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American Spirit II - Day 260; Almost There , We're Still Getting 'Pooped' & Our Chart Plotter Chip Reader Fails; Monday, September 22, 2014



On the 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM watch Jeremy got pooped once.

At 6:00 AM the wind was 20-25 knots instead of 25-30. Still rough out. The moon was setting in the east; and it was 26 hours to Cocos Keeling. Our speed was 5.3 knots. I slept OK during the night, but it was hot; sweated a lot due to no air circulation in the boat. You can't open a hatch because hundreds of gallons of sea water would then enter the boat.

The sunrise was at 7:15 AM Bali start time. The sun rose above the horizon's clouds at 7:30 AM.

At 8:27 a 'slapper' wave got me and sent water up to the cockpit hatch opening.

We turned the generator on at 8:40 AM. Even though the hydro generator was in the water, since we had slowed the boat for a daytime entry into Cocos Keeling, we weren't going fast enough to generate all the electricity we needed. And since the winds were too high for the wind turbine, it was also turned off. We're disappointed that the wind turbine starts 'freewheeling' at 25 knots. When it does this it stops making electricity for us.

Charlie from Celebrate hosted the 9:00 AM net.

Breakfast at 9:30 AM was freeze dried Beef Stroganoff with Noodles and chilled pear halves. We only have freeze dried for breakfast when its really, really rough out. With seas running up to 14 feet that qualifies as 'rough.' Part of the problem is that even though the stove is gimbaled, its hard for the eggs to stay in the skillet until they get out of their liquid state.

I napped from 10:00 AM to 11:45 AM; and Joel napped from 10:15 AM to...I don't know.

The waves were generally 8-12 feet with 14 footers thrown in every now and then.

Our noon position was 11 degrees, 49 minutes South; 98 degrees, 39 minutes East; and we were 106 miles from Cocos Keeling. Our ETA is now 17 1/2 hours or 7:45 AM tomorrow.

At 1:30 PM the wind was 25/26 knots, our speed thru the water was 4.5 knots and our speed over the land was 5.4 knots. We had 2 1/2 reefs in the mainsail and 2 reefs in the jib. Clouds were coming in from the South. What is this?!

Today is also the Equinox. The sun is at the equator and heading south...towards us. Yeah! It will be the Equinox for Florida tomorrow. Go figure.

We're also, mileage and longitude wise, exactly opposite Tampa/St. Pete on the other side of the world.

The seas are dark blue, and when the waves break, their white crests turn turquoise in color. Its especially beautiful in the sun light.

I typed a log from 4:45 PM to 5:14 PM. This made me a little queasy as the boat is moving around a lot.

At 6:00 PM Charlie from Celebrate hosted the net. Good reception, radio wise.

For dinner at 6:20 PM we had freeze dried Chicken Teriyaki with Rice, baked beans and pear halves.

At 6:30 PM we rolled the main all the way in. Not because it was too windy, but to slow the boat down for a daytime entry tomorrow.

I tried to nap at 6:30 PM but Joel advised me that the chip reader in the chart plotter wasn't working anymore. What that means is that our chart plotter can get us to an island, but it lacks all depth and navigation detail to make a landfall. So in order to get into the shallow waters of a landfall, into an anchorage or marina, we will have to use my I Pad and Joel's tablet phone to do so. Its not a problem, just inconvenient. Unfortunately, we won't be able to get the problem fixed or get a replacement chart plotter until we get to South Africa in November; and may not even get it resolved until we get to Cape Town in December. It would have been really convenient if the chart plotter reader had failed in Australia. We could have easily gotten it fixed there or bought a new one there. Bad timing.

I napped (again) from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM, then relieved Jeremy early for my 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM watch.

At 8:32 AM we had a 'mini poop' in that a small spurt of water shot from the transom into the boat. Like a fire hose but with a large bang first.

At 8:48 PM the wind was 20-25 knots, our speed thru the water was 3.9 knots and over the land 5.5 knots.

A slapper wave got me again at 10:16 PM. Stop that!

At 10:26 PM we got our 4th poop. A large wave crashed into the transom from right to left as you look astern, port to starboard, and almost took off the flag, grill and a couple of life saving pieces of equipment. Talk about loud! The whole back of the boat was gone, not visible; covered in white, foamy water. This is that part of sailing that I .... hate. Nobody likes getting pooped. Where's my 10-15 knots of trade winds? (We won't find out until Wednesday that the wave caused our grill on the transom, which has a canvas cover over it to protect it from the weather, will stop working because of being inundated with water during the poop).

At 10:49 PM I saw Boingo Alive on our AIS 11 miles astern; and then a few minutes later I could see their masthead light. Wow! 11 miles away. That's cool. I talked to Boingo Alive at 11:18 PM and they said they could see our masthead lights, too. How's that for atmospheric clarity?

At 11:37 PM the wind was back in the 25-30 knot range. I was getting winds of 28 knots consistently now. 34 knots is gale force. To convert wind speed from knots multiply it by 115%. So 25-30 knots of wind is 28.75 to 34.5 miles per hour.

Joel relieved me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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