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American Spirit II - Day 228; Joel B-Day Today, 5 Large Fishing Vessels, A Dolphin Show on the Bow, Pilot Whales Pass By, Green Flash #13 and Making Good Time Thru the Arafura Sea to Darwin; Thursday, August 21, 2014



As Joel came on watch at midnight I wished him a happy birthday. Even though its not his birthday until tomorrow in Florida.

When Jeanine came on watch at 3:00 AM she had her tea and a pear and then got ill and let if fly on the windward side of the boat. Oops. Leeward is better.

I relieved Jeanine at 6:00 AM. She was still a little under the weather; but a real trooper to stand watch when ill. The wind was 13/15 and our speed 5.7 knots with a reefed main and jib. I shook the reef out of the jib and we picked up .2 of a knot to 5.9 knots. At 6:31 AM I shook out the reef in the mainsail and our speed increased 4 to 6.3 knots. It was getting light out. No chance of a morning green flash as clouds are on and above the horizon to the east. Our speed continued to increase and was 7.0 knots at 6:35 AM.

The sun rose above the clouds at 7:01 AM and had a green hue surrounding it. Meaning, without the clouds there was a decent chance of a green flash sunrise. A rare event, as I've only seen one of these on this trip and only one in my lifetime. One reason is that I've seen more sunsets than sunrises in my lifetime. Though I've seen about the same number of each on this trip as I'm on the 6:00 AM watch while under sail.

I cleaned up the vomit (what Australian's call 'Ralph' or 'sidewalk pizza') on the port side with a 2 gallon bucket and almost lost it overboard in the process. A close one.

By 7:15 AM it was getting warm. I took off my GILL pullover and only had on my long sleeved non-cotton shirt and camping pants (also non-cotton).

At 8:10 AM a ship popped up on AIS 28 miles astern, doing 11 knots and heading our way. Should pass us in 5 or 6 hours. You have to love AIS.

The seas are 2-3 feet. Lumpy. The boat is oscillating and rocking a lot, even in these small seas. The water temperature is 82.8 degrees. We're on a broad reach with 13/14 knots of wind and a boat speed of 6.0 knots.

At 9:41 AM a 'slapper' wave hit the side of the boat perpendicular to it and threw some water into the cockpit on the windward side, getting me wet. Not a lot, just enough to be irritating. I closed my Kindle as it hit, so only the cover of the Kindle got wet and not the screen. I had to replace the recliner I was sitting in as it got a little too wet.

At 11:46 AM we sailed into the midst of 5 large commercial fishing vessels, Japanese or Chinese. We called one of them up on our VHF radio but they did not answer. The one we called had crossed our path two hundred yards in front of us pulling a net. We could see two large cables stretching out behind their boat as they passed us. At least it was daytime and not at night. Passing by a large commercial fishing vessel pulling a large net is one of the fun things we do on board. All sorts of thoughts go thru your head. Imagine what its like at night when you have crossings like that. Not fun.

From 12:30 PM to 12:42 PM 8 3-4 foot dolphins jumped, splashed and played off and under the bow of our boat. They were actually jumping over each other and even pushing each other aside for position like roller ball players on a track. One had half of its dorsal fin missing, bitten off by a shark probably. Or was it by a lover? A love 'bite?' Not sure about the mating habits of dolphins. I got some nice photos and video of the display. You could watch them on You Tube, but I haven't a clue how to do that. By the way, the Australians don't call it 'You Tube' but 'U Tube.' Go figure.

At 1:48 PM I sent out a log and some emails via the SSB radio; but couldn't receive any emails or reports. We're having a consistent problem receiving emails, not sending them. We're sending at 3,200 and 3,600 bytes per minute, but receiving at only 200. Too slow. We're only allowed 90 minutes of air time a week, and can't afford to receive emails that take 43 minutes to receive.

At 2:50 PM Joel saw some gray pilot whales, one with a broken or bitten dorsal fin, aft starboard a 150 or 200 yards away.

At 3:25 PM some more dolphins passed us by in the distance.

At 3:50 PM the CSK Shelton, a 814 foot cargo ship going west, passed 6.3 miles to starboard. The wind was 15/17 knots and our boat speed was 8.2 knots. The Kamarin Mugung, a 591 foot ship, then passed us going east. At 5:30 PM the Pugnani, a 738 foot ship, passed under our stern left to right.

Dinner at 6:00 PM was hamburger patties cooked in a skillet in the galley (too windy to cook them on the grill); brown rise cooked in the micro wave; and creamed corn also cooked in the microwave. For dessert to celebrate Joel's birthday we had rice crispy treats instead of a birthday cake. During dinner Jeanine delivered a birthday card to Joel that was signed by Darlene (Joel's wife) and 20 or 30 other people from the yacht club. Way to go Jeanine!

The sun set at 6:41 PM and Joel and I recorded our 13th green flash of the trip. Jeanine was watching the sunset also but missed it. That happens. Out of 6 people watching a green flash sunset only 3 or 4 will see it. The key to seeing a green flash is to not blink and to watch the upper limb set and then to keep watching after that. The green flash occurs a millisecond after the upper limb of the sun disappears beneath the horizon.

During my 9:00 PM to midnight watch the wind was 15 knots and our boat speed 6.1 knots.

At 9:25 PM the Australian Warship Benalla appeared via AIS on the chart plotter, heading towards us. We were heading west and they were heading east. Another warship was in trail behind it, the Shepparton. Both were 125 feet long. At 9:43 PM the Benalla called me on VHF channel 16 and we agreed on a starboard to starboard passing; or green to green. The Benalla passed by at 10:06 PM and the Shepparton at 10:27 PM 1.5 miles to starboard. As the Benalla passed I flicked my deck lights 3 times in salute. They did not respond. I was mortified.

I saw my first shooting star of the night at 10:13 PM. (My only one, also).

Joel relieved me at midnight, and I went about turning on the SSB radio to receive our emails. It took an hour, from 12:10 AM to 1:10 AM, but I finally got them. Some were important and timely as they concerned our berthing in Darwin and information on going thru the locks and securing a diver to put a zinc on our propeller.

Went to bed at 1:20 AM. I asked Joel to have Jeanine let me 'sleep in' until 7:00 AM instead of 6:00 AM.

Australian slang for the day: "It's just not cricket", which means: 'it's not the right thing to do; not fair; against protocol.'

Brian Fox

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