American Spirit II - Day 258; Light Air and Some Motoring to Cocos Keeling; Saturday, September 20, 2014


At 3:05 AM Joel and Jeremy put up a low side pole on the starboard side.



I got up at 5:30 AM. The wind was 15/16 knots, our speed thru the water was 5.4 knots and over the ground 6.8 knots. A 1.4 knot helping current. Let's hope that current stays all the way to Africa! The wind is almost dead astern. Reason we're going so slow.



At 6:50 AM I saw Lluiton on our AIS 4.4 miles astern. I can see their sails as its getting light out now. Sweet Pearl is also behind us not too far away, but their AIS is intermittent so I can't see exactly where they are.



Sunrise at 7:01 AM Bali Start Time (6:01 AM locally). The sun was already 5 degrees above the horizon when I noticed it. Clouds obstructed it until then.



I put one fishing line in the water at 7:05 AM. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.



At 8:09 AM I saw Sweet Pearl 45 degrees aft, starboard about 4 miles away. With the addition of Frank as a new crew member they're sailing faster than they ever have before. Good crew pick up Tom and Sandra!



I'm reading a book titled '1,227 Facts to Blow Your Socks Off,' and one such 'fact' is this: The opening lines of a book called 'Three Men in a Boat' is 'There were four of us.' Oops. Maybe the 'fourth' didn't last long.



The 9:00 AM communications net was hosted by Bradley from Alpheratz on frequency 6B instead of 4C. Reception for boats further away was better as a result. And the reception and clarity from Nexus especially was really good.



Breakfast at 9:40 AM: bacon, eggs, chilled pear halves and bread.



At 11:10 AM we jibed the boat and went wing on wing with the boom on the port side and tri-reacher pole on the starboard side. The wind was 14 knots, our speed thru the water was 5.0 and over the land 6.6. We jibed the boom back to starboard again a little while later and extended the tri-reacher pole out more to stop the jib from popping.



Our noon position was 10 degrees, 54 minutes South; 103 degrees, 39 minutes East; and we 07.5 miles from Cocos Keeling.



I napped from 12:15 PM to 2:15 PM and Joel napped starting at 2:47 PM. The wind was 11/12 and our speed had dropped to 5.5 knots.



At 4:15 PM a group of about 12 porpoises swam and jumped at the bow of the boat for about 10-15 minutes. They were 4-5 feet in length.



At 4:20 PM we were forced to put the engine on as the wind was now down to 6 knots. We motor sailed at 7.3 knots instead of 4.3 knots.



At 4:49 PM a sea turtle swam by the port side of the boat in a panic as we almost ran it down. Its shell was 2 feet in diameter.



Dinner at 5:30 PM was rib eye steak, blackened and cooked on the grill by chef Joel; sweet and baked potatoes cooked in the micro wave over; green peas cooked on the stove; home made garlic bread cooked in the over; and chilled pineapple pieces for dessert. Who says you can't eat well on a sail boat in the middle of an ocean?



Alpheratz hosted the 6:00 PM net, and a topic of conversation was the incoming bad weather that was approaching. You could tell on the radio that people were a little tense about it.



I sent a log and emails out via the SSB radio at 7:12 PM and had completed the sending and receiving by 7:18 PM. That was fast! It looks like turning off the refrigerator and freezer compressors and other boat electronics is helping our SSB reception a lot.



Lluiton called me on the VHF radio and wanted to know our intentions regarding entering Cocos Keeling. They want to enter at night and I told them I'm thinking of entering in the day time. We'll keep in touch. 'Buddy' boats.



I took a power nap from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. When I hit the pillow at 7:30 PM the next thing I knew was Joel waking me up at 8:55 PM for my watch.



My 9:00 PM to 12:00 AM watch was uneventful. The wind was 12 knots, our speed thru the water was 6.5 and over the land 6.9.



I entered the 6 waypoints for entry into Cocos Keeling Direction Island anchorage in my I Pad to facilitate our entry into the lagoon and anchorage.



Finally, I've attached below the sort of weather report we get from Rally control. It looks complicated, and it is, but its helpful in knowing what sort of weather is coming - direction, wind speed and wave height. The forecasts are for the different geographical GRIDS we're in, since boats can be a few hundred miles apart on the same day. I'll go into GRID in tomorrow's log.



WEATHER ROUTING INC. IS PROUD TO BE A WEATHER PROVIDER FOR THE WORLD ARC BALI

TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND TO COCOS

PREPARED: SEPTEMBER 17 22:47Z

FM: WEATHER ROUTING INC. (WRI)



SYNOPSIS: A BROAD RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE NOW EXTENDS FROM WEST CENTRAL

AUSTRALIA W'WARD TO 85E. THIS RIDGE WILL SHIFT N'WARD, AND MERGE WITH ANOTHER

RIDGE THAT WILL EXTEND FROM 33S/78E NE'WARD TO 15S/105E BY 20/12Z. A CLUSTER OF

SHOWERS/SQUALLS CENTERED NEAR 05S/91E WILL MOVE SW'WARD TO 09S/93E THROUGH

20/12Z BUT NO TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED.



CONCLUSION: WINDS FOR ALL GRIDS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH THROUGH 20/12Z AS THE

ABOVE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE MOVES N'WARD AND ULTIMATELY MERGES WITH THE OTHER

RIDGE. WINDS WILL ALSO TEND TO BE ON THE HIGHER END OF RANGES ACROSS THE W'RN

PORTIONS OF THE GRIDS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THE ONLY CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION

WILL BE LATER IN THE FORECAST PERIOD FOR GRID 10G DUE TO THE ABOVE CLUSTER OF

SHOWERS/SQUALLS, OTHERWISE, SKIES WILL BE PARTLY-MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH ONLY THE

SLIGHTEST CHANCE OF A SHOWER OR SQUALL.



10D FORECAST:

18/00 GMT(T + 0): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 15-20KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSE-SSW

5-8FT (7SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.8KTS.

18/12 GMT(T + 12): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 15-20KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SE-S

5-7FT (6SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.8KTS.

19/00 GMT(T + 24): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 14-19KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SE-S

5-7FT (5SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY.. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.7KTS.

19/12 GMT(T + 36): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 14-19KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SE-S

4-6FT (5SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM E @ 0.8KTS.

20/00 GMT(T + 48): WINDS ENE-ESE(68 - 113) 13-18KTS. SEAS 2-3 SWELLS

SSE-SSW 4-6FT (6SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 0.4KTS.



10E FORECAST:

18/00 GMT(T + 0): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

7-9FT (14SEC). SKIES CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 0.8KTS.

18/12 GMT(T + 12): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

6-8FT (13SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 1.1KTS.

19/00 GMT(T + 24): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

6-8FT (12SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM E @ 0.8KTS.

19/12 GMT(T + 36): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 15-20KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

6-8FT (12SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 1.3KTS.

20/00 GMT(T + 48): WINDS ENE-ESE(68 - 113) 14-19KTS. SEAS 2-3 SWELLS S-SW

6-8FT (16SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ENE @ 0.8KTS.



10F FORECAST:

18/00 GMT(T + 0): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 19-24KTS. SEAS 3-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.9KTS.

18/12 GMT(T + 12): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 19-24KTS. SEAS 3-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM E @ 1.1KTS.

19/00 GMT(T + 24): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

6-8FT (7SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.8KTS.

19/12 GMT(T + 36): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 15-20KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS S-SW

6-8FT (7SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM E @ 1.2KTS.

20/00 GMT(T + 48): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 13-18KTS. SEAS 2-3 SWELLS S-SW

6-8FT (15SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM ESE @ 0.6KTS.



10G FORECAST:

18/00 GMT(T + 0): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM NNE @ 0.5KTS.

18/12 GMT(T + 12): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 18-23KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSW-WSW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM NE @ 1KTS.

19/00 GMT(T + 24): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 17-22KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS SSE-SSW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. CURRENTS FROM NNE @ 0.6KTS.

19/12 GMT(T + 36): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 14-19KTS. SEAS 2-4 SWELLS S-SW

7-9FT (7SEC). SKIES PARTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED SHOWERS/SQUALLS. CURRENTS FROM

NNE @ 0.9KTS.

20/00 GMT(T + 48): WINDS E-SE(90 - 135) 12-17KTS. SEAS 2-3 SWELLS S-SW

6-8FT (15SEC). SKIES MOSTLY CLOUDY. SCATTERED SHOWERS/SQUALLS CURRENTS FROM N

@ 0.5KTS.



Brian Fox