RIDING ON LUXURY: Yachting is Kochi’s next big thing

Ajit Kelachandra doesn’t have to worry about inching his way through traffic jams. When the Kochi businessman has an urgent meeting to attend, he sails to work.

The 10-kilometre drive by road from his waterfront home in the suburb of Kumbalam in peak hours would take more than 45 minutes. His speedboat transports him to his office in seven minutes flat.

Kochi’s marine landscape, better known for its gigantic Chinese fishnets and slow-moving barges, is in for an image makeover. These images that dotted the sea line of Kochi, called the Queen of the Arabian Sea, for centuries now have serious competition: luxury yachts that speed along the shallow waters of the coast at speeds of 80-90 kilometres an hour, putting the automobiles that move on the parallel Marine Drive to shame.

After Mumbai and Goa, it is now the turn of Kochi to discover yachting in a big way with the city’s rich and famous eyeing these cruising delights. The size of a vessel can vary between 14 feet and 36 feet, and it can cost anything from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.

Kochi has a dozen or more yachts of different sizes in its waters already. Many more are expected to arrive before the international Volvo Ocean Race, which is slated to stop over in Kochi for the first time in its 35-year-old existence in December. The race will feature seven international teams.

“The trend is really catching on,” says Biju Job, who along with like-minded people floated a firm — Exotic Cruise Holidays Private Limited — in Kochi to cash in on the new-found interest in yachting in Kerala. The firm already has a yacht, and is in the process of procuring more.

According to Mike Derrett, a UK-based international marine industry expert, Indians are buying pleasure boats and yachts as the economy booms. “Since 2007, more than 100 leisure boats have been imported to India. These leisure boats and yachts come in various sizes, ranging from sub 10 feet to 30 feet plus. Compared to Europe and the US, these may be small numbers, but it’s a sure sign of growth, considering the negligible numbers in the previous years,” Derrett writes in the latest issue of trade journal Yachting Times India.

Kelachandra’s firm — the family-owned Kelachandra group which has interests in travel and tourism — owns a 36-footer luxury yacht, apart from a fleet of speedboats. These power boats and the yacht are leased to resorts located in picturesque Kumarakom in the backwaters for ferrying their guests and for fishing or barbeque trips. “A trip from Ernakulam to Kumarakom by road takes 2-3 hours depending on the traffic. But by yacht one can reach there in 45 minutes. Moreover, tourists can’t wait to hit the waters,” says Kelachandra.

“Many resorts in Kumarakom are actually making the transfer from Kochi and back by yacht as part of the deal, particularly for foreign tourists,” says Biju. Operators charge Rs 5,000-10,000 an hour depending on the size of the yacht being let out.

The on-going real estate boom also promises a windfall to yacht owners. “Around Kochi, there are many waterfront properties. Property developers who lure prospective buyers from all over the world, particularly Malayalis settled abroad, use yachts to show them these properties,” says George Pottamkulam of Indmerc, a Kochi-based software marketing firm that has diversified into dealing in yachts and power boats from well-known international brands such as Regal Marine Industries and Walkerby Boats. Indmerc has already sold a few yachts, including the one bought by Exotic Cruise Holidays. It has orders for two more from the Cochin Port Trust which is the local sponsor for the Kochi leg of the ocean race.

“We are getting a number of queries from individuals as well as groups. Besides, professionals working in the advertising, finance and hospitality industries are toying with the idea of coming together to buy yachts,” says Pottamkulam.

Kochi, experts hold, is just right for yachting. “It has tremendous potential,” says Commander K.M. Zachariah, formerly an Indian Navy architect. Its waters are not as choppy as those of Mumbai, and boating is cheaper in Kochi than in Goa, he says. It, however, has one disadvantage —unlike other Indian beaches Kochi has a marina, where boats can be moored and serviced when they are not in use.

But as part of its preparation for the ocean race, the Cochin Port Trust and the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) are building a marina close to the KTDC-owned heritage hotel Bolghatty Palace in Bolghatty island. The first phase of the harbour which can dock 30 yachts is scheduled to be completed by December, in time for the ocean race.

One of the reasons for the surge in yachting, says Pottamkulam, is that it is in tune with the younger generation’s attitude towards life: “Get on, have fun and get off.”

“They find that a two-hour ride in a yacht cruising at 40-50 knots (one knot is 1.8 km) is more pleasurable than spending an entire day in a houseboat anchored in the waters,” he says.

Proximity to places such as Bangalore, which has a large number of youngsters with high disposable incomes, helps. “Kochi, which is far less expensive than Goa when it comes to water sports, is sure to attract young people from Bangalore and elsewhere who are looking for a weekend getaway,” says Kelachandra.

To ride the boom, a team of non-resident Indians in Dubai has set up a firm to make yachts for the Indian market. Already soft-launched, the firm — Nautilus Yachts — is making its vessels in Bangkok and shipping them to India. “Our idea is to make ‘leisure boating’ (which covers the entire gamut of boating, yachting, sailing and water sports) affordable in India,” says Captain Mathew Cherian, the brain behind Nautilus. The firm’s survey has found that they might be able to sell as many as 200 yachts by the end of next year in India. “We intend to target not just the west coast, where yachting already exists, but the east coast too,” says Nautilus director Joseph Jacob.

As part of their effort to popularise yachting, tour operators and yacht manufacturers are toying with the idea of what they call “fractional” yachting. “It is like the time shares offered by resort chains. For an amount far less than the price of a yacht, people are allowed to book their time on yachts. The duration available will be proportional to the payment made. The firm will be responsible for the maintenance of the yacht and make it available to users as and when they require it,” explains Biju.

Clearly, for those who love the waters, these are splashing times.