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American Spirit II - Day 298; A New Forestay is Successfully Installed on the Boat & a Halloween Party is Held at the Dodo Restaurant; Thursday, October 30, 2014



I want to welcome Dottie and Ken, Jeremy's parents, as new (last 2 months) log readers. Jeremy has advised me that Dottie, especially, is thankful for all the 'mind numbing detail' I put in the logs because she has a good idea what her son is going thru day to day (like the 'lovely cruise across the Indian Ocean without a forestay). Dottie, Jeremy has been such a good crew member that we're keeping him for another month. He'll now be home in the middle of December instead of the middle of November.*

Up at 5:18 AM. Coffee and updating notes into the log book/daily journal. A very sunny morning, with a light wind blowing. Why 5:18 AM? Because the sun rises over the mountains to the east and lights the boat up.

Breakfast at 8:00 AM: eggs; potato; chilled pear halves and French (baguette) bread.

A boat electrician comes by the boat to install our E-80 Chart Plotter, Chip Reader. Without our chip reader working we don't get any depth or navigation data on our chart plotter. If the new chip reader doesn't work I will have to buy a new navigation computer because the E-80 isn't made anymore and parts to fix it may be hard to find; and the problem may be unfixable. After an hour, we put a chip in the chip reader and Voila!...it doesn't work. Bummer. So now I'll have to order a new navigation computer and have it installed in South Africa. Remember Joel's definition of cruising: 'Fixing your boat in exotic locations!' Or I'll have to send it into the factory (in South Africa?) for repair and hope they can fix it.

From 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM the rigger, Ben, and Joel, Jeremy and I all work to install the new forestay. Its hard, meticulous work because the wire we're installing just doesn't fit on the boat without us loosening the other 6 wires on the boat. And I mean loosening them a lot, so much so I'm surprised that the mast doesn't just topple over onto the deck because we almost remove all wire support holding it straight up. Then once we get close to attaching the forestay to the bow, three of us have to grab the foil and lean down onto the end of it to try to stretch it while Ben jams a large piece of stainless steel (a very big pin) into a hole in a fitting). To loosen these wires, stays, the rigger has to go up the mast,take cotter pins out of the turnbuckles, and turn the turnbuckles so that the pressure on the rig is relaxed. Then he and we do the same thing at all 6 turnbuckles at deck level. He has to remember how many turns he makes on each turnbuckle on the boat so that when we tighten the wires back up we do so properly. Not too little, and not too much. Mon Dieu!

Once the forestay is attached I then start doing other tasks as Jeremy and Joel help the rigger finish the job. I take the jerry jugs to a refueling station to have filled (we only need 16.5 gallons of diesel); and then off to the laundry facility to wash and dry our cloths. The laundry requires me to drive to it putting in new tokens about 10 times to complete the mission. And the breaker keeps tripping. A typical laundry mission.

Around 6:00 PM its 'beer thirty' on the boat. The rigger joins us again, and after calling his wife or girl friend, invites us to dinner Friday night. Since I was going to turn the car in Friday at 1:00 PM, I'll have to call the car rental agency and tell them I'm keeping the car for another day. At any rate, the rigger says he lives 'in the bush.' Not sure exactly what that means, except that he says we'll have to leave our car 1 1/2 kilometers from his house as he drives us there in a vehicle that is more suitable for off road travel. This should be fun!

We go to a Halloween Party/Dinner at 7:30 PM at the marina restaurant, the Dodo Restaurant. I'm wearing a Vampire mask and Jeremy is wearing a white plastic pullover bag that has a red, circular target on the front and the boat name 'Nexus' on the back. Nexus was struck by a fishing boat in Mauritius; and in Reunion a 'runaway' trailer flew off the wharf and onto their boat, causing a few hundred dollars damage. Joel goes as a circumnavigator. Other costumes include: Folie a Deux (Tim, some sort of fish coat given to him by Marianne from II Audacious), Tracy as a mime, Brian as a hunchback, and Lucy as a pirate. Jeanine from Nexus (soon to be rejoining us in Africa), wears a beautiful white dress with bling and a sash that says 'Warrior Princess & Pop Corn Queen' on it; carrying a white Halloween container with pop corn in it, which she readily dispenses to all comers). It is a magnificent creation. The crew from Nexus wears light blue BIG bras over their shirts and blouses, and a light blue stretchy item on their ankles, and go as 'blue footed boobies' of Galapagos fame. Very cool. Another couple comes with 1/2 of their face painted, each with a different side so they match when standing together. The crew from Ghost, four of them, come as ghosts wearing white sheets with the appropriate masks. Nice touch Tim and Claire.

Dinner was swordfish, which Joel and I had; and duck, which Jeremy had. The duck was better than the swordfish. The price of the dinner and party was 20 Euros, or $25.00 apiece. A cat joins us for dinner, and is happily fed scraps of duck and fish. One happy cat!

Back at the boat at 10:00 PM; and to bed around 11:10 PM for Jeremy and Joel. I follow an hour or so later after calling home and talking to Janet, always a good morale booster.

Brian Fox

*Just kidding.




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