotel which owns the marina. I left Peter and co to connect up the electricity.

I finished the documents and returned to Stormbird with the Port Authority still required the following morning.

The electricity still had not been connected as they were still trying to find a connection on the pontoon. The guys by this time were having a beer and well deserved. I joined them. Paul had been cooking and prepared a great supper of vegetables and salmon. This went down well. They eventually found a live socket and we had electricity.

This is India! We have arrived. We sailed the 373 nm in 2 days 5 hour and 50 minutes which gives us an average of 6.95kts.

This will be the end of the voyage for the crew. I will remain and prepare for our next journey.  Life goes on.      

 The picture of the day is us outside Immigration with one of the Indian agent’s helpers.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July) and from Cape Town to the Azores and then to the UK (mid August onwards). If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com