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American Spirit II - Day 141; Arrivaed at Niue After Hard Sail and a Lower Shrowd Wire Broke; Sunday, May 25, 2014



12:05 AM wind down a little, 18-22 knots, boat speed 6.7-7.0 knots. Twenty-five minutes later the wind was back up and a heavier set of clouds was upon us.

At 1:00 AM after Joel relieved me I was successful in sending out our latest log and emails and receiving same. After that I took a shower and went to bed.

I woke up early and relieved Joel at 5:51 AM. The wind was 16-20 and our boat speed was 6.8-7.0 knots. Joel had let out more jib before leaving his watch. I'll probably let out more main in a little while once I can get a feel for what the wind is doing. And after I finish my coffee. There was a low cloud cover with the 1/3 moon casting a faint light on the surrounding clouds, 20% up from the horizon. The planet Uranus was to the right and up from the moon, very close to it. An interesting sight.

The wind came up again and was blowing 24 knots at 8:08 AM. Our boat speed was up to 8.2 knots. At 8:30 AM I turned the wind turbine off because it was 'freewheeling' and then dumping its energy because it was spinning too fast. It does this when the winds get above 25 knots. Its a very loud process. First the wind turbine sounds like an airplane propeller spinning out of control, then discharging its 'overcharge.' Very weird sounding. A little while later we , hit a boat speed of 8.9 knots.

The 9:30 AM communications net was held, with everyone giving out their positions, wind speed and direction.

I took a nap from 10:30 AM to 1:35 PM, then Joel took a nap for a couple of hours after that.

Our noon position was written down and then lost, so our position was 18 degree, 30 minutes South and 169 degrees, 29 minutes West at 1:56 PM. The wind was 16 knots with a boat speed of 7.2 knots, with 46 miles to go to Niue.

At 4:00 PM Free & Breezy was 1/2 mile to our starboard. We then passed them and pulled ahead of them for the final approach to the anchorage in Niue.

At 4:40 PM Joel noticed that our lower, port shroud had a wire broken in it. If this lower shroud failed, the entire mast would come down and our circumnavigation would come to an end this year. Getting a new mast into Fiji and then getting it installed could take a month or two. The rally fleet would be long gone by then.

Joel sighted Niue at 5:48 PM, 20 miles out.

Dinner at 5:45 PM consisted of freeze dried Beef Stew, green peas and chilled fruit cocktail.

At 6:26 PM I called Radio Niue on Channel 16, as per rally instructions, to let them know that we were making an approach to their island. There was no answer at this time.

Niue Radio called me at 8:42 PM and I gave them information that they requested about the boat, number of persons on board, port of registration, country, etc. The whole process took about 10 minutes of answering questions.

At 9:01 PM Bora Bora time we crossed the finish line that extended 1 mile from the wharf in Alofi. At this time we changed our watches and the boat's clocks to local time, which was 8:01 PM. By 9:16 PM we were tied up at mooring ball number 15. Because of the water depths surrounding Niue, there are 20 mooring balls for boats to tie up to. These mooring balls belong to and are maintained by the Niue Yacht Club, reportedly the smallest yacht club in the world. With no boats. The boat II Audeacious was helpful in that they showed us where a vacant mooring ball was by shining their light on it and turning their deck light on to guide us in.

After a couple of welcoming cocktails supplied by ourselves, we went to bed at 10:50 PM.

342 Days until home.

Brian Fox

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