Year 3 -9 January 2026 – Passage to Galle in Sri Lanka
Rhys and I were on the 5.00am to 8.00am watch and we still had the genoa up and reefed main. The moon was out which was nice shining on the water and there were some stars. It was quite a quiet watch although there was a bit of a swell. We had to dodge a couple of fishing boats, one with a lot of green lights which were very bright to look at.
The sun gradually came above the horizon by about 6.45am and it was a mixed cloudy day initially. We handed over to Keith and Mark at 8.00am and Keith made some scrambled egg with toast- he loves his cooked breakfasts and so do we!!.
The wind had eased so we decided with Mark to put out more main and then due to the fact that this wind angle meant we were some 40 degrees off course to go under genoa alone. When I came to put in the main it did not seem to want to furl. Mark and I played around with it a bit but to no avail. It would furl a bit then stop. I therefore decided to take in the genoa and motor round to just 30 degrees on the starboard side and with a combination of the wind and care I managed to get the sail furling properly and back inside the mast. However, Mark noticed some metal rattling in the mast and we later found some ball bearings on the deck. We discussed it and looked at the instructions I have and the bearing at the top may have failed. It is probably sensible not to use the main until this has been checked out. The problem is where I may find a rigger? Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives are not really sailing countries. This depressed me somewhat and it is an important piece of kit which we need to use. We therefore went back to the genoa but with the swell it was flapping and flogging a little. This activity took us most of the morning to resolve and Keith made some coleslaw for lunch.
I decided after lunch to get The Blue Baron (the Parasail) out. This meant fitting the block on the prodder (pole at the bow) and getting the lines out and to rig those ready for use and in the right place and order and not over other lines. If you get it wrong then it will not fly properly and could cause a serious problem and/or damage to the sail. Once I was happy we got the sail out which always looks extremely long and connected the sheets and then hoisted it on the halyard. We were then ready to fly it and luckily up she went properly and first time. We then had to fine tune it and adjust it to the conditions.
The sail flew reasonably well but the wind strength was not high some 9-12 kts and with the swell it made the sail swing around a bit. We flew it for an hour or two and then the wind started to fade to 7-9 kts and it struggled a bit with that strength. We snuffled the sail easily and got it on deck. It had taken most of us and this had gone well although I had hoped this would be our solution as a sail for the rest of the trip to Sri Lanka. We shall see.
Rhys and I took over at 4.00pm and we had discussed using the pole to pole out the genoa to avoid it collapsing in the swell. This had never been done in my ownership of Stormbird so we decided to try it. We had to move Puffin (the wooden dinghy on deck) forward a little and got out the pole laid it to the front by the anchor. We then attached the lines and the genoa sheet through the jaws at the end. We then lifted the pole into position and then the genoa line clearly could not come through the car as normal. It came through the side rail and I attached a block to the deck block which it could come through and to the winch.
We then pulled out the genoa and with a bit of fine tuning it was being held out and not collapsing in the swell. A first and this cheered me up. It was also meaning we were sailing directly to our waypoint and not off course. We also saw a few dolphins who came to look at us and seemed to approve.
We decided to run with this overnight as we could furl in and out the genoa with the pole in situ. It got dark and Paul cooked a chicken; chorizo mix with couscous which was nice and filling.
We came off watch at 8.00pm and I needed so sleep as I had had very little since we started. We were also on again at 2.00am. It was time for bed. It had been a bittersweet day but we had made 150 nm for the 12 noon to 12 noon run which was not bad for our first 24 hour period. The wind is forecast to stay at 10-15 kts for the next few days from the East to Northeast.
The picture of the day is Stormbird using the pole for the first time under my ownership.
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