It will take at least a year to recover

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - ABHILASH TOMY

- RIYAD MATHEW

Q. You didn’t have much time to fit out and test the Bayanat before Golden Globe Race 2022 (GGR). The comforts were not  all there. But then, you are not a person who is fussy about all this. In Hobart, you said a hatch was leaking and you were sleeping in wet-weather gear.

A/ (Laughs) There was not one leak, everything was leaking. My bunks were always wet and soggy. So, I used to sleep on the floor. And the floor was forever wet. My sleeping bag used to be so wet that you could wring out water from it. So, I used to always sleep in a raincoat.

Q/And, you did not fall sick when all this happened?

A/ No, no, you don’t fall sick at sea (Grins). In fact, my health improves at sea. I do not have acidity anymore. During GGR 2018, I got rid of cholesterol issues. In 2013 (Sagar Parikrama 2), my hearing improved. So, the sea kind of resets me in a good way.

Q/ You were knocked down twice in the southern Indian Ocean this time. How did you protect your back and be safe in such rough weather?

A/ Well, this time I made sure I was not outside. I thought it is more important to protect myself than the boat. I did everything I had to and left the boat to steer itself. It was so important that I did not suffer another injury.

Q/ So, your back was largely okay this time?

A/ I did have an issue on January 26 because of an unannounced storm. There was no warning from GGR or any other source. It picked up slowly, and in no time it was 60 knots or so. Through a series of incidents, I lost my self-steering and I was left holding the tiller, steering the boat for some 12 hours.