Year 3 -2 January 202 -AOPO Marina -Phuket -Thailand

I woke feeling much better and had a cup of tea. I made an early start and prepared all the cabins for the new crew’s arrival and sorted out all the sheets and cleaned the cabins. I then cleaned all three heads fully using the outside hose through the head windows so I was not using up tank water.

This all created a good appetite and I had a mango and Yoghurt and Granola for breakfast followed up with a cafetiere of proper coffee. It would be a Depresso day if there was no coffee!!

I then cleaned the galley fully going through each cupboard and shelf and throwing out nearly empty and old jars etc. It was a real sort out. It is incredible how it gets so dirty over time and there is often little time to go through it like this. I then went through all the provisions and made a list of what we have. It is only when you do this that you realise what you need say for our next trip of probably 8 days but we will cater for say up to 14 just in case.

All the cabins were now ship shape and then the rigger arrived- Francis a Frenchman who has lived out here for some 11 years. He had brought back the new spliced halyard for the staysail. We attached it to the mousing lines and guided it back through the mast and to its jammer.

Francis then removed the vang at the bottom of the boom using a halyard to lift the boom high enough to get it out. We also used the toping lift. We then had to remove it at the mast bottom end. We could then remove the pin and mast fitting and then once cleaned we were able to replace the plastic washers that had worn. I thought this would be a terrible job but it was not too bad.

We then had to remove the gooseneck pin which meant we had to raise the boom to the right angle but also we had to pull the boom back so we rigged up some dynema under the boom and then we had a sheet either side which went through the sheet block and then back to a winch. We coordinated and manoeuvred the boom so that the gooseneck pin could be removed. We then took the fitting off the mast and did the same thing again in terms of cleaning and new washers. We then put it all back together releasing lines so we could fit the pins back in the right place.

Francis went up the mast again to check on the Staysail halyard and then he had to drop down a new mousing line for the pole halyard using some small nuts to give it some weight. Once he led this down we were able to scoop the line out from the mast. This will enable us to attach the new line.

Francis left mid-afternoon and I then carried on preparing the interior of the boat. However, by 5.00pm I had enough and decided to go for a swim to cool off and have a shower. I then returned to Stormbird and made some supper. This was a chicken, mushroom and cabbage mix with teriyaki sauce which was actually quite tasty. I decided to watch another film and this was called Lion. I had tried to watch it the night before but could not do so. It was a wonderful moving film and I think you should all watch it.

I had made very progress over the last few days with the outside just to do.

Peter Saint and Mark Godwin arrive tomorrow.

The picture of the day is of course Stormbird looking somewhat cleaner.

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