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American Spirit II - Day 284; Crisis in the Indian Ocean - Day 12 of 12; & Green Flash No. 22; Thursday, October 16, 2014



Up at 6:45 PM. Relieved Jeremy. Half a moon was still shining; and a lot of stars were out. Even though our watches say its 6:45 AM, that's Cocos Keeling start time. Its really 4:15 AM local time.

The wind is 12/15 knots and we're moving at 5.1 knots thru the water and 5.2 knots over the land. Merlyn is 1.5 miles behind us. Low, black clouds are approaching from the northeast. Its 60 miles to Mauritius.

At 8:05 AM the sun peaks thru a hole in the cloud band on the horizon. There is always a cloud bank on the horizon in the trade winds. Always. As it rises it appears as a big, yellow ball; enlarged by the prism of the horizon. Clouds obstruct parts of it. Once its 2 to 3 degrees above the horizon I see a green hue reflecting on the clouds adjacent to the sun. If the sunrise wasn't obstructed by clouds, I probably would have seen another green flash sunrise.

At 8:15 AM I throttle back the engine from 1500 to 1300 RPM and put another 1/2 reef in the mainsail to slow the boat down. It slows from 5.3 to 4.7 knots. We were starting to lose Merlyn behind us. We don't ever want or let them get more than 2 miles behind us.

At 8:25 AM I take off my foul weather pants and long sleeved shirt; leaving my shorts and putting on a short sleeved shirt. The sun is blasting into the cockpit and I'm cooking,

Joel and Jeremy get up at 9:40 AM. Joel then hosts the 10:00 AM net. Not one is there but us and Merlyn. A quick net.

Breakfast at 10:30 AM consists of 6 pieces of bacon; 5 scrambled eggs, the last of the eggs; mango slices; and breakfast crackers.

Our noon position is 19 degrees, 54 minutes South; 58 degrees, 19 minutes East; and we're 40 miles from Mauritius. In the last 24 hours we've traveled 125 miles at an average speed of 5.2 knots.

At 12:12 PM the wind is 9 knots and we're traveling at 4.8 knots thru the water and 5.0 knots over the land.

At 12:39 PM I shout 'Land Ho!' Mauritius on the port bow at 35 miles. Joel usually sees land first. But this time I beat him.

Lunch at 1:25 PM consists of 'shoulder ham' from a can; cooked in a skillet; with pita break and BBQ sauce. From Australia or New Zealand. It tastes pretty good.

After lunch we drop the storm sail/staysail, as the wind is now forward of the beam. We also roll the mainsail up, leaving 4 feet out to help minimize the rolling of the boat in the northeast swells. The wind is 12 knots from the northeast.

At 2:40 PM Joel grabs a bucket, fills it with salt water and starts cleaning the cockpit.

At 3:30 PM we change course as we're heading for Quoin Channel, a narrow stretch of water between Mauritius and an island called Gunner's Quoin. Because the chip reader on our E-80 Chart Plotter doesn't work anymore, we're navigating with my I Pad and Joel's tables phone. The information on the chart plotter with the chip reader's input is so vague that it doesn't even show Gunner's Quoin island. Not good.

From 2:50 PM to 4:29 PM I type logs.

Dinner at 6:00 PM is freeze dried Thai Curry Chicken. That's all we have because we're expecting to get more food when we reach the Cauden Basin, where the ARC fleet is tied up at.

The sun sets at 6:12 PM local time. All three of us see green flash number 22. Jeremy's second in a row. Its a small green flash, unspectacular. Jonathan from Merlyn calls and says he saw it, too. Another green flash virgin hits the dust!

We cross the finish line at 10:31 PM Cocos Keeling start time; or 8:01 PM local time.

Once we get to the main channel leading into Port Louis we call Port Control on VHF Channel 14 and announce our presence and Merlyn's. They ask the name of our boat; how many persons are on board and our nationalities; and the country the boat is registered in. Same for Merlyn. They then advise us that a Coast Guard vessel is en route to our location and will escort us to the Caudan Basin, where the ARC fleet is tied up.

We arrive at the Caudan Basin at (maybe) 9:00 PM. I don't remember exactly and I didn't write the time down in my log. As we approach the sea wall that we're going to tie up to, an explosion of air horns, shouting and clapping engulfs our ears. The entire World ARC fleet is standing in the area next to our birthing spot to welcome us and Merlyn in. We're quit astounded by the reception. A table is set up along the wharf with food on it, including a large cake with a picture of a sail boat on it and a green flash above it. I swear that when I look at the sail boat image on the cake its missing its forestay. Wow! Such detail. I suspect that Nexus has a lot to do with this reception. I see their fingerprints all over it.

We were relieved to have finally completed 'The Longest Voyage.' 1,481 nautical miles taking 11 days and 7 1/2 hours to complete. Unfortunately, the next chapter in our 'book' is going to be 'The Longest Repair.' I'll explain in a later log.

During the reception party I tell Tim and Claire from Ghost that we're out of breakfast food and could I borrow 6 eggs and 3 potatoes for breakfast tomorrow? Shortly thereafter Tim returns with 8 eggs and 4 potatoes. We WILL eat tomorrow morning!

We had a couple of 'care packages' from Charlie and Cathy from Celebrate waiting for us on the dock. Thank you guys!

Before calling it a night I call home; then back at the boat at around 11:00 PM local time, 1:30 AM body time. Joel and Jeremy are on board trying to connect to the marina Wifi. No luck, even with Jeanine helping them.

To bed.

The End.

Brian Fox

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