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American Spirit II - Day 253; Good Sailing and Weather So Far and We Conduct a Man Overboard Drill to Retrieve a Bucket; Monday, September 15, 2014



Turned the engine on for the first time since starting the leg at 1:05 AM. Wind lightening.

Up at 6:00 AM; turned the engine off at 6:13 AM. The wind is 8/9 and we're moving 4.6 knots thru the water and 4.5 knots over the land. Not fast, but moving. The sun rose at 6:19 AM. No green flash due to a hazy horizon. Seven Rally boats are around us and visible on our AIS; a couple visually.

I put one fish line in the water at 6:40 AM.

At 6:43 AM 4 3 - 4 foot dolphins swam by the boat from right to left, just missing the bow; jumping 4 feet out of the water at every chance they got. It was quite a sight. Very cool.

I had to turn the engine on again at 7:37 AM. Bummer. The wind had dropped to 5/7 knots. We're now moving at 6.4 knots over the ground.

Alpheratz hosted the 9:00 AM communications net.

Breakfast at 9:20 AM consisted of scrambled eggs, cut up potato, chilled pear halves and bread. Jeremy is our new dishwasher and is doing a good job. 'Good' means clean dishes but with minimal water usage. The dishes are first rinsed with salt water (we have a foot pedal salt water pump at the galley), then washed and rinsed with fresh water.

At 10:00 AM Joel saw a 12 inch shark fin surface alongside the starboard, aft quarter of the boat about 10 yards away. Good eyes Joel.

We rolled the jib up at 10:10 AM as the wind was light and the jib was flopping and popping.

At about 11:00 AM we lost one of our two two gallon white buckets overboard. I'll take credit for that one. After failing to retrieve it with a boat hook, Joel jumped in the water 'au natural' to retrieve it. It had already started to sink but he managed to grab it 10 feet down. I then motored back to pick him up. Shortly thereafter Jeremy did some laundry in the back of the boat, using our 'wash plunger' to do so. Salt water cleaning in the retrieved bucket, followed by 2 fresh water rinses. Then on to the life line to dry. Things you have to do to clean your clothes under sail.

Our noon position was 9 degrees, 13 minutes South; and 113 degrees, 12 minutes East.

A fish hit one of our fishing lines, the line ran out, then it was gone. At least we didn't lose the lure.

I took a nap from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM; and Joel napped from 1:50 PM to 4:05 PM.

Alpheratz called at 2:40 PM to say that they had a fishing boat approaching them. We neve heard back so I guess the boat never got too close.

We had another fish hit one of our lines at 4:24 PM, but again it shook the lure and escaped.

Dinner at 5:20 PM consisted of 8 blackened chicken legs cooked on the grill by chef Joel; white rice cooked in the micro wave oven; mixed vegetables cooked on the stove; and chilled sliced mango.

At 5:43 PM we turned the engine off and rolled the jib out. We're sailing again! The wind was 10 knots,our speed thru the water 6.3 knots and our speed over the ground 7.0 knots. We had a .7 knot helping current.

Alpheratz hosted the 6:00 PM communications net.

The sunset at 6:20 PM was cloudy, so no green flash.

I typed 2 logs and did emails from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM, but didn't send them out as I was tired and still weak from the bronchitis I was fighting.

I took a 'power nap' from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM. It was a good one. I felt much better when I got up for my 9:00 PM to 12:00 midnight watch.

During my nap Joel had to evade or keep an eye out for two sets of fishing boats that had turned their white working lights off as we approached. Go figure. He then put a reef in the mainsail before I came on watch.

At 9:00 PM the wind was 15/16 knots, our speed thru the water 6.6 knots and over the land 7.1 knots. Alpheratz and Merlyn of Poole were near us going 8.6 knots. Bigger boats go faster, with the former being 51 feet and the latter 45 feet.

There was a LOT of phosphorescence in the water, a LOT!!! I spent a lot of time looking at it, shooting off the sides of the boat in the waves we were generating; and especially being stirred up by our hydro generator at the back of the boat. Balls of phosphorescence 12 inches in diameter were shooting from under the boat into our stern wake,every 5 or 10 seconds. You never get tired of seeing stuff like that. The stars were also really bright tonight with no moon. However, it was a little cool out, so I was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a pullover plus pants.

I shook the reef out of the main at 9:40 PM and our speed increased to 8.3 knots. We were broad reaching with the wind over our port, aft quarter.

At 11:15 PM the wind was 11/12 knots and our speed 6.3 knots. The wind was lightening a little. I could see fishing lights over the horizon off the port beam. Good place for them. The German Rally boat Polaris was coming up fast on our port side a couple miles away. At 47 feet they should be passing us (we're 40 feet).

Joel relieved me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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