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American Spirit II - Day 389; A Great Day of Sailing; We Enter Into a New Time Zone; & See Our First AIS Contact Since S.t. Helena; Friday, January 30, 2015



Around 4:00 AM this morning we cross 15 degrees West Longitude; and thereby enter into another time zone. However, we're not changing our watches and clocks on board as we're on 'St. Helena Start Time.' That way, all the boats are on the same time for the morning and evening communication nets. Otherwise, boats would be spread over 2 time zones and could be spread over 3.



Up at 6:30 AM. I 'slept in' because Jeanine didn't wake me. The wind is 8 knots and we're motoring at 5.4 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land. At 6:47 AM I roll the mainsail out. Now we're motor sailing. Go figure.



The sun rises at 6:50 AM. With clouds on the horizon, there is no green flash.



At 7:31 AM I turn the engine off and wake Joel. Its time to roll the spinnaker out again. The spinnaker is rolled up on its own roller furling attached to the anchor hardware on the bow. I used to have a 'sock,' but went with the roller just because that way we could leave the spinnaker up when we were done using it. For the first 2/3rds of the trip I missed the sock. Now we have the roller furling working well. A learning curve. I hesitate to wake Joel because I don't want to wake him in the middle of his night, as he got off watch at 3:00 AM. But turning off the motor and sailing again is a very high priority due to our having only so much fuel on board. We can motor 900 miles; maybe 1,000. But not 1,900. The wind is 12 knots and we're now sailing at 5.9 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land. We're sailing northwest instead of west, but that's down wind sailing with a chute. You zigzag toward your objective. Its not straight line sailing.



At 8:25 AM I see my 3rd school of flying fish in 30 minutes. The most I've seen since leaving Cape Town. At 8:27 AM I roll out the 2 hand line fishing lines. The line on the rod and reel was left out overnight. Oops.



At 9:30 AM the wind is 12/15 knots and we're moving at 6.8 knots thru the water and 6.5 knots over the land. A rare current against us.



Tommy from NDS Darwin hosts the 10:00 AM net. Most of the boats reporting in have lower wind speeds than we have.



Breakfast at 10:25 AM consists of scrambled eggs; cut up, spiced and cooked in olive oil potato; chilled pear halves; and brown bread...for Joel and me. Jeanine has oat meal, pear halves and tea with honey.



We jibe the spinnaker and boom at 11:05 AM. The procedures we follow are:



1) Let go the spinnaker sheet and roll up the spinnaker;

2) Ease the preventer line (which keeps the boom from jibing);

3) Roll in the mainsheet, tightly;

4) Switch one preventer line for another;

5) Turn the boat 30-50 degrees to jibe the mainsail;

6) Lower the traveler from one side to the other as the boat jibes;

7) Ease out the mainsail, then tighten up on the main sheet and preventer;

8) Roll out the spinnaker while pulling on the spinnaker sheet;

9) Tighten the 'tweeker.' (The tweeker is a sheet that pulls the spinnaker sheet closer into the side of the boat).

10)Adjust our course and put the auto pilot on 'wind.' That way we'll keep the same wind angle all the time and won't have to continually trim the spinnaker. We're cruising, not racing.



Voila! The whole spinnaker jibe takes about 7-10 minutes.



We're now on a port tack, with the spinnaker and boom on the starboard side. The wind is 10/12 knots and we're sailing at 5.3 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land.



Our noon position is 13 degrees, 36 minutes South; 15 degrees, 36 minutes West; and we're 1,331 nautical miles from Salvador, Brazil. When we left Cape Town we had 3,600 miles to Brazil; so we're more than half way there. From noon yesterday we traveled 129 miles at an average speed of 5.4 knots or 6.2 miles per hour.



Joel changed the generator impeller at 1:00 PM. That's the third generator impeller we're lost on the trip. I had 5 spare impellers on the boat but could only find one of them; and I was looking for two spare cockpit locker locks that I couldn't find. It was maddening not being able to find these items. However, I finally did. Both items were in a small zip lock bag buried in the hidden hold area. I moved them to the white Yanmar spare parts box so they'll be easy to find in the future. The impeller is shaped like a paddle wheel on a steam ship and 'impels' water into the generator. (Not sure if 'impels' is a verb). Three of the 6 rubber paddles had broken off. With the impeller broken, water couldn't get into the generator to cool it. So it stopped running. That's a good safety feature. We use the generator to charge the boat batteries and to power the micro wave over; usually to bake potatoes and cook popcorn.



At 1:42 PM we had our first AIS (Automatic Identification System) contact since leaving St. Helena last Monday. A 1,089 foot tanker called the Ayacucho heading to Venezuela. Its ETA there is February 8. It crossed our bow 10 miles ahead of us, going from left to right.



At 2:00 PM we turned on the generator for 5 minutes and cooked a bag of micro wave popcorn. Finger licking good! Or is that chicken?



From 2:16 PM to 3:02 PM I typed one log and did emails; then Joel and I used the satellite phone to send and receive the messages. We got disconnected on the first attempt (those pesky satellite's!).



I napped from 3:15 PM to 4:15 PM; then we jibed the spinnaker and boom at 4:25 PM, going to starboard tack. Joel then took a shower and shaved; and then napped from 4:30 PM to 5:38 PM.



At 4:35 PM the wind is 8/9 knots and we're sailing at 3.9 knots thru the water and 4.5 knots over the land. We're heading north of our rumb line about 20-25 degrees.



Dinner at 6:35 PM is freeze dried Turkey Tetrazzini; baked potato; canned 'baby' corn; and chilled pear halves. Our 'freeze dried' dinners are cooked by boiling a cup of water and then pouring it and mixing it in the aluminum package for 9 minutes. Then voila! The bags have 2 servings in them; but we serve 3. The 'boat diet' strikes again!



Tommy from NDS Darwin hosts the 7:00 PM net, and directs us to say what we're having for dinner. A good idea Tommy. Some of the dinners I hear on the radio are culinary masterpieces! Nexus has a spaghetti meal celebrating their being half way to Brazil. We won't have our 'celebratory' meal until at least Monday.



We jibe again at 7:35 PM, so now the spinnaker and boom are on the starboard side and we're on a port tack. I think the reason we keep jibing so much is that Joel must get bored and has to do something on the boat. Is he ADD? That's my theory. Or as they say in the newspaper business, 'That's my story and I'm sticking to it.'



I nap from 7:40 PM to 8:50 PM, then assume watch duties from Joel for the 9:00 PM to midnight watch. Jeanine is already in bed as she's standing the 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch. At 9:00 PM the wind is 11 knots and we're sailing at 5.0 knots thru the water and 5.4 knots over the land. The sky is crystal clear; there is a 2/3rds moon out; Venus is setting on the bow at 3 degrees above the horizon; and Jupiter is rising directly behind us, at 20 degrees above the horizon. Its a nice night. Earlier I had taken out the canvas insert connecting the dodger and bimini, so I could see the heaven's more clearly.



At 11:30 PM the wind is 11/12 knots and we're sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.7 knots over the land; and our COG (Course Over Ground) is 257 degrees.



Joel relieves me at midnight.



Brian Fox


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