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American Spirit II - Day 229; Contact with Custom's Aircraft, a Baby Bird Hitches a Ride, Green Flash #14 and a Good Day Sailing; Friday, August 22, 2014



During the 3:00. AM to 6:00 AM watch Jeanine got ill again; 2nd night in a row. We're trying to figure out why because during the day she was reading in the cockpit with no problem. Its possible her playing games on her phone when down below is the culprit. We'll see tomorrow night.



The sunrise at around 6:30 AM was cloud impaired, as usual.



I slept in until 8:00 AM. I was supposed to get up at 7:00 AM. Thank you Jeanine. My attire was shorts and a long sleeved shirt. Cool, but sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. The wind was 16/18 and our boat speed 5.7 knots. The seas were rolling and lumpy.



At 8:12 AM a large sea bird circled the boat numerous times and tried to land on the mast top. I threw an apple at it to try to discourage it. Missed by a mile. The boat moved. If the bird lands on our wind vane or instrument that measures our wind speed and direction, it will break it. Fortunately it gave up, but only after a harrowing 15 or 20 minutes of watching it. It finally flew away when another bird flew by and they eloped together.



At 8:42 AM the ship YM Rightness, 738 feet, passed by in front of us, right to left at 3 miles.



Our boat at 9:27 AM had dropped to 5.3 knots, so I shook out the reef in the jib and we increased our speed to 6.3 knots. At 9:40 AM I shook out the reef in the mainsail and our speed increased again to 7.0 knots. The wind was blowing at 14/16 knots; and we were reaching, with the wind on our port beam.



A 'slapper' wave got me wet at 10:04 AM; drenching the seat cushion I was sitting on and getting my log book wet in its position on the cockpit table top. Joel got up a few minutes later as we were passing Cape Wessel, 11 miles to port. Due to our good speed it's possible we could arrive in Darwin a half day earlier than planned - Sunday evening instead of Monday morning.



At 10:15 AM our chart plotter indicated a ship on our AIS at 21 miles out and approaching us head on west to east. It was too far away for the chart plotter to give me the ship's name.



A late breakfast today at 11:00 AM. Scrambled eggs, chilled fruit cocktail and raisin bread. Jeanine slept in and didn't eat. She was recovering from being ill the night before.



We put a reef in the mainsail at 11:25 AM. The wind was blowing 20 knots and our speed was 7.5 knots.



Our noon position was 10 degrees, 50 minutes South; and 136 degrees, 33 minutes East.



From 12:45 PM to 1:20 PM I typed the previous day's log and emails. As I did so the boat kept trying to throw me out of my seat. A bumpy ride down below.



I tried sending out a log and emails at 1:23 PM, without success. I kept getting disconnected.



At 1:34 PM the wind was blowing 20/21 and our speed was 7.0 knots. We had a reefed main and full jib. The wind was now aft of the beam and if it goes much further aft we'll have to either drop the jib and put more main out, or put out the whisker pole on the jib and go wing-on-wing.



With our house batteries fully charged, the hydro generator started to discharge due to that condition, so we lifted it out of the water for a while.



Joel tried to request a weather fax at 1:35 PM, but like me earlier, the SSB wasn't cooperating, so he gave up.



I took a nap from 2:20 PM to 3:30 PM. Didn't sleep much or at all. Reason nap so short.



The wind kept increasing and at 3:30 PM it was blowing 20-25 knots and our speed was 7.5 knots. On a broad reach now with the wind on our aft, port quarter. Lot of rock and roll. Sunny with not a cloud in the sky. The sky and water were both light blue. Beautiful. We put out the tri-reacher pole, low side pole starboard side and one reef in the mainsail.



At 4:19 PM another 'slapper' wave got me. Jeanine, who was seated in the starboard side of the cockpit, got wet also from the port side wave. Another 'slapper' hit at 4:24 PM. The waves were now 5-7 feet. A large wave would turn the boat to the left and then a following large wave would strike the beam sending the water flying. Not a lot, just enough to be irritating.



Dinner at 6:00 PM was freeze dried Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice. One of our favorites. We had peas and corn; and chilled fruit cocktail with it. We took down the low side pole after dinner and put up the whisker pole to go wing-on-wing. The wind was 17/19, down a little bit; and our speed was 5.1 to 6.3 knots.



An Australian Custom's large, two engine plane flew low by the boat across our transom, at about 100 feet above the water; then climbed up and flew east. A short while later the plane called us, identifying the boat by name. They obviously had an AIS receiver on the plane. They asked our last port of call (Lizard Island), next port of call (Darwin) and port of registration (Tierra Verde, Florida, USA).



At 6:32 PM we picked up a baby sea bird. About the size of a shoe, white and grayish in color. It landed on the starboard side of the boat, right next to the dodger. A small fish was laying along side of it. It must have carried it with it when it landed; or the fish was already on our boat and it may have landed to have a go at it. At any rate, its mother kept circling the boat calling to it, and the baby kept singing back but insisting on staying where it was. As the sun set we knew that if the baby did not get off the boat that its parents would eventually fly away and the baby would die without them. Joel tried shooing the bird off the boat, but it wasn't moving. So he eventually had to lift it off and drop it in the water. It floated for a little bit and then flew away with its mommy. A story with a happy ending.



The sun set at 6:53 PM and we saw green flash #14 on this circumnavigation. Yeah! All three of us saw it. The boat was dancing around, with rigging getting in the way, but we all had a clear shot when the upper limb disappeared beneath the horizon.



I tried sending the log and emails via the SSB at 6:58 PM to Brunei in the Philippines, 1,580 miles away. Got within 1 minutes of completing the 'sending' part of the SSB transmission, but couldn't finish it so I had to disconnect and will try again later. Or not.



I napped from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM and then relieved Joel for the 9:00 PM to midnight watch. The wind was 16/19 and our speed 6.1 knots.



Joel got up for his 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch a little before midnight. I had a cup of Columbian coffee waiting for him. We released the pole forward and rolled up the jib as the wind was building to 26 knots and we didn't want to mess around with any sail changes in the middle of the night. Remember, we're cruising.



Australian slang for the day: '(He or She) Couldn't fart in a bottle.' I can't believe I actually typed that. Means: An 'utterly useless' person. Another: 'Keen as mustard.' Means: 'very enthusiastic.'



Brian Fox


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