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American Spirit II - Day 378; An Ode to the South Atlantic; We Enter the Tropics; & a Good Day Sailing; Saturday, January 17, 2015



Up at 6:45 AM. Solid, low cloud cover; but not cold at least. Rain showers all over. The weather looks threatening. I slept great, almost 6 hours of sleep. A rarity. Maybe the longest solid sleep, time wise, in the entire circumnavigation while under sail.

I turned the engine off at 7:49 AM; and at 7:58 AM put the whisker pole back out on the port side. The wind is 10/11 knots and we're moving at 4.2 knots thru the water and 4.4 knots over the land. At 8:10 AM I put the canvas insert connecting the bimini and dodger back in, as it looks like rain is coming. At 8:20 AM the wind is 20/22 knots and we're moving at 6.0 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the land. The rain that hits is misty and light. Not a big deal.

At 9:00 AM we're under 700 miles to St. Helena (690). We've already gone 1,010 miles on the leg so far, as the crow flies, that is. We've actually sailed further than that as we're jibing downwind, zigzagging back and forth the rumb line.

Charlie from Celebrate hosts the 10:00 AM net. As usual, he gives us a 'homework' assignment. The assignment this time is to create a rhyme or poem regarding your day's activities, or whatever, for the 7:00 PM evening net.

Breakfast at 10:25 AM consists of bacon, scrambled eggs, cut up potato, chilled mandarin oranges and brown bread.

At some point this morning, we cross latitude 22 degrees, 30 minutes South and have officially entered the tropics. We crossed the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn. I can't remember which is 22 degrees, 30 minutes South and which is 22 degrees, 30 minutes North.

At 11:15 AM the boat is heading west, so we have to jibe over. We're sailing on 'wind' not 'auto', so if the wind changes direction the boat goes with it.

Our noon position is 22 degrees, 17 minutes South; 4 degrees, 12 minutes East; and we're 676 miles from St. Helena. The wind is 8/10 knots and we're moving at 3.6 knots thru the water and 4.2 knots over the land.

From 1:20 PM to 1:52 PM I type a log.

At 2:10 PM we start the generator and cook some cheese popcorn in the micro wave. Jeanine, the 'pop corn queen,' is the initiator.

Joel naps from 3:15 PM to 4:30 PM; and I nap from 3:30 PM to 5:15 PM.

Dinner at 6:45 PM is freeze dried Sweet & Sour Port, a boat favorite; instant garlic mashed potatoes; and butter beans.

Charlie hosts the 7:00 PM net; and our boat, Folie a Deux, Celebrate, Ghost, Polaris, Adela and Sweet Pearl all read poems that they'd written or Charlie reads the poems submitted to him via an email. Our submission, which is created by Joel, is read by Charlie on the SSB net, and is as follows:

An Ode to the South Atlantic Ocean:

Davie Jones has nothing on me,
Because we are where we should be,
Sailing over the ocean,
With a nice gentle motion.

As we continue to sail,
There is no need to bale,
As we've missed that giant sperm whale.

While other boats make the mad dash,
American Spirit II is content to watch another green flash.

Who knew Joel had such creative talent? I did. And he thought up this rhyme in about 5 minutes. Amazing. Good job Joel! Tomorrow I hope to get transcripts of the other rhymes or poems and will list them in the log then.

Later, in one of our post dinner hour conversations, Joel pronounces: "The Indian Ocean was miserable, and it saved its worst for last!" Yes it did.

After dinner Joel, 'The Fixer,' sewed up a seam on one of our many dodger zippers.

At 8:25 PM we rolled in the 3 fishing lines we had out; and at 8:31 PM the sun set. With clouds on the horizon, there is no green flash. Again.

At 8:35 PM I rotated all of the eggs stored in our bilge. Doing so at least once per week keeps them from spoiling longer. The bilge currently holds 79 eggs. We have another 42 in the refrigerator.

Jeanine goes to bed at 9:00 PM. While on watch from 9:00 PM to midnight, Joel and I put the canvas insert connecting the bimini and dodger back in as it looks its going to rain during the night (it doesn't). Joel goes down for his pre-midnight watch nap; as he's on watch from 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM. Its warm out tonight, and I start my watch wearing only pants and a long sleeved shirt. Later I put on a pullover. The further north we go, the less cold at night it becomes. The wind is now 14/15 knots and we're moving at 5.5 knots thru the water and 6.2 knots over the land.

I crack open the book 'Moby Dick' again; and read that one of the places that the Pequod hunts for sperm whales is in cruising grounds called 'Carroll Ground.' which happens to be south of St. Helena and is exactly where we are and where we saw the sperm whale a few days ago. A few pages later one of the book's characters calls the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, 'Cape Tormentoto.' I guess the name is a derivative of 'torment.' What an accurate name. At one point it was officially called the 'Cape of Storms.'

At 11:52 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're moving at 5.1 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land.

Joel relieves me on watch at midnight, and at 12:15 AM we jibe the boat, moving the whisker pole and going form a starboard tack to a port tack. We always try to make sail changes like this during a watch change at night so people can sleep when off watch.

Brian Fox



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