Year 3 -11 January 2026 – Passage to Galle in Sri Lanka- Fast Champagne Sailing.
Rhys and I came on again at 8.00am and it was a lovely warm day and we were a bit off course as we had deliberately left the pole up and continued our course rather than gybing at night.
We agreed to have some breakfast and then get The Blue Baron up again. Keith of course was keen to have scrambled eggs with bacon with the bread I had made which of course everyone enjoyed.
We all assembled on deck and got the pole down relatively easily and then prepared the Blue Baron which went up well and we then had to trim it.
We then got back on course and had a good wind all day and we flew the Baron well. We were doing 7’s, 8’s on average with one 9 and one 10kt hours.
We had made 144nm to 12 noon which was better bearing in mind the slower night on the pole. Between 12.00noon and 7.00pm we averaged 8 kts doing 56nm.
It was a lovely warm day with small white fluffy clouds. We relaxed and read, slept and worked and we were now well into a routine. It was what I call champagne sailing as we sail flat and fast.
We were surrounded by a moving sea (although only a small swell) with white horses and there was nothing out here. It was as if we had the sea to ourselves and I never bore of looking out to sea as it has a meditational effect and you are left to your own thoughts. For some reason we never saw any wildlife – no dolphins today. We talked about whales and there are Blue whales around and I hoped we would see one but alas not today.
Rhys made a great loaf of bread and we had a tuna salad for lunch with wraps. The afternoon was lovely and a bit too hot but we made good progress and this weather should remain for another 24 hours so I want to make use of the wind if I can.
I sent some emails about the in mast furling problem to a number of individuals and I hope to find out more in the next day or so and then can work on a solution.
It was my turn to cook so I made a Thai Chicken curry with one of the pastes I had bought in the market in Koh Lak. I made too many noodles but the curry was tasty and all eaten!.
We settled down for another night and I decided to keep the Blue Baron flying as I thought the conditions should not get stronger on the basis that if we needed to get it down everyone would have to get up to get it down in the night.
Rhys and I were on at 8.00pm and before I had watched the wind increase in gusts to 22 kts -slightly more than forecast and at one point we had 11.5kts of boat speed. If it continued like this then we would have to take the Blue Barion down. Luckily the wind decreased a little and we were fine during our watch. We will see what the rest of the night brings.
The picture of the day is the motley crew in the cockpit enjoying themselves on Stormbird in great sailing conditions.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.
I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com