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American Spirit II - Day 372; No. 3 Green Flash Sunrise, Our 26th So Far; We Catach a Fish; A Manta Ray Jumps; and a Whale Blows; Sunday, Januaryt 11, 2015



I wake up at 5:00 AM, after 4 hours and 50 minutes of continuous sleep. A rarity on a wildly bouncing boat. Sleep in the aft cabin like flying in a plane in weather. When the plane goes up, you get positive g forces on your body; when it goes down, you get negative g forces, like weightlessness. Unless you're really tired, its sometimes hard to sleep when you keep going from negative to positive to negative... g's. Isn't sailing fun?! Because its still dark out, I know the sun hasn't risen yet, so I get up and go to the cockpit in my long underwear and socks. Once I convince myself that the sun isn't rising for a little while, I go below and get dressed and come wait for the sunrise.

At 5:58 AM the sun rose, and I saw my 3rd Green Flash Sunrise; Jeanine saw her first; and now we have a total of 26 green flashes on our circumnavigation. The wind is 13/14 knots and we're making 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.6 knots over the land. Except for some clouds on the horizon, its sunny and clear. Crystal clear, which is common in a high pressure system.

We're sailing along the bottom and then the eastern edge of the South Atlantic High, which rotates the opposite of the northern hemisphere - its counter clockwise. Once we get far enough north, the southeast trade winds will set in. Four rally boats are around and just behind us: Merlyn of Poole, Saphir, Folie a Deux and Lluiton.

At 7:00 AM the wind is 17/19 knots and we're moving at 7.0 knots thru the water and 7.2 knots over the land. I talked to Folie a Deux and then Merlyn on the VHF radio, channel 72. Jenny on Merlyn is still getting her 'sea legs,' as Joel and I are. The first day or two on a new leg can be like that. During the night we had a 'low side pole' set up which contributed to our position amongst the 5 boats. At 8:30 AM I see that Folie has put their spinnaker up, the 'big red pumpkin.' They'll probably pass us sometime today unless we retaliate (put our spinnaker up).

Breakfast at 9:15 AM consists of bacon, eggs, brown bread and grapefruit pieces.

The 10 AM net is hosted by Tracey from Folie a Deux. During the net we find out that Celebrate is under way again and that Shaya Moya is back in Cape Town, reason unknown. The wind is 15/17 and we're moving at 6.2 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land due to a slight current against us.

At 10:00 AM we put the whisker pole up and out on the port side. We couldn't get it all the way extended, so its 2 feet short of optimum.

At 11:40 AM Joel, AKA 'The Fixer,' fixes the ceiling light in the main cabin that controls most of the ceiling lights there. It went out last night and was either a connectivity or a corrosion problem. Things corrode on a sailboat?

Our noon position was 32 degrees, 2 minutes South; and 16 degrees, 1 minute East.

At 12:03 PM Joel sees a giant Manta Ray, 15-20 in diameter; jump 3-4 feet out of the water 200 yards away on the starboard side. As I've said before, Joel has very attentive eyes when it comes to spotting things in the water.

I go down for a nap at 12:50 PM and don't get up until 4:25 PM. Boy, that's a long one. Joel takes a nap at 1:30 PM while Jeanine man's the cockpit.

At 3:00 PM Jeanine calls Joel; we've got a fish on the line. Joel reels it in, and its a 6 pound Amberjack. A good catch. An hour and a half later I could still smell fish in the cockpit. Joel then goes back to bed to finish his nap.

At 4:30 PM the wind is 18 knots and we're moving at 6.0 knots thru the water and 7.1 knots over the land. The current is with us now.

The ship Hoegh Detroit is on a collision course with us so I call them on VHF channel 16. The person on watch acknowledges my call and we agree to pass 'port to port.' Meaning my left side of the boat will pass his left side as we're headed toward each other. I alter our course 6 degrees to starboard, and the other ship does something similar. Whenever ships are on a collision course, as we were, any course change to avoid a collision has to be 'exaggerated,' so each party knows exactly what the other is doing. The ship is 751 feet long and has painted in large black letters on the side, visible for miles, 'Hoegh Autoliners.'

We turn on the water maker for 2 hours at 5:30 PM, making water at between 6.6 to 7.6 GPH (gallons per hour). Since its a 12 volt system, we don't have to turn on the generator to make water, like many of the boats have to.

We drop the whisker pole at 6:40 PM and put the jib back on the starboard side. The wind is 17/21 knots and we're moving at 6.8 knots thru the water and 8.3 knots over the land. A 1.4 knot helping current. Its starting to get cloudy and the wind is going forward; the reason we dropped the whisker pole. The wind was 170 degrees this morning and is now 197 degrees. Its supposed to go the other way as the high pressure system passes to the east.

At 6:50 PM we heard on the radio that Nexus got surrounded by a large pod or school of dolphin. Cool. At this time Saphir is 1 mile off our starboard beam.

At 6:55 PM I see a geyser of spray 5 to 10 feet high, 100 yards to starboard in line with Saphir. I tell Joel and we both look for what we think is a whale, but nothing surfaces. Since I've seen many whales blow in the last 6 months, I'm calling it a whale sighting. Type unknown.

Tracey from Folie a Deux hosted the 7:00 PM net. Ghost mentions having a problem with their auto pilot. Not good on a long leg. The sun set at 8:07 PM. With clouds on the horizon there was no green flash.

At 8:11 PM I send and transmit 2 logs and emails on the SSB radio, 673 miles at a bearing of 73 degrees True, to Africa. A good connection. Both the send and receive go fairly quickly, at 10 minutes total.

I take a nap from 8:25 PM to 8:50 PM, then relieve Joel for my 9:00 PM to midnight watch. During my nap Joel put a half reef in the main. I start the watch fully layered up, with long underwear, pants, shirts, foul weather jacket and pants; and am quickly overheating. So off most of it goes, only to be put back on later. Hard to believe it can be cold during the African summer. Its the water. Its cold and at night it gives you the chills, and oftentimes fog.

At 9:20 PM the wind is 19/20 knots and we're moving at 6.8 knots thru the water and 8.1 knots over the land. There are a lot of stars out; and I see the Southern Cross behind us off the aft, port side; low on the horizon.

The wind is 19 knots at 10:30 PM and we're moving at 6.5 knots thru the water and 7.3 knots over the land.

Both Saturday and today, Sunday, the boat has been moving so well that our hydro generator and wind turbine have kept our batteries fully charged, so we haven't had to run our generator.

Brian Fox


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