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American Spirit II - Day 230; Green Flash #15 & Getting Close to Darwin; Saturday, August 23, 2014



While on the 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch Jeanine was ill again. We're still trying to figure out why. She's not really seasick.

I got up at 7:00 AM, an hour later than usual, as Jeanine let me sleep in an hour longer because I stayed up late last night. The wind was 12 knots, and our speed 4.7 knots.

Beautiful sunrise at 7:10 AM. A BIG blood red ball rising out of the Arafura Sea to the east.

Shook out the reef in the mainsail at 7:40 AM. Still had a reef in the jib, wing on wing. The boom was to starboard. Wind 15; speed now 5.1 knots. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

Breakfast at 10:00 AM: scrambled eggs, cut up potato and raisin bread.

At 10:15 AM dropped whisker pole and went to full jib starboard. No need for low side pole (tri-reacher pole) as the wind has gone forward a little. Wind now 13 knots and speed 6.5 knots. A short while later the wind had increased a little bit more and we were now sailing at 7.0 knots.

After breakfast Joel went back to bed. Getting over a bad cold that had given him a fever.

With Jeanine and Joel both in bed at 11:50 AM I made myself a bag of popcorn. We have so much popcorn on board due to Jeanine going nuts and buying a ton of the stuff while in Port Douglas. The boat is low in the water due to all the boxes of popcorn she's bought. If we don't eat it the boat will founder.

Our noon position is 10 degrees,50 minutes South; and 134 degrees, 6 minutes East. With a degree being 60 nautical miles, we are 650 miles south of the equator. Its getting warmer. Finally. Soon it will be too hot, but hot is better than the cold we've had for 2 months.

At 12:33 PM with the wind 16 knots we were moving at 6.8 knots over the land and 6.5 knots thru the water, meaning we had a helping current of .3 not. We're on a broad reach.

At 2:56 PM I tried sending logs and emails via the SSB, without success. The receiving stations in Australia and the Philippines kept disconnecting me.

At 3:01 PM I activated the water maker to make water for 2 hours. It did so at a GPH of 6.5 to 7.1.

At 3:30 PM we switched from low side pole with the tri-reacher pole to wing on wing with the whisker pole. The wind was dropping, 10/12 knots now and our speed was 4.5 knots. I started thawing out some porterhouse steaks for dinner using the defrost plate.

We picked up Rally boat Celebrate on our AIS 8 miles behind us and closing fast. I called Charlie on Celebrate and he indicated they were motoring. We'll probably join then in doing that soon unless we can pick up some more wind and speed.

At 4:30 PM I saw the top of a large cargo ship over the horizon aft and to starboard; and 5 minutes later I visually saw Celebrate aft port of our boat, with one of their white sails gleaming in the sun.

We had to relent and started the engine at 5:15 PM. Engine hours 54.7.

The ship Changsha at 607 feet passed by our starboard 3 miles away. We dropped the whisker pole. We had rolled up the jib previously but had left the pole up.

Dinner at 5:45 PM consisted of porterhouse steaks, blackened and cooked on the grill by Joel; the last of our sweet potatoes; and chilled mandarin oranges. As dinner was finished I rolled up the mainsail as it was flogging in the light and almost non-existent wind. Joel said the porterhouse steaks we had were some of the best steak we've had since leaving the US.

The sun set at 7:02 PM and for the first time this circumnavigation we had our 3rd green flash in a row; Green Flash #15! Joel, Jeanine and I all saw it.

I napped from 7:15 PM to 9:00 PM. At 9:00 PM when I started my watch Celebrate had moved to our starboard bow. I also took the canvas insert out that connected the dodger and bimini so we could admire the star lit sky above us. The air the last 3 days was especially clear and devoid of clouds so the star viewing was fantastic. The 'clear' air is why we've seen 3 green flashes in a row. That and a lack of clouds due to a high pressure system over Australia.

At 9:28 PM I picked up the New Year Light at 11 miles, port bow. The wind was 13 knots but dead astern. Our speed was 6.7 knots with a .7 knot helping current. We should have left the whisker pole up as I'd run the jib out now if I could.

I rolled the mainsail out at 9:45 PM and our speed increased to 7.5 knots. We're now motor sailing. I had to violate the 'prime directive' to put the preventer on. The 'prime directive' forbids anyone from going forward of the dodger while on watch when there is no one else in the cockpit. I had my harness on and was clipped to the boat, but we still don't want anyone going forward unobserved by another crew member.

I had to roll the main up at 10:25 PM because we were on the wrong tack. I needed to jib the main, but doing so would have required me going forward of the mast to do so. We were heading too close for my comfort to Bramble Rocks so I altered course to starboard.

Joel came on watch at 12:00 AM. From 12:20 AM to 1:20 AM I was able to send out a log and some emails and receive some emails via the SSB. Slow, but I finally got it done. Brunei in the Philippines, at 1,445 miles away and a heading of 309 degrees, was the receiving station I used.

Today I also finished another book, this one by David Weber called The Honor of the Queen. Its one of the Honor Harrington science fiction series (the 2nd book out of 15 or so). I'd read them a number of years ago but am re-reading them again.

Australian slangs of the day: 'Happy as Larry' means 'extremely happy.' And if you want to insult someone, you might say: 'I've seen better heads on a glass of beer.' Translation: the person you're referencing is ugly. And last but not least: 'No room to swing a cat' is used to describe a volume of space as being 'tiny, cramped quarters.' Why not 'no room to swing a kangaroo' or 'no room to swing a koala bear?' Whoever wrote this Great Aussie Slang booklet I bought is obviously not a cat lover and a as far as I'm concerned, they're a 'brick short of a wall.' (You'll have to see the previous day's log to know what that means).

Brian Fox




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