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American Spirit II - Day 428; A Bad 10 Hours of Sailing; Tuesday, March 10, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 66; Fast Sailing; Monday, March 10, 2014. Between 4:00 and 5:00 AM Mike saw a Chinese ship on AIS, on our chart plotter. A freighter heading east towards Panama. Surprised any ships traverse these seas in that direction. Not a shipping route. However, the Chinese manage the Panama Canal Zone, so doesn't surprise me one of their ships is heading there from the South Pacific."

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Joel runs the generator to charge batteries from 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM. During his watch he has winds up to 28 knots.

I relieve Heidi at 5:45 AM. The wind is blowing at 25/26 knots, and its not changing. The wind speed indicator is stuck on 25 or 26 knots. Not good. I turn the generator on.

At 6:05 AM a big wave rounds the boat up thru the wind. This is interesting. The boat then stalls as the auto pilot shuts off. I grab the wheel and turn it to my right. I'm going to make a 360 degree turn to get back on course and get out of 'irons.' Joel senses the boat change of motion and sticks his head out and asks me if everything is OK. I say yes and he goes back to sleep. I'm glad this 'event' occurred with me an not Heidi. Just lucky she'd just gone off watch. The wind is now 28 knots. Isn't this fun?!

At 7:35 AM I call the Berge Nigro, a 738 foot oil tanker; and ask for a weather update. At 7:43 AM the wind is 23 knots and our SOG is 6.5 knots. Its sunny and clearing. The ship calls me back and gives me the weather forecast: Force 7/8 winds that we have today will change to Force 3/4 (7-16 knots) by tomorrow morning. That is great news! At 7:54 AM the ship is port abeam 1.6 miles away and passing us.

Around 8:00 AM, I didn't write down the exact time, a 20 foot swell turns into a churning 20 foot wave just one second before hitting us. Fortunately, the wave broke just before it reached us. If it had broken on top of us, it could have damaged the dodger or even taken it right off the boat. That's one of the problems with beam waves. They can really hurt you. Its much harder for a wave coming in from astern or forward to damage you the way a beam breaking wave can. This wave shakes me up, as I don't know if this is a precursor of more to come. If it is we need to ready the boat for a possible knockdown at a minimum. That would include screwing down the floor boards, as under one set of boards we have 50 feet of anchor chain and Joel's dive weights. It the boat capsized and the chain and weights got free in the cabin, someone could be hurt and a hole for sure would be punched thru one of our windows. I go below and put canned fruit in a closet; take the glass top off of our skillet and stick it in the over; and take my navigation computer from the navigation desk, put it into a protected cover and stick it in a cabinet in my cabin.

At 9:50 AM the wind is 21 knots and our SOG is 6.6 knots.

The 10:00 AM net is hosted by Jack from Civetta II. We're the only 2 boats on the net.

Breakfast at 10:20 AM consists of freeze dried Sweet & Sour Pork and chilled peach halves. Today is one of he rare days that I don't cook a regular breakfast, because of the rough conditions. Maybe we've had freeze dried for breakfast 2 or 3 other times in the last 14 months. Its a very rare event.

At 11:00 AM the wind is back up to 23 knots.

I nap from 11:35 AM to 1:15 PM. A good nap, where I get some sleep.

Our noon position is 4 degrees, 20 minutes North; 48 degrees, 27 minutes West; and we're 913 nautical miles from Grenada. Since yesterday noon we've traveled 162 miles at an average speed of 6.75 knots.

At 2:56 PM its sunny and pleasant out. Joel rolls more jib out. The wind is 18/19 knots and we're sailing at 5.1 knots thru the water and 6.1 knots over the land.

At 3:00 PM we put more mainsail out, just short of the 2nd reef; and our speed increases to 7.1 knots.

Joel naps from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM.

At 3:35 PM a BIG slapper wave got me. I'm totally drenched. I heard and saw it coming and lunged out of the way...but not quick enough. A can of Coke Zero I was drinking and which was in a drink holder by the starboard wheel is full of salt water, so much so I can't drink it. Worse, I had just put on a pair of dry underwear!

At 3:40 PM Joel showers and naps and Heidi takes a nap.

At 3:43 PM the wind is 15/18 knots and I roll more jib out to about the first reef.

At 3:55 PM a ship called the Carabobo. a 1.086 foot oil tanker, is sighted on my AIS, 11 miles astern. At 4:23 PM when the ship is 7.6 miles away, I call the ship on VHF Channel 16, and the Captain says they don't have me on AIS yet. We can now see the bridge of this massive ship, and it looks like its coming up our wake. Not a comforting thought. I ask for an extended weather forecast, and the Captain says he'll call me back with it. He does, and part of what he tells me is that the bad weather we were experiencing was from a Low Pressure System on or off of French Guyana. By March 15th, he says that the waves will be reduced to 1.5 meters; and that between now and then the highest winds he sees are 20-25 knots. The ship passes our port side at 5:30 PM, 2 miles away. It was empty and going to Bonnaire. Super tankers look much bigger when they're empty. The top of his rudder was even sticking out of the water.

Dinner is at 6:05 PM and is freeze dried Noodles with Chicken; home made French fries; and green peas.

The sun set at 6:20 PM. Clouds, so no green flash.

At 6:25 PM the wind is 18 knots and we're sailing at 6.0 knots thru the water and 7.2 knots over the land. Its starting to cloud up again to windward.

Jack from Civetta II hosts the 7:00 PM net. Its just us and Civetta again.

I nap from 7:12 PM to 8:40 PM, then relieve Joel at 8:45 PM. The wind is 19 knots and we're sailing at 5.2 knots thru the water and 6.6 knots over the land. The sky is clear and full of stars. I can see the Big Dipper and Orion. Wow!

At our current speed we should get to Grenada by Monday morning, March 16.

At 9:57 PM the wind is 22 knots and we're sailing at 6.1 knots thru the water and 6.9 knots over the land.

At 10:35 PM a waning 3/4 moon rises out of a cloud bank just above the horizon; starboard and astern of us.

At 11:02 PM the wind is 20 knots and we're sailing at 5.2 knots thru the water and 6.4 knots over the land.

Sailing in 20-25 knots of trade winds is much easier and not problem compared to sailing in winds generated by a low pressure system or tropical trough. All winds are NOT created equal. With winds generated by a low pressure system you don't know what the upper limit might be right away; and any time you have black clouds and squall lines coming at you you never know what winds will accompany them. Like the TV show 'The Price is Right.' Behind Door No. 1 we have...45 knots of wind! or is it 20 knots? Black squall lines are just bad for crew morale, too.

At 11:38 PM the wind is 21 knots and we're sailing at 6.6 knots thru the water and 8.2 knots over the land.

Brian Fox

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