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American Spirit II - Day 424; We Hook a Bill Fish That Gets Away, and Joel and Heidi Land a 50 Pound Mahi Mahi; Friday, March 6, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 62; Spinnaker Sailing & Doing Laundry; Thursday, March 6, 2014. Awakened abruptly at 6:00 AM with commotion topside. The boat Auto Pilot had shut itself off and the sails were flopping around. Joel, who got off watch at 3:00 AM, got up to handle with Mike. I assumed watch duties shortly thereafter, and observed that we had two large storm cells in front of us, one on the left and one on the right. Wind 9/10 knots, speed over the ground 7.0 knots. Life is good. Auto Pilot shut off at 8:20 AM again. I was in forward part of cockpit when this occurred. The boat heads into the wind when this happens. I just let the boat go, doing a 360 circle. When the heading (265 degrees) that I wanted came up again, I grabbed the wheel and continued sailing. Also got a 'P.E' come up on chart plotter. Position Error? Not sure. Never saw that one before."

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Sunrise at 5:45 AM. Clouds, so no green flash. At 6:05 AM I relieve Heidi. Bongo Alive is 9 miles ahead of us and Festina Lente is 2 miles behind. The wind is 8.0 knots and we're sailing at 6.0 knots thru the water and 6.9 knots over the land. The wind and small waves are forward of the beam, a rarity on our circumnavigation. There are a lot of high white clouds and lower gray and black ones. The hydro generator and wind turbine charged the batteries well last night.

At 6:58 AM the wind is 8 knots and we're sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the land. Festina Lente is 1.8 miles directly astern. Bongo Alive is 10.6 miles away on our port bow 30 degrees. We'll lose them soon on our AIS.

The five boats in our our group, the 'Fortaleza Group,' represent 4 different nationalities: American Spirit II, USA; Boingo Alive and Chicka-lu, Germany; Civetta II, Slovakia; and Festina Lente, Italy.

I neglected to put in Wednesday's log the trivia question from the skipper's briefing: "How many people have sailed in the ARC 2014/15?" I guessed 250, but in hindsight I'm sure that number is too low. We were also each asked to put down our ETA into Grenada. I put down March 16 at 6:00 AM. Probably an overly optimistic guess.

At 8:00 AM the wind is 7/8 knots and we're sailing at 4.5 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land. It is solid, low overcast with the sun poking out from behind a cloud every now and then.

At 8:36 AM we go thru a light sprinkle. We roll down the dodger center window and close the bathroom window.

Joel hosts the 9:00 AM net, with Civetta II, Chicka-lu, Boingo Alive and us joining the net. Festina Lente doesn't join in. Usually on the nets they don't. We decide to change the time of the nets from 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM to 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM, the times we did crossing the South Atlantic. It fits better with our schedule of sleep and dinner.

Breakfast at 9:25 AM consists of eggs, left over chicken from last night's dinner, cut up potato, chilled peach halves and brown bread.

A ship, the Balsi 81, passes us to port 3 miles away. Its on a course similar to ours and is a 348 foot cargo ship.

At 10:15 AM the wind is 7 knots and we're sailing at 4.4 knots thru the water and 5.7 knots over the land.

At 10:35 AM a bill fish hit one of our two lines out. It jumps horizontally and throws our hook and lure out of its mouth. Good! We don't want to land a bill fish. By its color I think its a blue marlin.

At 11:06 AM the wind is 4/5 knots and we're sailing at 3.5 knots thru the water and 5.0 knots over the land. Rain showers around us are cutting off our wind intermittently.

At 11:20 AM we reef the mainsail, as we enter a rain shower/squall at 11:28 AM. 'Reef early and reef often.' You never know how much wind you're going to get in a squall.

At 11:35 AM we turn on the engine and roll the jib up.

Our noon position is 1 degree, 35 minutes South; 4 degrees, 18 minutes West; and we're 1,513 miles from Grenada. We've traveled 152 nautical miles since noon yesterday, and have averaged 6.3 knots. Good.

From 12:20 PM to 1:51 PM I type one log and some emails, then use the satellite phone to transmit and receive our emails.

At 12:35 PM we turn the engine off; and at 12:45 PM I turn the generator on for 25 minutes as we're not done making water with our water maker.

From 2:20 PM to 3:00 PM Joel and Heidi fight and reel in what turns out to be a 50 pound Mahi Mahi; and then filet's it. (I'm napping from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM). It takes Joel 25 minutes to get the fish to the transom, where he then uses a gaff to lift it into the cockpit. Its a BIG fish! Heidi helps throughout this whole process by raising the hydro generator out of the water; and turning the boat a little bit into the wind and letting the jib out, both designed to slow the boat down. And she finds the gaff for Joel to use to hook the fish and bring it in. Without the gaff, it wouldn't be possible to haul the fish out of the water. Its too heavy. This Mahi Mahi is the largest fish, by far, we've caught on this trip. Joel uses rubbing alcohol to help dispatch the fish.

At 4:30 PM Joel showers and then naps until 5:30 PM.

At 4:46 PM the wind is 11 knots and we're sailing at 6.2 knots thru the water and 7.3 knots over the land. The wind is increasing as we approach another rain cell. I put a reef in the mainsail at 4:50 PM and our speed drops from 7.3 to 6.0 knots.

The sun sets at 5:45 PM. Clouds, so no green flash.

Dinner at 6:00 PM is blackened Mahi Mahi cooked on the grill by chef Joel; baked potato; and corn-on-the-cob. We all agree that the corn is inferior, so I go below and we jettison all the corn we have in the refrigerator. We've had great corn-on-the-cob throughout this trip, just not from Brazil.

The moon rises at 6:40 PM out of a cloud just above the horizon.

The 7:00 PM net is hosted by myself. There are two different groups on the airwaves at the same time. I can hear our group, and a group of Rally boats hundreds of miles ahead of us. I can hear Ghost and Saphir, though not well enough to communicate with them.

We turn the engine back on at 7:24 PM, and off again at 7:50 PM after negotiating a rain cell.

At 9:00 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're sailing at 5.2 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land.

At 9:21 PM a dark bird flies up from forward of our cockpit, starboard side. It flies by me at head level and startles me. I had seen it a few hours earlier circling the boat, so it must have landed and rested for a while. 'Any port in a storm.' At 9:30 PM I saw it trying to land on the boat again.

At 9:36 PM we hit a light rain shower. Dark clouds; the moonlight is gone. The wind is up, then down. We have a full jib out and one reef in the main. At 9:50 PM I put a reef in the jib, then take it out at 10:00 PM. Go figure.

At 10:06 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're sailing at 5.2 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the land.

At 11:01 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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