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American Spirit II - Day 198; Green Flash Number 11 and Gorgeos Day Sailing to MacKay, Australia; Tuesday, July 22, 2014



Joel stood the 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch, as usual; followed by Jeanine who stood the 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch.

I relieved Jeanine at 6:10 AM. Sailboat on our port bow, 1/2 mile.

The sun rose around 7:00 AM. Jeanine stayed up to watch the sunrise. No green flash, but the clouds had a couple of eyes in them, making the sunrise look like a Mardi Grass mask. Took a picture, but missed the perfect shot. A little late.

Put 2 fish lines in the water. Still trying for our first strike this leg. Have a silver spoon and a Rebella in the water. Wind 10-12 knots; boat speed 5.5 knots. On a broad reach. Seas 4 to 5 feet. Shook reef out of main and speed increased to 6.1 knots.

Tim from Ghost hosted the 9:00 AM net. Breakfast after the net consisted of, you guessed it, scrambled eggs, chilled fruit cocktail and a fresh (refrigerated) loaf of bread. Unlike American bread, foreign bread has no preservatives, is very 'heavy' and is very sweet. It lasts longer if we keep it refrigerated.

We put the spinnaker up at 10:30 AM. Picked up .7 knots of speed. Wind 9-11 knots; boat speed 5.4 knots. But by 11:00 AM the wind had gone forward of the beam and was gusting, just enough that we had to drop the spinnaker. Had a hard time rolling it up. The roller furler line is just a little too short. We'll have to buy a longer line in MacKay, maybe. Put jib back out but left spinnaker hanked on in case we wanted to fly it later in the day.

Joel rigged up one of our two hand fishing lines with a coke 'trigger.' The trigger lets us know if we get a hit. Being a hand line there is no pole. If we get a hit, the coke can will be pulled and make noise that we can hopefully hear. However, since Joel and I don't hear that well, that may be a challenge.

Our noon position was 18 degrees, 54 minutes South; 155 degrees, 0 minutes East; 268 miles to the Great Barrier Reef.

I took a nap from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM.

At 1:15 PM we put up a low side pole and dropped the spinnaker to the deck and stowed it in the V-Berth. Wind 10/11 knots; speed 6.5 knots.

At 2:27 PM we sighted our first non Rally vessel. A ship that passed from right to left on the horizon. All that we could see was the superstructure of the vessel. Because our AIS is broken, we couldn't get the name of the vessel.

Joel went below for a nap at 3:00 PM. At the same time he turned on the water maker to make water for 2 hours.

We sailed thru a school of fish at 3:15 PM. About 30 birds were diving into the water in front of the boat. I thought for sure with 3 lines in the water we'd get a hit or two. But nothing. Bummer.

Joel got up from his nap at 5:00 PM, and announced with a smile on his face that he was now wearing his long underwear. Joel is very cold blooded, in case you didn't know that. Right Darlene? Plus blue jeans.

Ghost conducted the 6:00 PM net. During the net Nexus said that an Australian Coast Guard plane flew over their boat, called them on channel 16, took pictures of Nexus and said that they had been advised (by Rally Control) that the World ARC fleet was coming to MacKay. Good job Hugh!

Dinner at 6:15 PM tonight was special, Shells in tomato sauce with meat and cheese. Made by Chef Jeanine. A special family recipe. A fabulous meal! Thank you Jeanine. Much better than our regular freeze dried while under sail. Not that freeze dried is bad. I'm going to have to think of something to cook tomorrow night to compete with her meal. Maybe steak and baked potatoes with New Zealand butter? Stay tuned.

At 6:21 PM Joel and I saw our 11th Green Flash since leaving Florida; and Jeanine saw her first. A Green Flash Virgin! When I told Jeanine that, she said she had 'seen the light.' Another flash convert.

At 7:28 PM I started the process to sending and receiving a log and emails via our SSB radio. The receiving station again was Darawank, NSW in Australia; 785 nautical miles away on a True heading of 185 degrees. The emails I sent out went out with a speed of 3,200; which is excellent. However, the receive speeds varied from 200, 600, 1,400, 2.800 and 3,600. Very slow as a result. By 7:43 PM all emails were sent. Fifteen minutes. Better than usual.

During my 9:00 PM to 12 midnight watch there were no clouds out. A good night to watch stars. I saw one falling star at 9:55 PM that started 30 degrees above the horizon and dropped to 10 degrees before disappearing, off the port bow. The 'low droppers' are cool to watch.

At 10:47 PM I observed a sailboat light to port 45 degrees. Wind 10/11 knots; boat speed 5.5 knots.

Joel relieved me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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