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American Spirit II - Day 380; We Enter the Western Hemisphere; Tuesday, January 19, 2015



Woke up early at 5:18 AM due to the boat's motion. Didn't feel right. Went right to the cockpit in sleeping shorts to see what was going on. All OK so back to bed.

Jeanine wakes me at 5:50 AM for the 6:00 AM watch. I never did go back to sleep from getting up earlier.

I relieved Jeanine at 6:13 AM after I brushed my teeth and shaved; and made some coffee. Shaving is a daily ritual I go thru, regardless of the conditions. Shaving in 21 foot waves like we had in the Indian Ocean is a real treat. Joel usually only shaves when he takes a shower.

At 6:51 AM the wind is 17/18 knots and we're moving at 5.8 knots thru the water and 5.8 knots over the land. Its cloudy; heavy overcast; again. Its like that every morning. Don't know why. I have no idea when the sun actually rose above the horizon. No way to tell with the solid cloud cover. It just starts getting light out, so I know the sun is up.

At 8:30 AM the wind is 13/18 knots and we're moving at 4.5 knots thru the water and 4.5 knots over the land.

At 9:17 AM I saw the first bird, a medium size one, that I've seen in many days. I suspect its from St. Helena, 418 miles away. When the sun sets, birds hundreds of miles from an island will fly in a straight line directly to the island and their home. Sailors over the ages have seen birds do this and have adjusted their course to 'follow them in' to the island.

Charlie from Celebrate hosts the 10:00 AM net in lieu of Free & BrEasy who are supposed to host the net but don't know it apparently.

Breakfast at 10:25 AM consists of scrambled eggs; cut up potato; chilled fruit cocktail; and brown bread.

Our noon position is 19 degrees, 9 minutes South; 0 degrees, 34 minutes East; and we're 405 miles from St. Helena. We're only 34 minutes or 34 nautical miles from 0 longitude, when we cross from east longitude to west longitude and re-enter the western hemisphere.

Jeanine hits the shower from 11:40 AM to 12:34 PM. That's a long one!

From 12:58 PM to 1:47 PM I type the previous day's log. After I type the log and some emails we send and receive a log and emails using the satellite phone. It takes 3 to 4 minutes to do so; at a cost of $1.20 per minute.

Popcorn at 2:20 PM. It appears that that is becoming a daily ritual until we run out of bagged micro wave popcorn. Joel cooks it using the micro wave. We have a bag of just kernels that we can use, but those will have to be cooked in a pot with olive oil.

I take a nap from 3:15 PM to 4:30 PM; and Joel naps from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

Dinner at 5:50 PM consists of 3 hamburger patties (minced meat) cooked on a skillet in the galley; baked potato; corn on the cob; and a tangerine for dessert.

Charlie from Celebrate hosts the 7:00 PM net.

At 8:26 PM we go from East Longitude to West Longitude; commonly called 'Zulu' or Greenwich (England). We're now in the Western Hemisphere! We left west longitude last July in Fiji in the Pacific after crossing the International Date Line. However, we still have a long way to go to home. Tampa is at longitude 82 degrees west, 4,920 miles west of our current position; and 27 degrees north latitude, which is 2,580 miles north of our current position. Adding those together comes to 7,500 nautical miles or 8,625 statue miles. We don't have to sail all those miles as we'll be sailing diagonally for some of that distance. However, its still a long way home. As I've said before, the first half of our trip, from Florida to Darwin, Australia; is a lot of sightseeing. The 2nd half of our trip, crossing the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is primarily sailing; even though we spend a month in South Africa and Brazil.

At 9:00 PM the wind is 14/15 knots and we're moving at 4.5 knots thru the water and 5.0 knots over the land.

At 9:20 PM Joel and I jibe the boat from starboard to port tack. The whisker pole is now on the port side. Its called 'jibing down wind.' We can't sail dead down wind effectively, so we sail back and forth, left and right, at an angle to the wind behind us; as we make our way to St. Helena.

Venus is the only light I can see in the sky, to the West. Clouds everywhere else.

At 10:00 PM the wind is 16/18 knots and we're moving at 6.2 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land. There are a lot of stars out now; but still large patches of dark clouds. And its still cool enough that I needed to put my long underwear back on again. A lot of this 'coolness' is probably due to wind chill and damp air.

At 11:45 PM the wind is 12/13 knots and we're moving at 5.0 knots thru the water and 5.0 knots over the land.

We jibe the boat again at 12:05 AM, port to starbord; with the whisker pole now on the starboard side.

Brian Fox



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