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American Spirit II - Day 76; Bad Eggs, Hot , Dolphin Show & Another Time Zone; Thursday, March 20, 2014



Great night sleep, despite rock and roll of boat all night. Going downwind (and waves) has its disadvantages concerning boat motion. Sunrise cloud obstructed, again. Will we ever have a cloudless sunrise?

At 8:34 AM under 300 miles to Hiva Oa. That's right, 'Oa' not 'Hoa.' I've been spelling it wrong for 3 weeks. Oops.[... and Rally Control have been correcting it !!! - Ed]

During the 9:00 AM net half the boats no longer tuning in because they've already finished.

No more eggs for breakfast. After three of the first six I cracked were bad, I decided to toss the whole lot - the remaining 24. We had freeze dried for breakfast instead. The eggs should last unrefrigerated for 3 weeks; however, I think that when we got them in the Galapagos March 1 they were already 'aged.' In the future on long passages I'll stick a couple dozen in the refrigerator.

We were treated to a dolphin show by 7 or 8 dolphin at 10:00 AM. Jumping in front of the bow, swimming under the bow pressure wave, and making 'torpedo' runs at our bow. They kept this up for about 20 - 30 minutes. Got some good pictures and video.

Noon position: 9 degrees, 48 minutes South; 134 degrees, 17 minutes West. 290 miles to Hiva Oa.

The atmosphere on the boat is HOT. The ocean temperature is up to 87, from 84 a few days or weeks ago; and because we're going downwind, and because the wind is lightening up, its sweltering on the boat. Lot of sweat.

At 12:05 PM we defrosted the freezer. Only took about 15 minutes. Made a big difference. In the future we'll defrost it at least once a week. Not sure whey the freezer is always getting snowed up. After defrosting it the compressor ran less, meaning we spent fewer amps or less battery power to keep the items enclosed in it frozen.

At 4:50 PM the wind was 12-16 from the east north east, and our speed was 5.7 knots. Some clouds. Mostly sunny. During the sunset, there was no green flash, and as usual, clouds obstructed the sun as it went below the horizon. Once the sun set, a lot of stars came out due to a late moon rise.

The afternoon net was at 5:00 PM local time, as we went thru another time zone today - 135 degrees West.

Dinner consisted of spaghetti, butter and garlic sauce for Joel and Brian; tomato sauce for Mike. (Mike's heritage is from Sicily). Mike had to have another small pizza, also. (Only one left Mike!). Re fried beans and cut pineapple pieces finished off the meal.

The moon rose at 10:35 PM thru the clouds, out of the east (behind us). Big, waxing and orange. Quite a sight.

At 11:00 PM we passed the 200 mile mark to Hiva Oa. Should get in before sunrise Saturday.

Brian Fox 

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