Year 3 -26 March 2026 - Stormbird -Yet More New Crew in Kochi - India
I woke at about 7.00am and wrote the blog. Keith Winstanley had messaged me to say he had got to Mumbai and was waiting to board his flight to Kochi which was on time. This was good so he had no Immigration issues. I let Varghese know and I had sent him a picture of Keith the night before.
Unfortunately we had been visited by a rat in the night who left some deposits and who had eaten some mango, nuts and crisps. This was annoying and I wondered whether he was still on board. We will have to take greater precautions.
The others gradually got up and we had breakfast and by then Varghese had found Keith and sent me a picture of them together. They were on their way from the airport.
I had tried the new printer cartridge that J had brought out and the printer did not like it as it was not exactly the same model as before, but they do not sell my model anymore. B annoying. Jamie had an idea to take the chip off the old cartridge and put it on the new. He therefore carefully peeled off the old one and fitted the new. This time it recognised it had ink but would not accept the cartridge. Ahhhhh J and I looked around all the lockers and the saloon area and we could see no sign of Roland the rat. I hoped he had had a feast and left.
I then got a message Keith had arrived and we went to meet him. It was good to see him again and he is returning to Stormbird for the 6th time. Stormbird was also pleased to see him back. We had coffee and chatted etc. Keith settled in and then we all reconvened in the cockpit for my usual initial briefing to set the scene and then we went straight into going through the boat from front to back inside. By the time we had finished it was lunchtime. We decided to go up to the restaurant and they were having a buffet so we all had a good Indian lunch. We were now shutting up Stormbird when we left her to prevent Roland returning or others joining.
It was too hot to do the outside of the boat after lunch so I talked through man overboard procedures from the shade of the cockpit. We then agreed to rendezvous at 4.00pm when it would be cooler.
At 4.00pm I went through the boat from front to back outside and then we sat down to go through the emergency procedures. We had finished by 5.15pm but had to move the boat to an inside finger to assist with cleaning its bottom. I therefore issued everyone with a life jacket and we prepared the lines and talked through the manoeuvre. We then slipped our lines and used the tide to move the bow with the help of the bow thruster out. Once we were away from the hammerhead we then had to change some lines and fenders across to the other side and then I reversed back and through the gap and to the inside pontoon. We had left Jamie on the pontoon to take our lines as we came in. It was quite tight but we did it and then sorted ourselves out. By this time it was about 6.15pm so we had a drink in the cockpit to celebrate and to welcome Keith. We were now 5 and had done our first movement as a crew.
We showered and went to the Beer Parlour for a beer before supper and we had a light supper in the restaurant. We decided for the night to only open our cabin windows and shut the doors so if Roland or any of his friends came back they could not get into the saloon. We closed all other hatches and shut up the boat internally, putting in the washboards etc.
It was good that Keith had arrived and we are now all together. We will have a rest day tomorrow and then provision on the 28th and leave in the morning of the 29th.
The picture of today is the 5 of us in the Beer Parlour.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I will be going shortly from India to the 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