American Spirit II - Day 71; Jib Overboard & Joel Goes Climbing; Saturday, March 15, 2014

Awakened at 5:30 AM by rough motion of boat. I could hear the wind howling from my aft cabin. Relieved Mike at 6:30 AM. Wind 20-23 knots. Speed 6-8 knots. Helping current. Big, windy rain squalls passing by stern of boat. The last 3 days the wind died down during the daytime. Don't think it will today.

We've received two completely different weather forecasts. One, from a GRIB file we get from a weather service out of Hawaii, called for winds of 10 knots. The other forecast, from our Rally weather router, is calling for winds of 17-21 knots. Big difference. The rally weather router won out.

A little wave slapped the side of the boat and sent some water onto my Kindle. Luckily, the cover was closed. The waves are very broad and 12 feet in height. Seen a few 15 footers. Some of these waves look like they're going to crest and fall into the cockpit via the transom. Fortunately that hasn't happened. Yet.

Noon position; 9 degrees, 11 minutes South; 122 degrees, 45 minutes West. 953 miles to Hiva Hoa; we've come 2,027 miles so far.

At 11:30 AM while standing in the cockpit, I looked to the right side, forward of the boat and I saw this long,white colored object in the water alongside the starboard side of the boat. It took a second for me to realize it was the jib - the whole sail! It was attached to the boat by the tack at the bow, and at the clew by the tri-reacher pole. Because it was attached to the pole, it did not go under the boat and get tangled on the keel, propeller, rudder or hydro generator. It was immediately All Hands on Deck! While I steered the boat and handled sheets in the cockpit, Joel and Mike went forward, grabbed the sail, and pulled it back into the boat. Oh, and by the way, while they're doing this we have 20 - 25 knots of wind, 10-12 foot seas and heavy rain showers coming and going all day. Our position when his happened was 9 degrees, 9 minutes South; 123 degrees, 4 minutes West. The top piece of the furling gear attached to the jib halyard was still at the top of the mast - over 50 feet up from the water. Someone had to go up and get it. Joel volunteered. We waited for the latest rain squall and higher winds to blow thru, then I hauled him up using a spinnaker halyard while Mike kept hold of another spinnaker halyard attached to the bosun chair in the event mine broke. Joel was able to grab the furling hardware and get the jib halyard back on deck. Once he got back down he had a few black and blue marks on his arms from gripping the mast and rigging and bouncing into it somewhat. Good job Joel! Joel also said that he looked for other boats in the fleet when he was up there and didn't see any. It took a while to find a spare shackle that was the right size. We eventually ended up using the shackle that was on our anchor roller which we use to fly our spinnaker or Code Zero. By 1:45 PM we were sailing again.

At 2:12 PM winds reached a steady 25 knots. The boat was moving at 8 to 9 knots. Throughout the rest of the day and night the winds stayed up at least in the low 20's.

Full moon tonight. Pretty. Lot of light cast by the moon thru the light overcast.

During my 9:00 PM - midnight watch I shook out the reef in the main to pick up some more boat speed.

Brian Fox