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American Spirit II - Day 301; A Good Day Motor-Sailing & a Swim Party with Polaris; Sunday., November 2, 2014



Jeremy catches the sunrise as I'm sleeping in. Clouds on the horizon so no green flash. I relieve Jeremy at 6:50 AM. Sunny and warm out. Motor sailing with the mainsail up, at 1600 RPM. The wind is 4/5 knots, we're moving 5.6 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land.

I read a publication titled South African Cruising Notes by Tony Herrick and Katherine Botha. Very sobering. Page 3 titled 'Abnormal Waves' reads in part: 'Abnormal waves up to 20 meters (65 feet) in height, preceded by deep troughs may be encountered in the area between the edge of the continental shelf and twenty miles to seaward.' In order to get into Richard's Bay, South Africa; the termination point of this leg, we must cross this current.

For those who like to Google at home, we're staying at the Zululand Marina in Richard's Bay. How's that for an interesting name?

Bradley from Alpheratz hosts the 9:00 AM net.

Breakfast is at 9:30 AM and consists of bacon, eggs, chilled pear halves and French bread (courtesy of Joel from Rally control before we departed Reunion).

At 11:00 AM we empty half of the starboard, aft cockpit locker to see if we can determine what's making an awful noise. We suspect its a bearing problem on the top of our rubber tube. Joel determines that its merely a large, white plastic washer (2-3 inches in diameter) on top of the rudder tube that has seized up, causing the noise when the auto pilot moves its hydraulic arm back and forth. He sprays Teflon spray on it and the noise disappears. Voila! The washer is 'stuck' and doesn't rotate like its supposed to; so we'll need to free it up later to probably stop the noise permanently. A razor blade should do it. That's a job for another (calm) day. Its a nice feeling knowing that we don't need a new rudder tube and bearing assembly. Beer thirty!

At 11:30 AM I call Polaris, a German 47 foot yacht just ahead of us; and invite them to a swim party. They accept, and we power up to catch them.

Our noon position is 22 degrees, 41 minutes South; 53 degrees, 7 minutes East; and we're 418 miles from a waypoint we're aiming for a hundred miles southwest of Madagascar.

At 12:05 PM we arrived alongside Polaris, and Joel and Jeremy jump in the water. Joel has a face mask and checks our bottom, then swims over to Polaris and checks their bottom to make sure there is nothing tangled on their keel and propeller and rudder. The crew is already jumping off from the lifeline in the aft cockpit area. It appears that all the guys are 'au naturel.' Welcome to Europe. We're wearing swim suits. Michael and Sheila swim over and climb aboard before swimming back to their boat. Sheila IS wearing a swimsuit. We depart at 12:20 PM. A short swim party.

At 1:20 PM lunch consists of French bread, butter and a new caramel/vanilla jelly that we receive from the 'chamber of commerce' in Reunion. Its really good.

I nap from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM; then Joel naps at 3:45 PM.

At 4:00 PM Jeremy spots a LARGE fish jumping out of the water about 100 yards away; 4 or 5 times. Being chased by something. This fish is 5-6 feet long and shaped like a torpedo, silver in color. Not sure if it successfully eludes its pursuer.

At 4:30 PM we jibe from port to starboard. The wind is just starboard of dead astern. The wind is still light at 4/6 knots, and we're moving at 5.3 knots thru the water and 7.0 knots over the land. Its still sunny out, and Polaris is 1/2 mile ahead of us to port. Saphir is 6 miles behind us; and Bongo Alive is 10 miles to our starboard.

At 4:40 PM I 'move' the Florida bulkhead clock an hour back due to daylight savings time starting in the USA today. Nine hours difference from our time now, instead of 8 hours. When we get to Africa the time there will be 2 hours different than Reunion and only 7 hours different from Florida.

We roll the jib out at 5:15 PM. The wind is 8 knots and were moving at 5.6 knots thru the water and 7.2 knots over the land.

Dinner at 6:00 PM is blackened chicken marinated by me and cooked on our grill by chef Joel; corn on the cob; mixed vegetables; and bread. The caramel/vanilla jelly we've been eating is called 'Doucub Vanille.'

The sunset at 6:43 PM has a small line of clouds on the horizon, so no green flash.

From 6:30 PM to 7:20 PM I type a log and emails. I'll send out later tonight.

Jeremy goes to bed at 7:10 PM; and I take a nap from 7:25 PM to 8:30 PM, when I go on watch early at 8:45 PM, relieving Joel.

Earlier Joel has a VHF communication with a freighter.

The wind is 9/10 knots, and we're moving at 5.6 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. Polaris is on our port beam .7 mile away. It's a clear night with a 2/3 moon showing; and warm.

At 11:50 PM before going off watch the wind is 8/9 knots and we're moving at 6.0 knots thru the water and 7.3 knots over the land.

At 12:15 AM I use the SSB radio to send out a log and emails. The 'send' works good and fast, at 1400 bytes per minute. I connect with a SSB station in Africa 1,345 miles away on a heading of 255 degrees true. But the receive is lousy. I get disconnected 25 times and try 15-20 different frequencies from Africa, the Red Sea and the Philippines. I'm able to receive only one email, the Rally weather report. Good.

During Joel's 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch a winch handle goes 'missing in action.' Over the side. It was the only non-locking one we had in the cockpit. Good riddance!

I'm in bed at 1:30 AM. Since 6:00 AM comes early, I ask Joel to have Jeremy wake me at 7:00 AM instead of 6:00 AM.

Brian Fox



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