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American Spirit II - Day 67; Fish Fly in for Lunch ; Fixing the Hydro Generator under Sail; & Halfway to Marquesas; Tuesday, March 11, 2014



Awakened abruptly today with Mike and Joel talking about the hydro generator. It had stopped working. Why? Because the line holding it down has snapped. Second time this has happened. With 10 foot seas running up behind us, attaching a new line is doable but taking safety precautions are a must before doing so. No need to fix it now. The wind turbine is turned on, then Joel is back to bed. It's the middle of his night since he got off shift at 3:00 AM. Because the wind turbine can't generate all the electricity we need under sail, I turned off the refrigerator and freezer until we either start the electric generator later or fix the hydro generator and put it back in the water. All things considered, breaking a line on the hydro is a good problem to have because its fixable under way.

Windy, with 20-22 knots of wind. 10 foot seas. Jib has 1/2 reef in it, main 1 1/2 reef's. Cloudy but clearing behind us. Speed 6.3 knots, 1/2 knot of current against us for a change. Before the clear skies get to us, 2 squalls approached from the southeast at 8:25 AM. The one on the left looks ugly. I closed up the dodger window and put 1/2 more reef in the jib. Luckily, both missed us a while later. Just barely, passing astern less than a mile away.

We turned on the electric generator at 9:20 AM to charge batteries for the 10:00 AM radio net.

At 9:40 AM a approximately 36 Spinner Dolphins came up behind us, on both sides of the boat, to jump alongside and off our bow. A few jumped clear of the water, and a couple spun in the air before landing in the water. Hence the name 'Spinner' dolphin. It is a rare dolphin that jumps and spins in the air. Theone we saw were gray and 4 or 5 feet long. They swam and jumped in tandem with one or two other dolphins alongside them. Very 'military.'

Noon position: 7 degrees, 5 minutes South; 112 degrees, 47 minutes West. 1,567 miles to Hiva Hoa. We've gone 1,413 miles.

After the 10:00 AM net (11:00 AM Galapagos time), Joel and I got in our swim suits and put our harnesses on, then hooked ourselves to the boat. As Joel cut off the broken line on the hydro generator and then put a new, thicker line back on, I held on to him by grabbing the back of his harness as he was using both of his hands while crouching and sitting one step up from the transom. Once the hydro generator was fixed it was put back in the water. Presto. Working again.

Before lunch I took a tour of the foredeck and found 7 flying fish. In reading the book Kon-Tiki, the author indicated that every morning the cook picked up all the flying fish on the raft and cooked them for breakfast in a skillet. With that in mind, I found a 6-8 inch flying fish that I decided to cook for lunch. An experiment. Not having a recipe, my plan was simple. Cut off the wings, heat skillet with olive oil, put fish in skillet, turn occasionally, then take the fish out of the skillet after the eyes popped out due to the interior temperature. I put the fish on a dinner plate, cut off the head, then sliced down the longitudinal axis of the fish, just deep enough to cut the skin. Then I peeled back the skin in 2 directions. Voila! The white meat was so tender that it collapsed when touched by a fork. Delicious! Mike and I shared the fish. It was not enough to satisfy our hunger, but the experiment was a success. Flying fish will make it into our skillet again many times before this trip is over. Next time I'll sauté the fish once cut open with melted butter and garlic. I sent an email to Diane, a friend and neighbor back in Tampa, asking for flying fish recipe's. I expected her to send none. Instead, she emailed me back a bunch of them. However, I don't have most of the ingredients in these recipe's. But I can buy what I need in French Polynesia. Thanks Diane!

Dinner consisted of BBQ chicken wings, micro waved because it was too windy to use the outside grill. Plus green beans and chilled mixed fruit. The boat was really rolling during dinner, and it requires extreme vigilance to keep the food, plates and especially the silverware from flying off the cockpit table and about the cockpit; and even off the boat.

During first part of my watch tonight (9:00 PM-12:00 AM) the wind died down a little to 13-17 knots, and the waves dropped down to 8 feet. Then by 11:00 PM the wind was back up to 20 knots, with our boat speed 7.4 knots.

At 11:20 PM we reached the halfway point on this leg from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands - 1,485 miles! Henceforth, each day we'll be getting closer to our first destination in French Polynesia. We're still hoping to arrive March 19; after 19 days at sea.

Brian Fox

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