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American Spirit II - Day 244; More Birds Join Crew & Green Flash #17; Saturday, September 6, 2014



David got up at 6:00 AM and I followed at 6:30 AM. The small bird that had joined us the day before was still on the foredeck. The wind was 12 knots and our boat speed 6.7 knots. We are motoring with no sails up.



I put the mainsail out at 6:45 AM and our speed increased to 7.4 knots. The boom is on the starboard or right side. Some clouds but stars still out.



The sunrise at 7:22 AM was another blood red one. No green flash. The atmosphere isn't really clear enough for one...yet. With clouds we're hoping for a little more wind today so we don't have to motor. I put 4 fishing lines in the water, two on poles with reels and two hand lines with very, very simplistic reels.



I realized this morning that when we turned the motor on last night we forgot to take the hydro generator out of the water. Leaving it in shouldn't really be a problem because it has a regulator on it, but we 'blew up' a set of house batteries 8 months ago and thought maybe the hydro generator and wind turbine had overcharged the batteries with the engine on, even though that shouldn't happen.



I put in the canvas insert between the dodger and bimini at 7:50 AM. If I don't do this early on the sun will shine down the hatch and wake Joel up, who came off watch at 3:00 AM.



At 8:10 AM our overnight bird visitor flew off the boat, landed in the water and then flew back to the bimini, which we call the 'poop deck' now due to the bird droppings accumulating there. David then called Kelly and wished her a happy 27th birthday. Kelly, happy birthday from Uncle Brian, also!



At 8:24 AM the island of Rai Jua was visible, barely, to starboard 17 miles away.



At 10:21 AM we went wing on wing and turned the engine off.



Joel called Jeremy after breakfast to make sure that he was all set to come to Bali and that he had everything he needed from us. And that he was bringing the parts and supplies we needed. He indicated that he had everything and was set to go. See you in Bali on September 11 Jeremy!



By 10:32 AM our bird hitchhiker had departed, not to be seen again.



During the day I was reading a manual I purchased in Darwin called 'Survival at Sea' which was published by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. It was very interesting. One of the acronyms in the book was called HELP, which stands for 'Heat Escape Lessening Posture.' Basically, this is a posture you take to minimize heat loss in cold waters. The procedure, while you're in your life jacket, is to basically assume a fetal position with your head above water. As they put it, to stay motionless with the inner sides of your arms held tight to the sides of your chest and your thighs are raised to close off the groin region. This posture increases your survival time in the water by 50% to 100%. Another strategy they recommend is the 'group huddle,' whereby multiple people, if in the water and not in a life raft, interlock their arms in a circle which keeps them warmer and lessens wind chill on the front of the body.



Furthermore, the manual states that during the first 24 hours that no water ration should be issued and no food should be eaten; that any water taken the first 24 hours would just be wasted as urine. As Star Treck's Mr. Spock would say, 'fascinating.' Also, that protein or fats should not be eaten as they encourage the consumption of water to digest; which is why most rations in the life raft are carbohydrate in nature. Who knew? Lastly, the water ration is drunk 3 times a day, sunrise, noon and sunset; and the total allocation per day is .5 liter or 16 ounces.



Moving on...



At 11:40 AM the island of P. Dana was 2.2 miles to our starboard. The Rally boat Sirocco of Oz was 12 miles to the north and 2 miles to the west of our position.



Our noon position was 10 degrees, 51 minutes South; and 121 degrees, 14 minutes East.



We turned the engine on at 1:38 PM, rolled the jib up but left the whisker pole up; and jibed the boat to starboard.



I napped from 1:30 PM to 4:15 PM; and Joel took a nap starting at 3:15 PM.



At 3:50 PM 3 finches landed on our preventer line. They would stay with us for a while, getting into mischief later on. More to follow.



We turned the engine off at 6:22 PM, went wing on wing again, with the boom to starboard and the jib to port. The wind was 9 knots and our speed 5.7 knots. About this time Joel entered the head and was met by two of the three finches. He managed to extricate the birds from the head/shower area. Henceforth, we kept the screens on any open hatches pulled open to prevent them from flying below again. Feathers on the shower floor add to the decor of the boat.



At 6:50 PM David named the 3 finches Moe, Larry and Curly. How appropriate.



At 7:20 PM the sun set and we had Green Flash #17, along with a blood red sunset. Everyone saw it except David.



At 8:03 PM I started sending the log and emails via the SSB radio to Brunei in the Philippines, 989 miles away at a heading of 339 degrees true. By 8:30 PM I was done sending and receiving even though I'd had three disconnects, which are very frustrating. When I get disconnected from the SSB station, I have to go back to that frequency or another one at the same station and go thru a 'connect' process that takes at least a few minutes. Time consuming.



At 8:55 PM the wind was 9 knots and our boat speed 5.6 knots. We were sailing 15 degrees left of our rumb line to keep our sails full and speed up.



At 9:37 PM I saw a shooting star, port side 10 degrees above the horizon, moving left to right almost parallel to the horizon, for 3 seconds. Very cool.



At 11:45 PM the wind was 12 knots, our speed thru the water was 5.1 knots and over the ground we were making 6.7 knots, with a helping current of 1.6 knots.



Joel relieved David and me at midnight.



Brian Fox


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