Year 3 -24 March 2026 - Stormbird -New Crew in Kochi - India
The alarm that I had set woke me at 6.20am. This was a bit of a shock as it has been a while since I have had to set an alarm. The reason for this early awakening was because Varghese had arranged for a man to come and look at the state of Stormbirds hull. A dirty hull can reduce boat speed by up to 2 kts and I have a long way to go and that is a lot of miles to be impeded for. Varghese arrived at 6.30am and we had a cup of tea and the man and his son arrived in a long canoe with a long tail (engine with a long propeller shaft with a propeller at the end).
This man got in the dirty water with no mask and dived down) He found some hard crustations on the bottom of the keel and some growth on the rest of the hull. This is not surprising as the water has been so bad in Galle as well as Kochi that a clean would be sensible to keep me going well. However, I wanted them to do this with plastic scrapers not metal so that the minimum damage would be done to the antifoul paint. We agreed that they will clean the hull at slack water on the 27th and 28th just before we leave and that they requested I move Stormbird to an inside pontoon to help lessen the flow of any tide. This will mean doing this looking at the tides in the evening of the 26th.
Once they had left – I had breakfast and agreed to meet Varghese at 8.45am to go and meet Jamie, my nephew, at the airport. This was about a 50-minute drive and Varghese said that it generally takes 45 minutes at least for people to get through customs and Immigration etc.
At about 10.00am Jamie strolled through with his blonde hair and a grin with his rucksack on his back and backpack on his front. It was good to see him and he had flown in from Sri Lanka and had arrived there the day before. He will return to Sri Lanka after sailing to the Maldives for a 2 week holiday. This was his first time in India and he was excited to see it. He is studying Marketing and Management at Newcastle University.
We returned to Stormbird picking up some bread on the way and Jamie enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Indian Life. His first words when he saw Stormbird were “wow and so cool” – that’s the language of young people these days!! At 21 he is probably my youngest crew member of my whole trip. I welcomed him on board showed him around and his cabin which released some more “so cool” a number of times. Once he dumped his stuff we had some water and it was already extremely hot and I warned him about using sunscreen etc. He did look quite pale compared to me.
I then took him round the hotel and Bolgatty and showed him the ropes as it were. He got an esim (no you person can do without these days) so he was connected to the outside world.
We returned for lunch of salad with tuna and sweetcorn as he was “starving” (he is 21 and they eat like horses!) which we enjoyed in the cockpit. He got the clear instructions about the table and how to put it up and down. He then got a lesson in how to wash up properly using the least amount of water- something always worth learning on a boat and it is surprising how many wash up as if they were at home.
We then relaxed and chilled and talked about sailing and how to trim sails etc and how to do it on Stormbird. We let the hottest part of the afternoon pass and then about 4.00pm headed for the pool which we both enjoyed for a while and I was able to show Jamie the entrance to Kochi harbour in the distance and a little bit of its history.
We then returned to Stormbird and decided to visit the Beer Parlour which I have not visited since Mark Godwin left and before Jules arrived. We had a couple of beers and a good chat and put the world to rights.
We then went in for supper at 7.00pm and had a good curry washed down with water (you cannot drink in the restaurant). It was not a buffet which I had hoped for but it was a good meal and nice that I did not have to cook or wash up which I have been doing.
We returned to Stormbird and relaxed and turned in for an early night. It had been nice to have a day without jobs and to have some company again on Stormbird.
The picture of today is Jamie and I enjoying our curry in the Bolgatty Palace restaurant.
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 one crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July). 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