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American Spirit II - Day 379; A Cloudy, Rock and Rolly Day on the South Atlantic; & Other Boat's Poem and Rhyms Are Listed; Sunday, January 18, 2015



Up at 6:00 AM. The wind is 22 knots and its cloudy and dark out.

A light, misty rain falls briefly at 6:30 AM. The wind is 11/14 knots and we're moving at 5.6 knots thru the water and 5.6 knots over the land. A short while later (7:11 AM) the wind has increased to 19/22 knots and we're moving at 7.0 knots thru the water and 7.7 knots over the land. The clouds are so thick I can't see when the sun rises. And the boat is rocking and rolling a fair amount. What you'd expect with winds around 20 knots going dead down wind wing-on-wing.

At 7:50 PM with the wind 23 knots I put a reef in the main sail. The boat was starting to round up; and the rock and roll was getting to be a bit much. By 8:10 AM the wind is down again to 13/15 knots so I shake the reef out of the main. But at 9:30 AM the wind is up to 20 knots again, but I put in a half reef this time instead of a full one.

Tracey from Folie a Deux hosts the 10:00 AM net. During the net we learn that Ghost has blown their spinnaker, named Daisy? when a 30 knot gust blew thru.

Breakfast at 10:25 AM consists of scrambled eggs; cut up potato; chilled grapefruit slices; and brown bread.

Our noon position is 20 degrees, 27 minutes South; 01 degrees, 58 minutes East; and we're 538 miles from St. Helena. At this time we also jibed the boat, from starboard to port.

Jeanine took a nap at 12:30 PM.

From 1:25 PM to 2:20 PM I type the previous day's log; and at 2:30 PM we send and received emails and the log using the satellite phone. The send and receive took 3 minutes, 20 seconds.

I took a nap from 3:00 PM to 4:20 PM; and Joel took his afternoon nap from 4:10 PM to 6:00 PM.

At 4:30 PM I put a full reef in the main, as the wind was up to 24 knots.

At 6:00 PM the wind is 17/18 knots and we're moving at 6.8 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land. Its 50% sunny and 50% cloudy; and its cold...again. Plus the wind is howling thru the rigging. (It starts howling around 20 knots). Lot of rocking and rolling. I thought we left these conditions behind in the Indian Ocean.

Dinner at 6:30 PM consists of Australian freeze dried Roast Lamb with Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes; green peas; and jasmine rice.

At about 6:45 PM we have just less than 500 miles to go to St. Helena (out of 1,700 miles total). Yeah!

Tracey from Folie a Deux hosts the 7:00 PM net; and announces that American Spirit II should buy a beer for everyone that finishes after us. I told her that Jeremy Nance (the Jeremy Nance of Indian Ocean fame, a member of 'The Longest Voyage' crew), would be happy to comply. Sorry Jeremy. Since we're in the back of the pack, I don't anticipate buying too many beers for too many boats. Cheers!

At 7:18 PM we hook up the satellite phone again to download a weather GRIB file that Joel ordered earlier in the day. The transmission takes 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

We turn on the generator at 7:50 PM for 4 hours; and the water maker for 2 hours of making water.

Jeanine and Joel go to bed at 9:00 PM; Jeanine for her 6 hours until 3:00 AM; and Joel for his 3 hours until 12:00 AM.

At 9:18 PM the wind is 17/21 knots and we're moving at 6.6 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land.

At 11:15 PM the wind is 12/15 knots and we're moving at 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land.

At 11:45 PM I make coffee for Joel; who then mans the 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch.

In bed at 12:15 AM.

Yesterday was “RHYME-TIME” and the radio-net assignment given by Charlie from Celebrate, was to report in with a rhyme. Following are some of the email submittals. Others were just read on the air by the individual boats. Ours was put in yesterday's log:

*****FROM Merlyn of Poole
There once was an Oyster called 'Merlyn'
But not the sort having a pearl in,
She had a great day
Been sailing away
Main fully out no need for furlin'

*****FROM Folie a Deux
caught and released a small female mahi,
to feed a future world ARC rally. [pronounced raliegh.]
then pulled down our pink underpants sail,
and replaced wth our stronger 'red threat',
in preparation for the heavier wind we hope we will get!

roses are red,
violets are blue,
all is well,
aboard follie a deux

for the french purist folks perhaps blue should be pronounced blah

*****FROM Celebrate

Today, in the Southern Atlantic
Celebrate had no cause for panic
With a radio-show antic
and poems pedantic
and the waves which were far from gigantic

We fixed up our leaking fresh-water
though the tank went down to one quarter
We sopped up the floor
and made up some more
And continued across the Atlantic

Brian Fox


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