Noon position 3/3/2026 - 07:15.232N, 083:27.43E
Meikyo
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Tue 3 Mar 2026 13:01
> We sailed through most of Friday and, in light afternoon winds, got out our Genneker for the first time. This is a light wind sail, very much like the cruising chute we carried on Serenity, but we found it easier to handle. It increased our speed by about a knot and kept the boat more stable in the rolly swell. After a couple of hours the wind went down to a level where even this didn’t work and the engine went back on. While we were motoring we noticed that even more slides were coming out of the main track so we reefed the mainsail to reduce its size and the pressure on it, hoping this would stop them coming out again. This means accepting slower speeds under sail.
> Three hours later we were sailing again and continued mostly under sail until Monday night - this was for longer and with more wind than we had expected from the forecast. At one point, with rain clouds to the north, we had up to 29 knots of wind and had to roll away half the headsail. Even with reduced sail we made 7 knots in the stronger winds. We have found Meikyo comfortable to live on during this passage, being stable and not requiring constant sail changes. We have had several visits from schools of dolphins but, apart from a few flying fish, this is the sea life we have seen.
> We now expect to motor most of the remaining 212 nautical miles to Galle, with our ETA still likely to be the 5th of March.
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