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American Spirit II - Day 397; Less Than 300 Miles To Go To Salvador; Saturday, February 7, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 35; Off to Galapagos; Friday, February 7, 2014. At 11:00 AM all the (40)boats in the Rally started for the Galapagos with 'race start.' American Spirit II was over the line a few seconds early, so we had to do a 360 and restart. Oh well.

About 10 boats, including American Spirit, were flying Spinnakers. To go with our boat name, American Spirit, our Spinnaker is Red, White and Blue. For our British friends 'reviewing' this log, those are the colors of our national flag."

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We turn the engine on at 3:09 AM after dropping the pole. To charge batteries. Since charging batteries with the generator takes .3 gallon of diesel per hour and running the engine at 1,400 RPM takes .5, we decide to motor. That and we didn't want Jeanine to have to contend with the problem of the auto pilot cutting off.

I relieve Jeanine at 6:04 AM. The jib is rolled up but the pole is still in place so I can roll the jib out when the batteries are done being charged.

At 7:00 AM the wind is 11 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.9 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land.

At 8:02 AM the wind is 11 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.7 knots thru the water and 6.2 knots over the land.

The sun rises at 8:12 AM above a layer of clouds on the horizon. A big, yellow orb launches out of the clouds. Very pretty.

At 8:18 AM we turn the engine off and roll out the jib, using the tri-reacher pole as our whisker pole. We're now wing-on-wing again with the jib on the starboard side and the mainsail on port. The wind is 13 knots and we're sailing at 4.7 knots thru the water and 5.2 knots over the land. The reason we're not sailing faster is that we have the jib rolled up to the first reef as our tri-reacher pole isn't long enough to safely handle the jib all the way rolled out. Its much thinner than our whisker pole and therefore more fragile and much easier to break.

At 8:37 AM we sail thru a small school of 'jumping fish.' These fish are white or silver in color, 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. Instead of flying like flying fish, they just jump up a few inches out of the water,travel horizontally for a few feet, and then make a splash disproportionate for their size as they re-enter the water. Henceforth I'm calling them 'small jumping fish.' Flying fish can be 6 inches long also, but they are 1/2 the width of these fish and actually use their pectoral fins as wings as they launch themselves and 'fly' for up to 100 yards or more.

At 9:00 AM the wind is 12 knots and we're sailing at 4.6 knots thru the water and 5.2 knots over the land. Our COG is 257; and the course to Salvador is 272 and 343 miles away.

Joel hosts the 10:00 AM net. Adela, Civetta II, Saphir, Shaya Moya and Merlyn of Poole are on the net today. We're couldn't reach Free&BrEasy.

Breakfast at 11:00 AM consists of eggs; cut up potato; mandarin oranges; and browns bread...for Joel and me. Jeanine has oat meal, mandarin oranges and honey in her tea.

Our noon position is 13 degrees, 18 minutes South; 32 degrees, 49 minutes West; and we're 328 miles from Salvador. We're 130 miles closer today than we were yesterday, and traveled at an average speed of 5.4 knots the last 24 hours.

At 12:15 PM we rolled up the jib, dropped the pole and put the spinnaker back up. There was 9 knots of wind, and the spinnaker is our light air sail.

At 1:41 PM the wind is 11 knots and we're sailing at 5.5 knots thru the water and 5.7 knots over the land.

I go below to type one log and do emails at 1:30 PM until 2:33 PM. It takes about an hour to type one log; and I'm a fast typist. Not a pecker. One of the emails I'm sending out is to a company in Salvador that can fix our whisker pole. With Carnival upon us shortly, I need to get the pole fixed the first few days we get in or we may not be able to get it fixed for a week.

After that I fix the hamburgers for dinner later tonight, then put them back in the freezer so they'll get a little more consistency in them and they won't fall apart when I cook them.

I nap from 3:00 PM to 4:45 PM and Joel naps from 4 to 5:15 PM.

At 5:00 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're sailing at 4.6 knots thru the water and 4.8 knots over the land. Its cloudy out; and very warm.

While we're sailing we keep 'running over the wind.' Joel's explanation is that as the boat picks up speed and accelerates we're moving along nicely, then the wind dies and we sail faster than the wind; or something like that; and that causes the spinnaker to collapse.

Dinner at 6:05 PM consists of hamburger patties; cous cous; mixed vegetables; and chilled, canned peaches.

I host the 7:00 PM net. Boats on the net are Adela, American Spirit II, Civetta II, Shaya Moya, Polaris, Saphir, Free&BrEasy and Merlyn of Poole. A good net, as we get everyone still out on the air.

Jeanine holds the satellite phone in the cockpit as I dial up the sail mail server to send and receive our emails. We get a good connection, are not disconnected and complete the transmission in 5 minutes. Not bad.

The sun sets at 8:50 PM. With lots of clouds on the horizon, there is no chance for a green flash. Zero. Nada.

At 8:55 PM the wind is 11 knots and we're sailing at 5.0 knots thru the water and 5.2 knots over the land.

At 10:00 PM the wind is 13 knots and we're sailing at 5.3 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land.

At 11:00 PM the wind is 15 knots and building; and we're sailing at 6.5 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. There is a lot of phosphorescence in the water; in the waves we make bouncing off the side of the boast and in our wake behind the boat, especially coming off of the hydro generator. With its propeller, it churns up the water and creates 'sparks' shooting behind it. Its quite a sight.

At 11:10 PM I wake Joel up as the wind is rising and I don't want to carry the spinnaker in winds over 15 knots at night, with only one person on watch. So we drop the spinnaker and start the motor to charge the batteries and make a better course down the rumb line. Later when Joel comes on watch at midnight, we decide to motor in all the way to Salvador as we can't make it in daylight Monday under sail alone. The urgency of getting the whisker pole fixed is driving this decision.

At 11:18 PM the waning moon rises behind us, yellow and larger than normal as the low atmosphere magnifies it. It rises out of a long set of black clouds. A sight you never tire of.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox


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