[Sent in by the captain via email.]
Pilot boarded at three, we cast off, turned with the tug and left the berth to coincide with high water in the lock and hence the ebb side of high tide on the Hugli. At Fisherman’s Reach we dropped the anchor and snapped around it to face the down streaming river - there was a shallow patch ahead and we had to wait for a rising tide. The low water passed, anchor up on the rising tide, but now are push against the flooding stream.
The flood tides are short lived the further up the river one travels until eventually they disappear altogether and there is just a river coming down. We had the flood against us for three hours before we raced ahead once again on the ebb, reached the north of Sagar Island and sent two zodiacs with a shore excursion of six to attend a meeting on the southern tip of the island. Lesley was amongst them and when the small Greenpeace boats pulled up to the island there was a cheer from thousands - they thought that Lesley was the captain.
Rainbow was screaming ahead at this stage, doing twelve knots, racing against daylight to reach the southern tip of the island. Zodiacs returned to the ship, having disembarked their cargoes, we picked them up at full speed - we could not miss the sunset (and we didn’t).
As the sun started yawning above the horizon Rainbow Warrior rounded the tip of Sagar island and came into view of the Temple. I sounded the ship’s whistle, a prolonged blast - we had made it. Through my binoculars I could see figures coming down from the Temple to the beach, they were waving, they were thousands. And I knew that in amongst the ten thousand people was be a beautiful grey haired old lady from New Zealand, just two days away from her sixtieth birthday - acting captain.
The sun set behind the Rainbow as the anchor dropped into the water and the old girl rested from her race - good old girl (champion of the day).
Two old men were brought out to the Rainbow, by the pilot boat - protectors of this mystical point of pilgrimage, where the Ganges meets the sea. But will they be able to stop the sea level rising and taking it all away.
Mike
Captain
