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American Spirit II - Day 257; Leaving Christmas for Cocos Keeling 530 Miles Away; Friday, September 19, 2014



Up at 6:00 AM due to violent rocking and bumping of the boat. We're still rafted up to Nexus. Went back to sleep and got out of bed at 7:30 AM.



At 8:45 AM I took Jeremy to shore in the dingy to meet with Paul, the gas station owner who is going to fill our 3 jerry cans with diesel. Each can hold 5.3 gallons or 20 liters. The cost per liter is $2.40 AUD, or about $10.00 per gallon for diesel. Expensive.



At 9:15 AM we untied from Nexus and Nexus from Ghost and both departed for Cocos Keeling. We then grabbed on to the mooring buoy. Because a reef is 50 yards behind us Joel put two lines on the mooring buoy instead of one. If we drift off the buoy into the reef and then the cliff face, the boat will be lost.



Jeremy called me on the radio for a pick up at 9:30 AM and I took the dingy and picked him up with the 3 full jerry cans. Once back on the boat these cans were tied onto one of the rails by Joel.



Breakfast at 9:45 AM: scrambled eggs, cut up spiced potatos cooked in olive oil, pineapple slices and bread.



From 10:15 AM to noon I typed 2 logs; and sent an email to a marina in Cape Town, South Africa seeking a reservation for the month of December going into January. After showering Joel downloaded some weather forecasts for our trip. Looks like we'll have some strong winds on our 3rd day out. It'll take us about 3 1/2 days to get to Cocos Keeling. Because my cruising books state that the paper charts and electronic charts are inaccurate, we'll have to enter the atoll in daylight.



Jeremy and I dingied in to shore at 1:00 PM to mail post cards, buy some souvenirs and visit the grocery store one more time. We were back on the boat by 3:30 PM. Jeremy and Joel then deflated and put the dingy away. While we were away Joel said the boat 'sailed' up on the mooring buoy and the mooring line got wrapper around our keel. Fortunately it didn't wrap and damage around our propeller.




We decided to eat dinner in the anchorage at 4:15 PM before heading out. Freeze dried Beef Stew, a can of '5 Bean,' chilled mango slices and bread.



At 4:52 we left the anchorage, just behind Polaris and with Sweet Pearl.



Because our radio nets at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM are on 'Bali Start Time,' we changed our clocks back to one hour later. We'll stay on this 'wrong time' until we get to Cocos Keeling. That way also we keep the same watch schedule. If we stayed on local time we'd have to move our watches up an hour. Don't want to do that.



We shook the reef out of the main at 7:01 PM.



At 7:09 PM we crossed the start line at the western tip of Christmas Island. This time will be used to determine each division placement of boats at the finish line in Cocos Keeling. The winds were light and variable due to the island blocking the wind. By 7:55 PM the island no longer was blocking our wind. We had a wind speed of 15 knots, and were moving thru the water at 6.3 knots and over the land at 7.5 knots. Joel went down to nap until midnight as he was still tired from his cold.



At 8:12 PM I put the reef back into the mainsail. The wind was now 18/19 knots, we were moving thru the water at 6.2 knots and over the land at 8.0 knots. Two hours later the wind was 16 and our speed 7.2.



At 10:20 PM the dingy lithium battery was charged up so I turned off the boat's inverter and stowed the battery in an aft cockpit locker.



I zippered up the center dodger window at 10:35 PM because we'd taken a freak wave over the foredeck and water cascaded down onto the top 3 steps into the main cabin. Not a lot of water, more a nuisance. I got a floor towel and wiped up the water.



There were a lot of stars out and a lot of phosphorescence in the water.



At 11:37 PM I called Lluiton on the VHF radio to advise them that I couldn't see their running lights even though they were only 2.5 miles behind us. They checked and said they were on. Not very bright lights if they're on.



At 11:45 PM the wind was 15/17 knots, our speed thru the water was 6.3 knots and we were making 7.5 knots over the land; a 1.2 knot helping current.



Joel relieved me at midnight.



Brian Fox


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