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American Spirit II - Day 426; A Day Full of Storm Cells, Rain and Squalls; Sunday, March 8, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 64; Found the Wind; Saturday, March 8, 2014. Up 7:15 AM. Lot o f motion on boat during the night. A little uncomfortable. Tropical Trough to our right, skies clearing to our left. Wind 19 knots from SE. Speed over ground 7.3 knots."

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Joel rolled the jib mostly up and turned the engine on, to give Heidi an easier 'ride' during her 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch.

At 5:30 AM I jumped out of bed as a torrent of sea water cascaded down into my cabin from the hatch. I had thought I'd closed and dogged it the day before, but I was wrong. No harm. The water only landed on the floor. What's a little sea water?

I relieved Heidi at 6:00 AM and turned the engine off; and rolled out more jib. The wind is 19 knots and we're doing 6.5 knots SOG.

At 6:58 AM the wind is 19 knots and we're sailing at 7.2 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the land. The boat is heeled 5-10 degrees, but once a minute of so a wave trips the keel and tilts us 15-20 degrees before the boat tries to round up; then fall back down on course. Isn't this fun?! It is solid overcast, with storm cells and squalls everywhere. Plus I see a little lightning. A little sun shining on us would be a morale booster.

A rain squall hits us at 7:30 AM. Five minutes later its raining cats and dogs; and blowing horizontally into the cockpit. I retreat to the top of the stairs under the center of the dodger. The only dry spot in the cockpit. Because of the heavy rain, the seas temporarily settle down, flatten out somewhat. The rain stops at 7:42 AM, with the cloud generating the squall cutting off our wind. Our speed is down to 3.9 knots. At 7:45 AM the wind is back up to 18 knots and the waves return.

At 8:02 AM the wind is 18/19 knots and we're sailing at 7.2 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land.

At 8:24 AM a ship called the Zina, a 504 foot cargo vessel, emerges out of a rain squall on our bow. I should have seen it earlier on our AIS but was distracted by the squall. We pass starboard to starboard at .9 of a mile. Close. I prefer not to get closer than 2 miles to a ship.

At 8:37 AM I see two other ships on our AIS, one on each side of us and both going different directions. One with our course and the other 180 degrees different. They're far enough away to not be a problem. We must be in a shipping lane. Good. If we have an emergency, at least help will be close by.

I can see a few small blue patches of sky. Yeah! And its getting brighter out.

At 9:00 AM the wind is 19/20 knots and we're sailing at 7.4 knots thru the water and 6.6 knots over the land. The apparent wind is higher than this, at 22/23 knots, as the wind is forward of the beam.

At 9:24 AM two more ships pass by us, one on each side.

At 9:34 AM I see more blue patches of blue sky, with a thin screen of white cloud between the blue sky and us.

Wolf from Chicka-lu hosts the 10:00 AM net. All boats in our small group of 5 check in, except Festina Lente. All of us report 16-20 knots from the NE. Wolf says a GRIB file he looked at has the winds increasing to 25 knots tonight. Great.

Breakfast at 10:20 AM consists of eggs, sausage hamburger patties mixed in with the potatoes, and chilled pineapple slices. Pineapple (or fruit) must be a favorite of Heidi's because she eats her pineapple first before her hot breakfast.

I type one log between 10:38 AM and 12:11 PM.

Our noon position is 1 degree, 27 minutes North; 44 degrees, 4 minutes West; and we're 1,227 miles from Grenada. We're over 1/4 of the way to Grenada.

At 12:13 PM Joel and I use the satellite phone to send out logs and emails; and receive some emails.

At 12:45 PM we turn the engine on and roll up the jib as a rain squall is fast approaching from starboard.

I nap from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. Heidi is napping, also. During my nap Joel restring's the mainsheet as it was all twisted up. Mainsheet's do that.

At 2:29 PM the wind is 8 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.2 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land. The current is with us again. At least temporarily. I roll the mainsail out to the 2nd reef. The nearby storm cells are still sucking up most of our wind.

Joel naps at 2:25 PM.

At 2:55 PM I turn the engine off. The wind is 14/17 knots. I roll all the jib out and the mainsail out to the first reef. After doing this the wind drops to 9 knots and our SOG to 4.8 knots. We were doing over 6 knots while motoring.

At 4:00 PM I turn the motor back on, as another squall line is approaching. I roll the jib up and the main to the 2nd reef. The engine is set at our fuel conservation setting, 1,600 RPM's. Since we're motoring, I turn the water maker on to make some water. Heavy rain hits us at 4:10 PM. By 4:30 PM the storm has passed and the wind is 9 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.8 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land.

At 4:45 PM another big storm cell is chasing us from astern and about to hit us. Amazing. 15 minutes later the wind is off our port aft quarter, from the southwest. How is that possible?! This storm cell is so big it has its own weather system. We can see the clouds rotating counterclockwise along its leading edge, against the direction of the trade winds. Where are Dorothy's red shoes when you need them? (Wizard of Oz).

Dinner at 6:10 PM is a rarity, in that we eat down in the main cabin instead of in the cockpit. We have freeze dried Beef Stroganoff with Noodles; instant, 'original' mashed potatoes; and creamed corn. Heidi says she can't remember when she had mashed potatoes before. I can't figure out if her comment is a good one or a bad one.

Wolf from Chicka-lu hosts the 7:00 PM net. He says that a GRIB file shows 2 degrees North as the point where the rain showers start to disappear; and that we can expect 20 knot winds tonight.

We turn the engine off at 7:15 PM; put a 100% jib out and put the mainsail out to the 2nd reef. The wind is from the east at 20-25 knots.

I nap from 7:30 PM to 8:45 PM. But its hard to sleep because of a loud squeaking noise in my cabin. We suspect its the Teflon bearing or bushing at the top of the rudder tube. It needs to be replaced, but I'll need to haul the boat out of the water to do so, because we have to drop the rudder to change it.

I relieve Joel at 9:00 PM. We reef the jib and main some more before he goes below. The wind has just come up from 20 knots and is now blowing 26 knots. It blows that way for 30 minutes before reducing. At 9:38 PM its 22 knots and we're sailing at 5.5 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land.

At 10:00 PM the wind is 20 knots and we're sailing at 6.5 knots thru the water and 7.0 knots over the land. Two waves just rolled the boat 30 degrees.

At 10:59 PM the wind is 17 knots and we're sailing at 5.8 knots thru the water and 6.1 knots over the land. The wind has been oscillating between 13 and 26 knots, which makes it difficult to get the proper sail setting. The clouds are low and black; and the overcast is solid. The moon is up but I can't find it because the clouds are so thick. But at least it sheds enough light that we can see the black storm clouds around us.

At 11:10 PM the moon becomes visible without any clouds filtering any of its light out. A nice sight, casting its wide glow on the ocean and an otherwise bleak scene.

At 11:20 PM I can see the Big Dipper, but not Polaris, the North Star. clouds. I can see some other stars, also. A pleasant sight.

At 11:40 PM I roll more jib and main out. The wind is 17 knots and we're sailing at 6.1 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land.

Joel relieves me at midnight, and when I'm taking off my foul weather pants my suspenders 'grab' one of our battery switches and turn off our navigation system. Oops. After rebooting the navigation system, we're back to normal.

Hopefully tomorrow's weather will be better than today's.

Brian Fox



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