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American Spirit II - Day 291; Leaving Mauritius Island for Reunion Island; Thursday, October 23, 2014



Up at 6:00 AM and coffee; then shower. Joel and Jeremy get out of bed at 7:45 AM.

Breakfast at 8:15 AM: scrambled eggs; potato; and chilled fruit cocktail.

At 9:45 AM there is a 'blessing ceremony' at the dock area adjacent to Nexus and NDS Darwin. Not a small affair, but a rather large one with a couple of tents set up. And these blessings of the fleet are multi-denominational: Hindu, Muslin and Anglican. The Hindu presentation included the blowing of a conch shell; and the Anglican priest read passages from the bible, including when JC was on the Sea of Galilee in a storm (how appropriate); and Psalm 23. The blessing of the fleet ended with a dragon dance by two Chinese dragons and fireworks. This whole affair was orchestrated by Rally personnel Paul and Joel and the Caudan Basin merchant association. Like most things that the World Cruising Club puts together, this one was professionally done and very appropriate in its timing as we're heading off soon on the most hazardous leg of our journey - from Reunion Island to Richard's Bay, South Africa. Good job WCC!

Back at the boat, Joel and Jeremy had gotten the boat ready to go: power cord and transformer put away; display flags down and put away; soot hosed off the boat; etc. We departed the wharf at 10:40 AM accompanied by Folie a Deux; and crossed the start line for Leg 12 at 11:00 AM, albeit 3 1/2 hours ahead of the rest of the fleet. I think that earns us a 5 hour penalty for the early start.

At 2:19 PM two porpoises greeted us off the port beam and bow, but only for 2 minutes. Why such a short visit? Who knows. The wind is 15/16 knots and our speed thru the water is 5.8 knots and over the land 6.9 knots. The waves are 1 to 2 meters. We're motoring at a fuel conservation speed of 1600 RPM, and with only a little mainsail up to stabilize the boat. Because we're still without a forestay, we can't stress the boat too much. Once we leave the confines of the port and turn west, Folie puts up their pumpkin orange spinnaker. They accelerate like there's no tomorrow. They really love that sail.

We're rocking and rolling a fair amount; more than I like. Large swells from the southwest are colliding with wind swept, breaking waves of 5-7 feet from the east. With the jib, jib halyard and metal extrusion pieces now safely tucked away in the cabin, the two backstays are looser than during our 1,481 nautical mile trip to get to Mauritius. I'm stressed again. Big time! The day or two before we leave, Paul with Rally control asks me if I've notified my insurance carrier about my difficulty; and suggests that going on to Reunion Island might be an 'uninsurable' risk. He's right, but we're moving on because we can't get a new forestay properly installed on Mauritius with the rigger we're dealing with. So...the stress level is up. Not only because of the insurance situation, but because sailing with the jib down is 'different' than before. I'm thinking, hopefully its not fatally different. And the rock and rolling is really stressing the rig, and it even affects me, making me a little queasy, which doesn't go away until I have dinner a few hours later. Unlike most people, where I get a little queasy, i.e,., seasick, a little food in my stomach makes me better. Go figure.

At 3:10 PM we try putting the storm sail/staysail up, but a large rain cloud turns the wind from behind us to in front of us; so we don't. At 3:20 PM we tighten the 2 spinnaker halyards holding up the mast. We tighten them because the backstays are noticeably looser than before, and we're worried about that. But I raise the question to Joel, if we tighten the spin halyards too much, could that be as bad as not enough? Yes it could. Here comes the stress again.

A rain shower hits the boat at 3:50 PM. This is good because it will help clean the soot off the boat that we missed with the hosing before we left.

Dinner at 6:00 PM is freeze dried Beef Stew, always a good dinner when the boat is rocking uncontrollably; plus creamed corn; and chilled pineapple. Because the boat is rocking and rolling so much, I serve one course at a time from the galley. It's just fewer dishes, plates and silverware items to hold on to and keep from flying around in the cockpit.

The sun sets around 6:30 PM into a large cloud bank. No green flash tonight. Can't even tell exactly when sunset is because the clouds on the horizon are so large. Black clouds. We then see a water spout spring from a squall to leeward. It doesn't hit the water, but it does lengthen and get wider as we watch. Since its downwind of us, we're not worried. And its too dark to take a good picture. I tell Folie about it only after they pass it to windward.

At 6:55 PM the wind is 15/19 and we're moving at 6.6 knots thru the water and 7.6 knots over the land. A helping trade wind current of 1.3 knots.

I nap from 8:00 PM to 8:40 PM, then relieve Joel, early; for the 9:00 PM to midnight watch. We take the canvas down between the dodger and bimini so the stars are more visible. The wind is now 18/19 knots and we're moving at 6.1 knots thru the water and 7.0 knots over the land. Folie a Deux is 1 mile behind us to starboard, and moving up on us with their spinnaker. We're about 50 miles from Reunion. It's warm out; and I'm wearing my foul weather pants and a long sleeved shirt, but I'm a little over dressed.

I see my first shooting star at 9:20 PM; my second at 9:57 PM; and my third at...I forget.

At 9:45 PM Folie passes us doing 8.3 knots to our 7.2. They're smoking! At 10:40 PM Tim on Folie calls me to tell me that they're dropping their chute because the wind is too high now. Dropping the chute seals their fate. We WILL catch and pass them now. Isn't motor sailing fun?!

Russ calls me from Nexus and we chat. The conversation is not clear because we're 3 1/2 hours or 20 miles apart. I then hear them and Alpheratz talk on the VHF. Alpheratz, a Swan 51, is a fast boat. Nexus and Alpheratz will race each other all the way to Reunion.

I see the lume of Reunion at 10:50 PM, 41 miles away. If you've never seen the illumination of a city or island over the horizon, you're missing something. Its something I never get tired of. Never. I can remember many years ago being between Marco Island and Key West and seeing the lume of both cities 50 miles away, one to the south and the other to the north. Cool.

At 12:00 AM we pass Folie a Deux to starboard at a distance of 656 feet. How do I know it's 656 and not 1,000 feet? AIS. My Automatic Identification System tells me. And the AIS is such an enhancement for safety on the high seas that to sail in the World ARC its mandatory that you have one.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox

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