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.

<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.

19 thoughts on “Sailing from Karachi to Chuta Churna and beyond”

  1. dear saeed sahib:

    assalamo alaikum

    i am really thankful to read the wealth of knowledge, that upo have put in your adventure in the makran coast.

    though, i have collected reptiles for my research interest, from almost all parts of pakistan from 1965-1995, somehow i missed makran coast. that now i know—-i missed a lot from your account of the journey.

    you are really a brave adventurer. i admire you, and would love to read more about mud volcano-land.

  2. Walikum Salam,

    Gald to hear that sir,

    Love to join you guys man. . .

    reptiles WOW

    No photos so far ? add some photo of churna, those turtles and clear waters etc etc.

    Happy Eid

    Cheers

    Ali Saeed

  3. Thank you for such nice comments.

    I dont know if you read the article which appeared in Dawn this Sunday on Paragliding. I did this about a month ago. It is indeed some think to reckon with. I have posted some photographs on windsap.com. I will send some photos on offroader soon.

  4. HI Humayun,

    Its very nice to read your great adventures. Its amazing !! I live in Qatar now for last 7 years. May i reqest you for some photos of Chuta churna and cap monz. I miss my country and specially karachi beaches.

    Keep up the great work.

    Best Regards

    Saeed

  5. Humayun, why you have never told me about this trip of yours? You are so sexy and adventurous person. Please come to Paris and sail with me to another world. You are a sweetheart and my lovely Omar Sharif.

  6. Good job done keep it up.

    its good to hear guys from karachi too have keen interest in water sports……well am not into sailing but a freak over fishing (trawling) got pictures of churna, chuta churna, our catches at continental shelf, mubarak village, pasni, guadar, ormara.

  7. I’m making a photo ablum of all major attractions inside and around Karachi I would like to know where is Churna Island actually located, how far is from Karachi by direct boat service and in other way from Karachi to Mubarak Village plus the distance from Mubarak Village to Churna Island in terms of time and distance.

    I’ll be greatful if you may reply with details by email or write description straight into the comment box given here

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/creating2000/112166121/

    Thanks

    Ali

  8. Hello Humayun,

    Nice adventure! I have loved sailing all my life. I miss Karachi a lot.

    I have been to Mubarak village a number of times, on my motorcycle.

    Since childhood I have been building small boats, and now finally own

    a small sailboat called a Sunflower. What class of boat were you sailing?

    Would have loved to be on this trip.

    wayne

  9. mr humayun

    glad to know about these places in karachi even exist,its great job u have done.i am really excited to see these place ,can u just guide whether females can go there or not esp with my family

  10. Nice adventure. can anybody tell me about wind speed in Karachi in different months. Im a paraglider pilot and based in Islamabad. I often visit Karachi and now planning to fly there. If anybody has month wise wind data, I will be greatfull of him in getting.

    abmfaisal@gmail.com

    Regards

    Faisal

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