Sailing from Karachi to Chuta Churna and beyond

This is the second edition of my adventurous sailing. After the last trip we had become a little more adventurous and less fearful, which is not exactly very good! We had been planning to look for a couple of day’s holidays so that we could move onwards to the coastal areas where we had not been before. The good part is that now that we have reached the beginning of March, the water has started becoming warmer so capsizing is not a real problem. However, at the same time, the danger of wind picking up has increased – a phenomenon quite prevalent in this part of the world being in the monsoon belt.

<http://offroadpakistan.com/images/2005/09/boat%20_trip_sep_2005.jpg 475×247!

<p>However, leaving the family and going to the sea for 2 days is not really an easy thing for me. My old sailing partner Zia told me that instead of going for 2 days we could do one day sailing in the sea. So this time instead of sailing down to Abdur Rehman Goth (a small village is called Goth) we sent the sailing boats one day in advance through the tindals working on our boats. The following morning we went to Abdur Rehman Goth where we found our boats waiting for us in the sea. These men had sailed down the previous day and had slept in the boat. Little did they know that we had changed the plan from a two-day sailing trip to one-day only. However, when we got there, they convinced us back into a 2 day trip and try sailing long hops into Baluchistan. I called my wife and she was happy to allow me this passage, as she is a strong believer in my having goals and achieving them. She keeps telling me that once you grow older you will remember these times.</p>

<p>So at the spur of the moment it was decided that we are going to Mubarik Village, which we had been planning since the last trip. However we were not sure if we would be able to make it to Mubarik Village by sunset. On top of it, we were unsure where to spend the night. The best thing we could think was to send my jeep through Zia’s driver to Mubarik Village so that in the worse case scenario we could sleep in the jeep.</p>

<p>Abdur Rehman Goth has a long reef going into sea; this meant sailing couple of miles into the sea before turning upwind. Since there was no wind the whole night there were not many waves and this long upward passage into the sea paid off. It was a sea breeze which really had started in the afternoon so it meant beating all the way while going to sea and then turning westward because the wind was south westerly.</p>

<p>The temperature was 23 to 24 degrees centigrade and the water was very pleasant. The wind was 7 to 10 knots and we were doing between 4 to 5 knots. The Arabian Sea was at its best, the sea was blue and clear. After beating for approximately an hour we changed tack and started heading towards other direction which is a light house called Cape Monz. This light house is generally used to direct ship traffic coming from Middle East and the West. This is built on a large rock which protrudes into the sea. The sea around Karachi has lovely sandy beaches and the shore line curves from Manora which is the break water and the entrance to the harbour to Cape Monz which is the other light house. It is one big curving bay, this really means that if you want to go from Manora or any part of the shore you have to go into the sea and then turn westward or eastward as the wind usually flows into the land which means a sea breeze and this also means the waves always coming towards the shore.</p>

<p>Finally we tacked and went into an area a couple of miles short of Cape Monz and then after a series of tacks we were approaching the first mark which is Cape Monz, this was at 5:00PM. The wind was directly coming from Cape Monz now and there were more front waves created by the wind which had been steady for the last 5 hours, the progress had become pretty slow. I don’t think even for a moment that I or my partner Zia ever gave up hope that we will not be able to get to our destination before sunset.</p>

<p>Finally around 5:00PM we were able to cross Cape Monz. Cape Monz has some rocky parts around it and which really come into the sea about not more than 20 to 30 yards. As soon as we crossed Cape Monz we saw the Churna Island in the sea and on the right was again the sandy beach. Now we were reaching with fine wind and good speed. The boat speed picked up again and we were again doing around 4.5 knots.</p>

<p>Now we were eagerly trying to find where our jeep was parked and where should be our landing space. As a rule of thumb always go to where the wooden fishing boats are parked. They all seemed to be parked in one concentrated group. We landed on the shore next to the 20-30 odd fishing boats. These boats were about 20 to 25 ft in length with one single engine into the sea from over the side. This is not an outboard engine – it is a shaft going over the side where the engine is mounted 1/3rd on the rear on top of the boat.</p>

<p>As we were coming to shore the fishermen came and were helpful taking our boats on the shore. There was plenty of help and love which we immediately got. We were offered a straw hut to sleep in, they gave us some bedding for the night which was put on the floor and a lantern was lit in the hut.</p>

<p>They cooked dinner for us, which was Barracuda and Lintel. We were invited to somebody’s house where we had dinner. These people have their own way of cooking the fish. I guess since they eat fish as their only meal they really have perfected the art. After having dinner we went out and sat on the beach with a 3/4 moon where we were served with tea.</p>

<p>As is the case in most villages one is suppose to sleep after sunset. Tired from the journey we followed suit and were tucked into bed at 9:00 pm to start sail next morning at 7:00AM.</p>

<p>We got up at 6:00AM the next morning, had our breakfast and found out the local knowledge of where to go from here to discover the shores ahead. Now confidence was growing and were not happy to reach Mubarik Village; we thought lets venture further into Baluchistan and go to Gaddani. We found out about the landing areas, the depth of sea and the local knowledge of how to get there. After preparing the boats we set sails at 8:00am with land breeze taking us towards Churna Island.  We headed straight for Churna Island now well experienced that one should go into sea before the wind direction changes and sea breeze picks up which means the waves on the bow. Apart from the fact that we wanted to go as far as we could into sea we also wanted to reach Churna Island as a landmark saying that we have been here where no pleasure sail boat or day sailor has reached.</p>

<p>The island of Churna is frequently visited by power boats from the clubs and the public power boats for fishing. This is one of the biggest fishing spot for Karachites. There is enough sea life which attracts sport divers, people trolling and bottom fishing. As we had imagined there were quite a few power boats around the island.</p>

<p>The boats do not all come from Karachi only, many people drive down to Mubarik Village and other fishing villages nearby and hire boat from these villages to come to Churna Island. In fact when we woke up at Mubarik Village we saw a number of cars driven who rented these boats to go to Churna Island. These boats cost from Rs. 500/- to 1500/- for the whole day of fishing.</p>

<p>One thing interesting is that these people follow a religion which is Zikri. I don’t totally know what this religion is but I think this is something to do with praying to the sea apart from praying to God. Last night when we were very tired they did explain to us but we did not have much time to ask more questions.</p>

<p>Also let me add here that the clearest water found in and around the area we covered was at Mubarik Village. The place where the fishing boats are parked is next to a sandy beach but it is rocky the reason is due to depth. There are no waves breaking here and even if you go quite a bit into sea you see the rocks in the bottom. I mean you can see the bottom even at 8:00am in the morning when the sun rays are bent and it is low tide. Generally speaking high tide is the tide for complete visibility.</p>

<p>Now for those people who would like to know the bearings, at the end of first day while coming to Cape Monz, the wind direction was 310 degrees and on the second day while going for Churna Island the breeze was north-easterly.</p>

<p>To cut things short, we finally reached for Churna Island and noted the bearings for Churna Island on our <span class=)GPS and tacked now for Gaddani. Ten minutes into the tack the wind started dying down we knew that this would be a wind shift and there would be a south-westerly starting. However the wind shift took much longer time then we expected. We were almost doing nothing for the next hour and half just hoping that wind would pickup so that we do not spend too much time and be able to make to the land/destination.

Yesterday while sailing to this point we met our diving buddies Asif Chaudhry and Dr. Sohail Tabani who told us that they will be at Churna Island again the next day but as luck would have it they weren’t there till the wind came back which was around 10:30 (this is normal for the wind shift in middle to late Feb).

While lying at rest next to Churna Island we discovered how the Churna Island resembles the Turtle. Next time somebody visits this place please look carefully—it is a replica of a turtle when you arrive from Mubarik Village, the body, tail even the small head and eyes of turtle. Somebody has to be blind not to see the huge turtle sitting in the sea. We just wondered why somebody not named it the Turtle Island.

Now the wind was picking up again and it was a fine reach. We put up the spinnaker, in approximately an hour we had a good strong breeze, and we were skimming the waters towards the one of the world’s largest graveyard for ships, Gaddani.

We had asked our driver to meet us at Gaddani. Gaddani is longer then one would expect. We got to Gaddani by 12 in the afternoon but that was just the beginning. We went along the complete shore line of Gaddani looking at the various ships being scrapped and being torn apart and we finally came on this beautiful huge oil tanker sitting on top of the water the Tasman Spirit which had just drowned in the harbor channel of Karachi harbor, a cruel accident which left many sea lives dead. But seeing the huge vessel recovered from bottom of sea sitting at Gaddani was a sight, of mankind’s control over the sea. Before sailing around the Tasman Spirit we noticed another island which is commonly known by fishermen as ‘Chota Churna’. This sits directly opposite Gaddani or really center of Gaddani.

Not totally ready to land on the beach here we kept on going till Gaddani finished and headed another hour away to the jetty for the fishermen at Gaddani.

I am mailing this adventurous expedition to you hoping that some of you might try it possibly once in your lifetime or at least a part of it. I do not wish to put in any more details as far as the sailing terminology is concerned which might suffocate those who are not sailors since this log is not only meant for sailors but also for my friends, well wishers and power boat enthusiasts.

Please look at the chart which shows our path.

Good luck, happy sailing.