Aagrav Boat Race
In Alibag, there are still many things to see and experience that preserve the tradition of many years and represent the culture. One of them is the SailBoat race in Agrav Creek held on the second day of Gudi Padwa in the marathi month of Chaitra.
Agrav is a village about 20 km from Alibaug. And the specialty here is the unique Sail boat race in the Creek. This race is held on the second day of Gudi Padwa. The race takes place in the creek between Revdanda and Agrav. A large fishermen community in Agrav have faith & worship Goddesses Ekvira. The procession of this goddess is also carried in a boat on this day. And then the race begins. People come from far away to watch this race in the bay where the Kundalika river meets the sea. This race has a religious history.
Once upon a time, about a hundred years ago, people used to take procession of goddess Ekveera from the villages of Korlai, Revdanda, Chaul and Agrav to meet Ekveera at Karla on the Ghat on the second day of Gudhi Padwa. To help the devotees, the villagers used to take them to Jholambe village near Roha in a sailboat and drop them off. There was no Mumbai-Goa highway then! On the way back, these boats started racing each other for fun. Later roads were made, and travel by walk gradually disappeared, but the sloop boat race survived. Two weeks before Padwa, the eight boats of these four villages are repaired, oiled and decorated. Two boats from each village, one senior and one junior, enter the competition. It is a race from Agrav to Kude and then back to Salav Bridge and again to Agrav jetty. More than a hundred years old, this tradition and the festival that goes with it is the soul of the local fishermen brothers.
To take part in this race, fishermen brothers from the surrounding villages launch their boats in the water. The names of these boats are also interesting. Goddesses Ekvira’s procession leaves and then the race begins with a loud firecracker. Then the mainsail of all the boats are opened and the race begins. The special feature of this race is that these boats have no engine and are completely powered by wind. Important in this is the wind, the speed of the wind and the planning of the sail with that wind – this is what determines the fate of the boat in the race. An important role in this is that of the crew and sailors of this boat. The merit of all these makes the pair win. After covering a certain distance, these boats move back in the opposite direction. At this turn, everyone’s real skills are at stake, predicting the wind and turning the boat in the opposite direction and at the same time getting the water out of the boat is a tough job. During this race sometimes there is a possibility of overturning the boat and sometimes the sailors jump into the water to save the boat. People come from Mumbai and Pune to see this interesting race.
Our alibagonline team also went to watch this race this year. This atmosphere was as festive as our Ganapati festival. A crowd of about two and a half hundred boats and 25 to 100 people on each boat, depending on its size, gathered in the Kundlika river to watch and cheer the eight boat race. The funny thing is that whenever two boats come close to each other, they exchange food and drinks with each other. Sometimes people from one boat go to another boat to dance.
This is the pride of Alibag and Agrav, visit Alibag on the second day of Gudi Padwa to enjoy the traditional, fun, race of Sailboats and make your visit memorable.
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