The first days of 2026 were marked in a meaningful way across our boatyards and teams, with the welcoming of Buddhist monks for blessings, prayers, and a shared meal. Shared across our everyday work sites, including Ocean Voyager’s boatyards in Welipatanwila and Koggala and Solar Impulse in Kabalana, these moments created a calm and grounded start to the year for the teams on site.
At Sail Lanka, the New Year was celebrated across its key locations at Colombo and Mirissa. Like in every SLYG’s brands, teams from both corporate and operations of Sail Lanka came together in one setting and, in line with local tradition, with a chance for leadership to connect directly with teams and the group CEO M. Koenraad Pringiers, sharing his New Year wishes and a few words of encouragement.
Alongside these cultural moments, the New Year was also an opportunity for appreciation and closeness with the founders and their family, spending time with teams, offering New Year gifts to many employees and taking the time to speak with them directly. These exchanges matter. Not because of the gifts, but because they reflect something deeper about our group that remains connected to its people, across all sites and all functions.
At the Building A Future Foundation (BAFF) in Kabalana, the New Year carried an additional meaning: the arrival of the new 2026 student intake. Around sixty new students, accompanied by their relatives, were welcomed into the foundation’s environment. For the foundation team, it was also a reminder of what this work is really about: opening doors, building confidence, and helping young people turn potential into skills that can carry them forward and mostly within our group.
Across Ocean Voyager, Solar Impulse, Sail Lanka, and the BAFF, these New Year moments were different, but aligned in meaning. They reflect a group that builds boats, runs operations, and develops industrial capabilities, but stays anchored to what makes any long-term project sustainable: people, community, and shared purpose.
We step into 2026 grateful for our teams, thankful for our partners, and ready to keep building together.
