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American Spirit II - Day 281; Crisis in the Indian Ocean - Day 9 of 11; Monday, October 13, 2014



During the 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM watch, Jeremy's watch, the wind went really fluky at around 5:00 AM. A passing rain shower cuts off the wind and changed direction for a while.

I relieved Jeremy at 6:00 AM. The wind is still variable due to the passing rain shower. We're motoring at 1200 RPM with Merlyn 2 miles behind us. The wind is 12 knots and we're moving at 4.5 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land. I go from 1 reef to 2 reefs on the mainsail to slow the reef down. I'm hoping once the sun rises the wind and clouds will hopefully sort themselves out. I'm in full foul weather gear, pants and jacket; as its still cool out. October 13 is the equivalent of April 13 back home in the northern hemisphere.

Time wise, when Jeremy gets me up at 6:00 AM its really 4:00 AM local time. As I explained before, we're on Cocos Keeling start time for communication and watch purposes.

The sun rises at 7:39 AM thru a gap in the cloud bank on the horizon. A pretty sunrise but no green flash.

At 8:55 AM I start making bread, using Tracy from Folie a Deux's recipe. The bread actually does rise. What a surprise. I tell Jeremy that I'm calling the bread 'Lazarus,' after the biblical figure that JC raises from the dead.

We're in a busy shipping lane, with ships rounding the bottom of Africa and heading for Singapore. Merlyn is constantly talking to ships and having them change course as their CPA's (Closest Point of Approach) is under 1 miles for a bunch of these ships. Some have a CPA that is so close that they must change course or a collision is possible.

The communication net was hosted by Sandra from Sweet Pearl with fewer boats responding as many are already in.

Breakfast consists of bacon, scrambled eggs, chilled fruit cocktail and newly baked bread. The bread maker needs to refine his technique. The bread is a little too salty, and the crust a little hard. I cooked it too long and/or at too high of a temperature. Cutting it with a hard crust covering is a little difficult. Oh well, better than nothing. I'll try again Wednesday. Stay tuned.

Our noon position is 19 degrees, 13 minutes South; 15 degrees, 1 minute East; and we're 421 miles from Mauritius. We traveled 136 miles from noon yesterday, averaging 5.7 knots. Not bad.

Joel and I changed the halyard chafe points at 1:05 PM; and at 2:00 PM we fueled the boat, using a siphon hose with a check valve to put 7 jerry cans or 35 gallons (140 liters) into our boat fuel tank. The transferring process is difficult as we have 5-7 foot waves and the boat is rocking back and forth a lot. No diesel is spilled during the process, though.

At 2:25 PM Merlyn approaches us for a transfer from American Spirit this time instead of from Merlyn to American Spirit. It appears that the provisioner on Merlyn (who is that Jonathan?) ran out of beer. How awful! At any rate, Joel goes to the foredeck, Merlyn holds steady and I helm American Spirit as we approach Merlyn from astern, port and windward side. At the appropriate moment, Joel, who has meticulously coiled a line for throwing, throws the line and Sigi catches it. First time. Good job! A dry bag is then pulled across the 25 feet separating the boats with 12 cans of beer in it, 3 of which are cold; a box of micro wave popcorn; and an empty tupperware container that used to contain Jenny's fudge. These containers are like gold, so whenever you get one from a boat you must return it. The crew is so happy to get their 'care package' that I swear Sigi is dancing on the cabin top. He then goes to the stern and lifts a line from the water. On the end of the line is a Mahi Mahi. I hope they run out of beer again, because the next time we give them any we're bartering for that fish!

At 3:17 PM Jeremy and I attend Joel's sailing class in the cockpit, as Joel explains the 10/10 Rule. By that he means when you are going to a mark or waypoint, if you change course 10 degrees to go faster, you need to add 10% to your speed. Or don't do it. For example, if you're going at 5 knots, and you turn left 10 degrees to gain more speed, you should then be going at least 10% faster or 5.5 knots. Put differently, our chart plotter tells us our speed over the ground and also gives us our VMG speed. VMG stands for 'Velocity Made Good.' Taking the previous example, if we're going 5 knots, and change our speed to go faster, our VMG to our waypoint should increase or don't do it.

At 4:25 PM I notice that Merlyn is gaining on us from astern. They're now only .4 of a mile behind us now, and I suspect that they're sneaking up on us to board us and take more of our beer. You have to be careful whenever you have a boat from the UK behind you. Those Brits do love their beer! I shake out a reef to go faster, going from two reefs to one; increasing our speed about 1/2 knot. The wind is 13/15 out of the east and we're moving 5.0 knots thru the water and 6.0 knots over the land. Its sunny out with a lot of white trade wind type clouds around. This boarding attempt is defeated.

In emails between my yacht broker in St. Petersburg, Florida; and the rigger in Mauritius, I learn that my boat, which is called a 'Beneteau 40' in the United States; is actually called something different in Europe. Its called an 'Oceanis 40.' Who knew?!

At 4:43 PM I notice a sailboat to our northeast. I call them on the radio and they announce that they are Civetta II, another boat in our Rally. I talk to Vlado,owner and skipper. We exchange pleasantries. What a small world. Two weeks after leaving Cocos Keeling we pass a boat in our group 2,000 miles from the start. Amazing. I owe Vlado a beer when we get in because he was one of the boats that called us a week ago and offered to help us if we needed anything from him. Thank you Vlado!

Yesterday I asked Jeremy what we should call this voyage. I suggested 'The Long Voyage' or 'The Longest Voyage.' He likes 'The Longest Voyage' because of the 'long' emotions involved in this adventure. What emotions Jeremy? Like, 'We're all going to die!' Just kidding. I asked Jeremy when the 'event' happened, what he thought the chances were of the mast staying up. His response: 60/40; meaning 60% chance that it would stay up. Now he's revised his Las Vegas odds making to 80/20. I guess that means he still thinks there is a 20% chance of things still going south. Joel and I are pretty confident that that's not going to happen. Like 99%. Unless we get a gale, and we're not, then all bets are off.

I talk to Vlado on Civetta II again at 4:50 PM. I can't remember why he called me. That happens when you get over 50; or are sleep deprived.

Dinner at 5:30 PM consists of blackened Sirloin steak cooked on the grill by chef Joel; baked potato; 4 bean mix; and chilled pineapple pieces. Prior to cooking the steaks I cut off the fat that is along half of the steaks, because the last time we cooked steaks on the boat with a lot of fat on them we had an (almost) out of control grill fire!

From 6:00 PM to 7:42 PM I typed a log and some emails.

Sandra from Sweet Pearl hosted the 7:00 PM net.

The sun sets at 8:10 PM, but due to clouds on the horizon there is no green flash.

I nap from 8:15 PM to 8:50 PM, when Joel wakes me and I relieve him on watch.

During my 9:00 PM to midnight watch I listen to music with my headphones and read from my Kindle. I'm reading The Covenant by James Mitchner. A book about the history of South Africa. Since we're going to be spending two months there, understanding the history might put things in better perspective.

At 9:25 PM the wind is 12/13 knots and we're moving at 5.5 knots thru the water and 6.8 knots over the land. Thank you Mr. Current! Merlyn is 1.3 miles behind us;and Civetta II is visible (red masthead light) northeast of us maybe 7/8 miles away. Fix that AIS Vlado!

At 10:35 PM I see the lume of Rodriguez Island on the port bow 35 miles away.

I put in a second reef in the mainsail at 11:41 PM as a black cloud is fast approaching from astern. The wind is 13/14 and we're moving at 4.8 knots thru the water and 5.1 over the land. Our speed is dependant on Merlyn's speed as they're sailing and we're motor sailing. Since they're our 'rescue' vessel, we're not getting too far away from them.

Joel relieves me at midnight as he's doing the 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch. I then go to the navigation station and turn on the SSB radio. Before doing this I turn off the refrigerator and freezer as their compressors will distort my SSB reception if the compressors come on during my SSB session. I also turn off all lights and fans in the boat via one master switch at the navigation panel. Again, radiation from them can create SSB transmission and reception problems. I try connecting to a SSB station in the Red Sea, but get disconnected. Then I try Africa, and again get disconnected. Then I go back to Brunei in the Philippines, 3,321 nautical miles away at a heading of 70 degrees; and I'm connected. The send is at 1400 bytes per minute and the receive is at 1400, 2800 and 3200 bytes per minutes. Fast.

I get an email from the rigger in Mauritius which I'm not thrilled with. I've cut and pasted this email below:

Dear Brian

Although I understand your urgence and would like to help you out as much as I can, I cannot order any parts before a full assessment of the repair. Unfortunately there is little in way of rigging parts locally and I want to make sure that I do the job corectly. I propose to meet you at the boat as soon as you arrive so as to assez the repair and take action accordingly.

Kind regards

Bertrand HARDY
Managing Director

I was hoping to order a new forestay and have it waiting for me when we get into Mauritius. But that's not going to happen. With the fleet leaving Mauritius October 23rd it looks like there is a good chance we won't be going with them because we'll be waiting for parts. The good news is that the fleet goes to Reunion next, which is only 120 miles away; and they stay there for a week. So we still have a good chance of catching up with them before they leave Reunion for Richards Bay, South Africa.

I'm in bed at 1:10 AM.

Brian Fox

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