The Bombay to Goa Special - The Sun, Sky, Sand, Surf - and a Sea Ray

Dreaming about owning a yacht?? Well, this is something that most of us well-heeled Indians would be doing nowadays !

What's next?!...'What do I do with my yacht?'? Most of us would just not want our precious water-ladies to be sitting pretty in the harbor and getting 'sun-tanned'.

Most yacht-owners would want to take their yachts for a regular spin with their friends or associates...some would take it one step ahead and get thrilled with watersports at the back of their boat.

BUT one of the most sought after 'things-to-do' for owners is the BOMBAY TO GOA 'ODYSSEA' !

GO GIIRA ! GO GOA !!

Venue : Gateway of India

Date : 6th March

Time : 0530

Event : The Sun, Sky, Sand, Surf - and a Sea Ray going home to GOA ! The euphoria and the excitement that Team GIIRA felt was at a different level.

Boarding boats of different sizes is a daily affair, but boarding one and going ALL THE DISTANCE to Goa, was something that really

Team GIIRA got an opportunity of its lifetime, to board a Sea Ray 330 heading home to Goa after the Mumbai International Boat Show '08...and thouroughly enjoyed this Odyssea.

READY! GET SET!! GO!!!

TWILIGHT - the first light of the day welcomed the start of our journey...

On-board the Sea-Ray were a total of eight of us...'Captain' Malcolm, 'Commander' Milind, 'Lieutenant' Wally, 'Officer' Dilip AND of course the 4 of us.


With all our lugguage stowed away in the cabin of the Sea-Ray and with engines warmed-up to the right temperatures, it was time to get moving.

Thanks to the jetty constructed for the MIBS '08, getting ourselves and the lugguage on to the boat was made easy, which would have been quite a task without the jetty...jumping on and off a tender (small row-boat) with lugguage and load.

CROWDED HOUSE

Almost pitch-dark, when we started off - the ever-expanding Mumbai Harbor - seemed like a small task to waiver around all the boats.

We sailed close to the Pride of the Mumbai Harbor - The Indian Empress. On closing in, we realised how BIG she was in all her beauty.

ONCE UNDERWAY...

...the fresh and cool breeze...kept us all in high-spirits! The team was really excited and did not know what to expect of the journey...but the feeling of being on the water with the surf created by the Sea-Rays twin stern drive engines and the Mumbai skyline slowly diminishing in the background was enigmatic..!

With Malcolm setting course on the Satellite-Navigation equipment and Milind keeping a look-out for the fishing trawlers and their nets with their beacons, we felt quite safe and secured to be in the right hands and on the right track.

Wally would keep ensuring that we ate and drank plenty, in order not to feel sea-sick but sadly since it was one of our first times being out on the sea for so long, got the better of some of us.

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE

Now lets talk about the best part of the trip - BEING AT THE WHEEL OF THE SEA RAY !

YESSSS ! - we got to drive this fast-moving (30 Knots+) beast...and we felt a million bucks and in complete control of the immense power of this 640 Horse-Power monster...

The thrill and the euphoria you feel is way beyond comprehension. If you feel that the fastest car would be able to excite you as much...then you are wrong!!!

Nothing gets close to giving you the Sun over your head, silver-blue Sky, pristine white-sand beaches on your side and the powder-y Surf behind your back...would it!?

Thanks to Malcolm, who gave over the wheel to 2 of us and was guiding us how to ride the waves in order to feel least number of bumps and water splashing in...the drive was a great experience!

THANKS MALCOLM !

JAIGARH - AN OASIS IN THE SEA

Half way through and 5 whole bouncy hours into the drive...and the fuel alarm buzzers about to...we saw the Jaigarh jetty on our Sat-Nav screen...and felt quite relieved.

Because it was the first time that most of us had been so long on a boat moving fast on choppy waters, it did tae a lot physically and otherwise too...with the constant glare of the sun above our head.

Tanned we already were...but the sappy nature of the seas had us quite dehydrated.

Due to such an experience, we strongly suggests that if you ever plan to go to Goa in a yacht make sure that it is a good-sized one with an enclosed deck...or the weather would get the better of you.

But thanks to the Marine Solutions team, we were all well taken care of through the worse part of our experience.

Jaigarh - truly turned out to be an oasis in our case. But what an oasis it turned out to be?!...

We enter the creek that led us to the jetty. Surrounded by the famous Jaigarh Fort's architecture and green hills, we were excited to know what lies ahead.

Sadly, for a mult-crore yacht with a capacity of 1200 ltrs, we had to pump in every litre using a Sudanese pump, and once that pump broke, we had use the galli ka mechanic method of sucking the petrol and using small pipes.

A small fishing town, Jaigarh lives around its jetty. With fish being the staple diet, the jetty houses many a fishing trawlers with a bazaar to take care of its people's needs.

The small huts and cottages on the hilly terrain - that were home to the people there looked beautiful and the quality of life yet untouched by the cities around it.

SNOW-WHITE BEACHES

Once we filled the our stomach at a local eatery and the Sea Ray's really hungry belly with 1200 litres of fuel to suffice our 2nd and last leg, we headed out of Jaigarh underway to Goa.

As the waters got more choppier, what kept us happy was the fact that the waters were getting bluer and the snow-white sand virgin beaches along the Ratnagiri coast.

Dabhol came up with beaches with many windmills and then we had the Vengurla rocks which are commonly known as 'Burnt Rocks' - these are vertical land protrusions (islets) that come almost more than a kilometer into the sea.

Malcolm and Milind contemplated whether to take the channel running through the Burnt Rocks, but the final decision was taken by Malcolm to completely evade any danger to craft or human-life and we swayed out of course and away from the Burnt Rocks and carried on with our journey towards Goa.

THEN COMETH GOA

10 and a half hours !!! - that's what it took us to get Goa showing on our Sat-Nav systems.

First Anjuna then Baga...Calangute...Aguada and the Goa Creek.

The Governor's bungalow atop the cliff to the entrance of the Goa Creek was a fascinating structure.

Watch this space for what happens next in Goa...

(Hint : A Southern Oceans Sail-Boat and a Indian-made International Quality Speedboat...apart from all the fun)
Read more...

'Italian-made' in India - by Ava Marine

Sober sunshine, a calm fishing jetty, small waves hitting a silent beach-shore, boats scattered in red and white...sounds like the perfect setting for your beach-home considering that all this in Goa!

But that was the perfect setting for Ava Marine's shipyard..a multi-crore facility that has an integrated Italian factory and is home to India's very own speed-boat (that is comparable in terms of form and function to what international players offer).

Team GIIRA was lucky to be invited by Ava Marine's Maneck and Firoze Contractor to have a detailed look at their operations and their insights about Ava Marine's and the Indian Yachting Industry's future.

If Italian passion and worksmanship could be put into one shipyard in India, it was definitely this one.

BACK TO BASICS

Formed as long back as 1989, by Captain (IN-Retd) Soli Contractor, Maneck and Phiroze Contractor - Ava Marine Services has come a long way in the plethora of functions it offers.

The focus of the company is consulting, managing, maintaining and operating motor/sailing Yachts and other water crafts on behalf of owners. Their services include staffing, fuel monitoring, maintaining logs, cleanliness and routine maintenance, repairs, monsoon layovers, etc.

The thorough professionalism involved in the operations and the layout of their shipyard spoke volumes about their commitment towards the industry.

AVAMARINE'S BELIEF

Ava Marine believes that your time on the water is precious and always ensure that each moment spent onboard is enjoyed to the maximum. Their services cover all aspects of Yacht operations so you merely step on and off your Yacht fully satisfied.

Ava Marine strives to become your complete stress buster on water and provide you, your own private water world.

AVAMARINE'S GOA OPERATIONS

Ava Marine has a fully-integrated Italian yacht-making factory within their premises at Goa. This part-by-part fully imported assembly line allows them to cater and manufacturer to all sorts and sizes of boats.


The famous Miss India 2007, that Indian superstar Saif Ali Khan has made famous through his quick getaways to Alibaug for his shoots with beau Kareena.

PARTNERS

AvaMarine is famous for being the dealers for the BLADERUNNER. That makes them definitely the most exciting people on the water in terms of flat-out speed in the harbor.

They also assemble boats made with Chinese parts - particularly speedboats which have been received well by the market due to their price advantage. They re-badge these with their own brand name and look forward in increasing the output of these in the near future.

THE SEA FARER 32

The best and most advanced offering from this boatyard is the Sea Farer 32. A 32' speedboat - made with the best engineering and designing techniques available in India.



Though executed in India, these techniques are in line with the latest used by manufacturers internationally. Hence there is no compromise on quality.

Maneck has ensured that the quality of worksmanship is at its best by retaining his staff over many years and training them regularly with the latest boat-bulding operations - right from making moulds, setting the hull, forming the super-structure, finishing and detailing, painting and installing the engines.


But something unique about Sea Farer 32 is a hull specially designed for India. Due to the salinity and viscosity factors experienced in Indian waters, the hull has been designed to cut through the water in such a manner that reduces drag (whereby increasing fuel efficiency) and reducing the 'bounce' effect that is faced in almost all other designs - local or internationally.

Also, this 32 footer can be fitted with any engine specification of its owners choice and at the same time is highly customisable with some models coming with a small cabin in front also.

FUTURE PLANS

Apart from concentrating on its vast range of self-built products, Ava Marine plans to market the BladeRunner even stronger. Apart from that they will be developing and making a lot of catamarans and trimarans from moulds that have been imported. Apart from the mainstream market, they want to cover a wide range of one-offs that cater to exclusive owners.

Their forte being maintenance and upkeeping of boats....we wish Ava Marine all the best!

'See you on the water...Cheers!!'

Read more...

First Indo-German Joint Naval Exercise Successful

Three German Navy Ships were on a goodwill visit to Kochi,India from April 05 to 08. Following that India and Germany three-day Naval exercise was held at the Arabian sea from 8th to 10th April 2008. An Indo-German Defence Cooperation Agreement in this context was signed in 2006..


Over 700 personnel from the German Task Force comprising the Federal German Ship (FGS) Hamburg, which is an air-defence ship, frigate FGS Koeln, and FGS Berlin, which is a replenishment tanker, participated in the exercise from the German side.
The training ships “INS Tir” and “INS Krishna” and two frigates of the Indian Navy took part from India.


Seamanship, replenishment at sea and exchange of ship personnel and flying exercises was held in the sea off Kochi. More advanced manoeuvres like surface and submarine warfare was also held further northwards off the Goa coast, where the Indian frigates from the Western Naval Command joined in.

The guests visited training establishments such as the Anti-Submarine Warfare School and the Navigation and Direction School at the Southern Naval Command here.


German Ambassador Bernd Mutzelburg said: “Germany is looking forward to forge a strategic partnership with India in different sectors. We are willing to transfer high-tech weaponry to the Indian armed forces to help their modernisation drive. India will get top-end technology and it will be a win-win situation for both countries in this partnership of equals. Germany needs to retain her competitive edge by making good use of the economy products manufactured in India. Bilateral trade doubled to 10 billion euros in the past three years. India sees Germany as a high-tech partner.”

The German Task Force:

F220 Hamburg: Missile frigate commissioned in 2004 has complement of 230 and has speed of 29 knots.

F211 Koln: Missile frigate commissione in 1984 has complement of 219 and has speed of 30 knots.

A1411 Berlin: Naval support ship commissioned in 2001 has complement of 139 and has speed of 20 knots. Read more...