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American Spirit II - Day 182; Whisker Pole Breaks, Hydro Generaor Failure & 4th AIS Failure; Sunday, July 6, 2014



6:19 AM relieved Chet; who was on watch from 3:00 am to 6:00 AM. Wind 12 knots, boat speed 5.2 knots.

Sunrise 7:04 AM, due east, behind boat. Orange glow thru clouds. At 7:06 AM the sun itself rose above a cloud bank on the horizon; its upper limb rising like a phoenix from the ashes. A green haze was visible around the clouds near the sunrise. Without the clouds I might have seen a green flash sunrise. Sunrise green flashes are rare. I've only seen one in 6 months on this voyage; and only one in my entire life. Of course people see more sunsets than sunrises.

Angie up in cockpit at 7:15 AM. Brought Kindle with her to read. At 7:48 AM wind and boat speed up a little. 5.6 knots now.

At 9:00 AM the communications net. Jane on Seaduced conducted.

Breakfast at 9:30 AM. Scrambled eggs, chilled fruit cocktail and bread.

Angela took a cockpit shower at 10:00 AM. Joel and I abandoned the cockpit at this time for her privacy. Angela didn't want to shower in the below decks shower at that time. Too confining. Boat rocking too much.

The whisker pole broke at 11:47 AM. 'A premature non-catastrophic whisker pole failure' at the end cap attached to the mast. Sudden and dramatic. The end cap separated from the mast. Joel says it's easily repairable. Just three new screws. It was very loud and explosive. The jib back winded and then shot forward. A loud explosion ensued. I ducked in the cockpit because I thought the pole might shoot back towards us. The whisker pole failure was our fault. We should have dropped the pole when the wind wend forward of the beam. As Joel would say, 'fumble.' Because the pole didn't bend and break we should be able to repair it ourselves.

Our noon position was 18 degrees, 53 minutes South; 172 degrees, 25 minutes East. 170.5 miles to Tanna, Vanuatu.

We turned the motor on at 12:20 PM since we weren't using the whisker pole anymore. Retracted the hydro generator at that time and noticed that one of two bolts holding the device to the transom was missing or broken. Joel says it'll be an easy fix once we anchor and get stabilized. Easy but critical.

I took a nap at 1;15 PM to 3:00 PM. Then Joel took a nap, along with Chet and Angie.

At 4:22 PM the wind was 17/18 knots; boat speed 6.7 knots. Overcast and cool/cold. Needed to wear pants and long sleeved shirt and jacket. With wind behind us boat rocking back and forth 15-20 degrees.

Dinner at 6:10 PM was freeze dried Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and New Orleans Style Rice with Shrimp and Ham; plus chilled Mandarin oranges.

At 6:20 PM jibed from starboard to port tack.

Chet took his first boat shower at 7:00 PM. Like taking a shower in a phone booth. He did it quickly and efficiently.

Chet and Angie went to bed at 7:15 AM while I did a log and emails. From 7:48 PM to 8:14 PM I sent and received emails via our SSB radio; connecting to Darawank NSW (in Australia?), 1,278 miles away at a heading of 228 degrees true.

During and after the SSB transmission we blew 3 AIS fuses. We think the new antenna that we installed grabbed the SSB radiation and sent it into the AIS 'box', blowing it up. Crap. Fourth AIS we've blown up. Very frustrating. So now ships can't 'see us' on their chart plotters; and we can't see them.

At 10:20 PM jibed main from port side to starboard side. Wind 12 knots; speed 6.8 knots. Was 5.6 knots before jibe.

At 11:47 PM wind 16/17 knots; boat speed 6.8 knots.

Brian Fox




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