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American Spirit II - Day 254; Sailing to Christmas Island; Tuesday, September 16, 2014



Joel on watch 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM. At watch change when Jeremy came on duty Joel and Jeremy put up a low side pole starboard.

I got up at 6:00 AM. The wind was 11/12 knots and we were doing 4.8 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the ground. A 1.2 helping current. Merlyn of Poole was 2 1/2 miles behind us and Alpheratz 11 1/2 miles ahead of us.

The sunrise was at 6:29 AM. A thin layer of clouds on the horizon, so no green flash. A large, orange and red sunrise - not blood red like many we've seen the last few weeks. The sun was enlarged by sitting on the horizon with three faint horizontal cloud rings on front of its face making it look like a large planet with rings around it. Magnificent!

At 6:34 AM I put 3 fishing lines in the water. At 7:16 AM I saw a large white cylinder 200 yards to starboard, about 6 feet high and 3-4 feet in diameter. At 7:32 AM I saw a large, wooden fishing vessel also to starboard about 1 mile abeam. I suspect that the buoy I saw just previously was 'attached' to this vessel. Maybe marking a net or fishing lines.

At 8:33 AM I noticed that Adela was 6.5 miles ahead and Merlyn of Poole was still 2.4 miles astern.

Russ from Nexus hosted the 9:00 AM net.

During breakfast at 9:20 AM we had bacon, scrambled eggs, chilled sliced pineapple and bread with butter, strawberry jelly and Skippy peanut butter. The wind was 11/12 knots and aft of the port beam; and we were doing 5.2 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the ground. The jib was popping a lot because the wind was too far behind us. We needed to put a low side pole out, which we did at 10:05 AM.

Our noon position was 9 degrees, 45 minutes South; and 110 degrees, 30 minutes East. We were 279 miles from Christmas Island.

I napped from 11:30 AM to 1:40 PM; and Joel napped from 1:53 PM to 4:10 PM. Jeremy napped from 2:30 PM until ?

The wind had increased to 14/15 knots, our speed thru the water was 6.3 knots and over the land 7.5 knots.

During the afternoon I read the children's book 'The Tale of the First White Elephant in Bali' by Nigel Mason. A very good children's book. I had purchased the book after touring the Elephant Safari Park in Bali. The book was based on that park, and the original 10 elephants were imported from Sumatra where they would have been killed if not for their being moved 1,000 miles and 3 islands away from Sumatra.

Dinner at 5:30 PM consisted of freeze dried Chicken a la King with Noodles, green peas and chilled sliced peaches.

Nexus hosted the 6:00 PM net.

The sunset was at 6:40 PM, but with clouds on the horizon there was no chance of a green flash.

I turned the generator on at 6:40 PM to charge the boat's batteries. Whenever we turn the generator on we also make water with the water maker. During this time I also typed a log and did emails. I tried to send the log and emails via the SSB radio at 7:41 PM, but got disconnected 3 times from 3 different frequencies in the Philippines. Try again later.

Joel reefed the mainsail at 8:09 PM. I relieved Joel at 8:30 PM as I didn't have enough time to take a nap before my 9:00 PM watch. The wind was 18/19 knots, we were moving 6.8 knots thru the water and 8.8 knots over the land; a 2.0 knot helping current.

I saw a shooting star at 9:05 PM, moving from right to left. Pretty low on the 10 scale, though.

At 9:20 PM I saw a fishing light to port. At 9:42 PM Adela was 1.9 miles off our starboard beam. Our boat speed over the ground was now as high as 9.7 knots.

Brian Fox

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