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American Spirit II - Day 92; Nuku Hiva Mistake, Sleeping Clothes, Fans, Low Side Pole (Again), and On the Way to Ahe; Saturday, April 5, 2014



Upon leaving Nuku Hiva I realized that due to the snack bar with free and good Wifi, we were distracted and missed an opportunity to explore Nuku Hiva. We spent too much time at the snack bar. Specifically, Daniel's Bay, which is 2 to 3 miles to the west of our anchorage, has a waterfall that you can get to by hiking thru the mountains. We could have gone there for a day in our boat, and then motored back to the anchorage we were in. Live and learn. No way will any of us ever be here to explore that waterfall and mountain hike again.



I was awakened at 2:20 AM by the howling and whistling wind and rocking boat. The wind and seas were increasing. When sleeping, you tend to notice changes in boat motion and noise levels. I got up and after talking with Joel, who was on the 12:00 AM - 3:00 AM watch, we put one reef in the mainsail. With Stephen's first watch coming up at 3:00 AM, my concern was that I didn't want him overburdened with an increasing wind speed situation. Since he's not familiar enough with our in mast roller furling to put a reef in himself, he'd have to wake Joel or me up to do so; or just leave things as is, even if he thought the wind increase required a reef. Getting back to sleep was tough because of the heat and rocking motion of the boat.



At 6:00 AM Stephen woke me for the morning watch. The sun was already up, and with only a few clouds on the horizon, a green flash might have been visible. If I want to see any more sunrise green flashes, I'll have to get up before 6:00 AM to do so.



The Hydro Generator and Wind Turbine charged the batteries overnight, so there was no need to turn the generator on.



When you're off watch at night, trying to get your 6 hours of sleep; or even when you nap during the daytime, there are basically 3 clothing options that you have in doing so. One, sleep in your clothes. The advantage of this is that if there is an emergency, then you don't have to put anything on to tend to it. Also, you don't waste time getting undressed and then dressed again. The disadvantages are that you're hotter, and as a result your clothes could get smellier sooner as you may sweat more. Joel prefers this option. Option two is to disrobe and put on some sort of sleeping clothes or pajamas, which is what I do. I put on a pair of cotton shorts over my undergarment. Option 3 is to sleep with half of your clothes on. Shorts stay on, shirt goes off. Mike, who just left us in Nuku Hiva, practiced that option. So there you have it. I guess a fourth option is to sleep in the buff. With 3 guys on board, that's not happening!



To help keep cool on the boat, we have 8, 3-speed fans spread around the boat: two in the V-Berth up front; two in the main salon; one in the galley; one in the head/shower area; and two in that aft cabin. These fans are very efficient amp usage wise, with the lowest setting using less than 1/4 amp. However, whenever you leave an area where you had a fan on, its important to turn the fan off. No reason to waste electricity. We have two air conditioners on the boat, but we don't normally use them unless we're at anchor or in a marina.



At 7:17 AM the wind was 20-22 knots, and the seas were building. Eventually we'd have 10 foot seas today. That equals the highest wave levels we've had on the entire circumnavigation so far. We had a lot of 10 foot waves from Galapagos to Hiva Oa.



At 8:12 AM a 'fluke' wave hit perpendicular to the boat, just forward of the dodger, and spilled water down the main cabin hatch. Not a lot, but enough that I had to zipper up the dodger center window.



In preparing breakfast, we encountered our first 'bad egg.' When I cracked it open it smelled bad and looked bad. That's why I crack one egg in a separate bowl at a time. If an egg is bad, only the bad egg is lost - not the whole 6 egg breakfast batch.



Since we had a low side pole set with the jib, I talked to Joel about the one problem with that. Namely, that if you want to reef the jib at night when there is only one person on watch, you really can't do that with a pole out. So we decided that we'd evaluate every night before watches start whether to douse the pole or not. We'd douse it if we thought the wind would increase a lot; and leave it if we thought it would drop or stay the same.



At 11:00 AM Joel, on American Spirit II, conducted our boat's first communication's net. Even though from now until the April 24 Tahiti rendezvous is considered 'free cruising,' some boats are going to the same islands and this give them a chance to exchange information on passes, anchorages, problems, etc. Without a pre-planned radio net, no boat would have their SSB tuned to the right frequency at the right time. We don't leave our SSB radios on 24/7.



After the radio net Joel and I replaced the two 5 and 20 micro filers for the water filter. The 20 micron filter, the one with the larger openings in it, was filthy with algae. After we changed the filters, we turned on the water maker again to make water and were getting twice the GPH (Gallons per Hour) that we were getting the day before.



Our noon position is: 10 degrees, 25 minutes South; 141 degrees 47 minutes West; and we are 359 miles from Ahe, our first stop in the Tuomotos.



At 5:15 PM we got a big fish strike on our fishing line. The line bent way over, but even before the line could sing out, the fish spit the silver spoon out. (We reeled the line in and the silver spoon was still attached to the line).



With the wind continuing to increase, with a steady 20-24 knots, we reefed the jib. The main was already reefed.



We thought we were going to have a green flash tonight, but large waves obstructed our vision right at the crucial time when the sun's upper limb passed thru the horizon. Bummer.



Dinner tonight consisted of freeze dried: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Chicken Breast with Rib Meat and Mashed Potatoes; French bread, and chilled peach halves.



During my 9:00 PM to midnight watch, the wind stayed up at 20-24 knots and we were averaging speeds of 7 to 8 knots over the ground. The boat continued to rock 15 degrees left and right.



The challenge for the next couple of days will be to keep boat speed above 7 knots so we can enter thru the pass at Ahe around noon to early afternoon. The atolls in the Tuomotos can not be entered in the dark; and they should be entered a half hour after low or high tide. If we can't get to Ahe in daylight, we'll either have to wait outside the pass for noon the next day to enter, or skip this atoll and proceed on to another atoll that we can enter at the right time the following day. The Tuomotos atolls are the grave yard of yachts in the Pacific, even the world. We don't want to contribute to that reputation. And the water in the atolls is always going out the passes. The tides just influence the strength going out. The reason is that as waves crash into the reefs surrounding the atolls, the water splashes into the inside of the atoll into the lagoon. The water level inside the lagoon is 3 to 4 feet higher than the surrounding ocean, because the water can only escape out of the lagoon by going out the passes.



Brian Fox

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