Year 3 -7 February 2026 –Galle -Sri Lanka- Back on Stormbird
We had a good fruit and yoghurt breakfast and it was a warm day. It was Rhys birthday so happy birthday Rhys. Mark and Rhys were deputed to work out how we were going to get off tomorrow bearing in mind the pallet ladder system and to recover all our ropes which we had made. Peter was in charge of looking at the fitting on the mast and seeing how many bolts we could undo. I set about working out our provisioning for our next leg. Although it is only about 3 days I decided to provision for at least a week as we will need to look after ourselves for the first few days in India.
Paul arrived from his hotel and I set him the task of sorting out the running backstays. When he went up the mast he could see that they had been rubbing on the top spreader and had worn through them a bit. We thought if we put them back to the centre cleat it would stop the issue.
Once this had been done Paul and I went off to provision. We found a tuk tuk and a guy called Joseph who lives nearby helped us. He took us to Keels, a supermarket in Galle, then a Spa on the way back and we then dropped off the shopping at the port gate to be collected by Mark and Peter.
Paul and I then went off to the fruit and veg market nearby and bought a load of fruit and vegetables. Paul got some bread on the way back. We packed all the shopping away and had a bite to eat for lunch.
After lunch I went off to the local supermarket for final pieces etc. We were done although we had bought no beer or wine. I am sure we can get this in India.
Mark and Rhys went off to surf. Peter went to look at travel arrangements and Paul went off to the beach. I later joined him and had a swim which was nice.
We later returned to Stormbird and Peter cooked a great pasta dish which we had with penne pasta. During the cooking I had to change the gas cylinder so that was good rather than on passage. Then in honour of Rhys birthday we had some mango ice cream.
We are more or less ready to go for India and a provisioning day is always busy and lots or jobs to undertake. We will need to do the check out in the morning and then head off. We should arrive on the morning of the 11th at Kochi India, some 400 odd miles away.
The picture of the day is another lovely sunset of the harbour.
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 (mid June to end of July) and from Cape Town to the Azores and then to the UK (mid August onwards). 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