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American Spirit II - Day 471; A Long Day of Motor Sailing Along Cuba's North Coast & a Boat Surprises Me in a Close Encounter; Wednesday, April 22, 2015



New tracker information from Rally Control:

Now that the World ARC has finished, the rally reporting and mapping has also finished. Yourself, family and friends can follow the progress of American Spirit on your YB private page http://my.yb.tl/americanspirit

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One year ago today:

"Day 109; On to Papeete in Tahiti, Anchor Roller Problem & Follie a Deux Dinner Party; Tuesday, April 22, 2014. The top of Mount Orohena on Tahiti, its largest mountain at 7,340 feet, stuck out of the cloud bank over the island. Impressive. Tahiti is surrounded by reefs, as all of the Society Islands are, with these reefs being 1/2 to 2 miles from shore. Tahiti also has the largest population in French Polynesia, with 80,000 inhabitants."

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I relieved Darlene at 6:00 AM. The wind is 5 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.7 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. The distance between a multi hundred mile long shoal area to our right and the Traffic Separation Zone on our left is .8 of a mile. Not much. Persevere, the 53 foot sailboat we passed last night, is 7.1 miles behind us.

At 6:49 AM the Traffic Separation Zone to our left or port is 85 miles long. Incredible.

A passage about the 1979 Fastnet Race in the book 'Left for Dead' has the following quote: "It has been proved that someone who has had a near death experience is more likely to survive a subsequent one, ..." Sounds about right. Let me see, my first 'near death experience' was when I was born...7 weeks early (in the last century).

I'm not sure when sunrise was as I wasn't paying attention. I knew with the clouds on the horizon that there would be no green flash. Nevertheless, its rare that I miss a sunrise or sunset; even a crummy one.

At 8:03 AM the wind is 3 knots and we're motor sailing at 5.5 knots thru the water and 6.8 knots over the land. We're in 1,900 feet of water and 3 nautical miles to our right the depth is 21 feet. Don't turn right!

At 8:25 AM I took out the ice trays from the bottom of the freezer to put some more ice for Darlene in the ice basket. After I refill the ice trays it will take at least 36 hours for the freezer to 'recover,' meaning get back to its 20 degree level. The freezer compressor will run continuously until that temperature is reached. That's why when we're sailing, versus when we're motoring, we never make ice. The amount of amps used to freeze the non-frozen water in the ice trays is too great - about 180 amps.

At 9:07 AM the wind is 3 knots and we're motoring at 5.8 knots thru the water and 7.2 knots over the land.

At 9:18 AM we increased the engine RPM's from 1,600 to 2,000 and our speed over the ground increased from 7.3 to 8.3 knots.

Breakfast at 10:00 AM consists of bacon, 3 eggs, cut up potato and cinnamon bread for Joel and me. Darlene had some yogurt.

At 10:09 AM the wind is 6 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.7 knots thru the water and 8.3 knots over the land.

At 10:58 AM the wind is 7 knots and we're motoring at 6.8 knots thru the water and 8.0 knots over the land.

At 11:00 AM I go below to type a log and some emails.

Our noon position is 23 degrees, 0 minutes North; 78 degrees, 41 minutes West; and we're 222 miles to Key West. Since noon yesterday we've traveled 166 miles at an average speed of 6.9 knots.

At 1:00 PM we transfer 40 gallons of diesel to the main tank from 8 jerry cans; then we send out the log and emails using the satellite phone.

I nap from 2:10 PM to 3:20 PM; and then Joel goes down for a nap at 3:25 PM.

At 3:29 PM the wind is 6 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.1 knots thru the water and 7.4 knots over the land. We're running the engine at 2,000 RPM's and have a full mainsail and jib out.

At 4:35 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.8 knots thru the water and 7.1 knots over the land. A rare current against us. And this current is 180 degrees against us.

At 5:03 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.9 knots thru the water and 7.2 knots over the land.

Dinner is at 5:40 PM and consists of blackened thin sirloin steaks cooked on the grill by chef Joel; freeze dried Macaroni and Cheese; green beans; and left over chopped spinach for Joel.

At 5:58 PM the wind is 13 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.8 knots thru the water and 7.5 knots over the land.

At 7:12 PM the wind is 13 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.8 knots thru the water and 7.4 knots over the land. A 591 foot cargo ship called the Brass Chaat is 9.2 miles away to the southeast and is going to Recife, Brazil; a location we visited while in Brazil. Small world. Another cargo ship, the 738 foot Sito Hengshaan going to Bin Qasim, is 7.4 miles away to the port of us, also. I have no idea what country Bin Qasim is part of. That may be a job for our researcher Jack back home to find out.

The waves are only 1-3 feet but its a moderately rock and rolly motor sail; probably because the waves are on our beam.

The sun sets at 7:31 PM into a cloud bank, so no green flash.

At 8:45 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.1 knots thru the water and 7.5 knots over the land. The engine is still at 2,000 RPM's; the mainsail has 2 reefs in it and the jib is full. There is a quarter moon out, above and to the left of Venus; and a full slate of stars.

At 9:15 PM I rolled the jib up as the wind had gone behind us and its was flogging. I then put out more mainsail from the 2nd reef to the 1st reef. The sail is to steady the boat, not give us a lot of speed.

At 10:03 PM I looked up from the (Kindle) book I was reading and was surprised to see a boat on our starboard bow coming right at us. How do you know a boat is coming right at you? Because I could see both of its bow running lights, green and red. It approached to about 100 yards. I changed course 30 degrees to port, shined my spot light on our mainsail and then put the light on the other boat. No light came back; and there was no hail on the radio. It finally broke off and dropped behind us. I guess the only good news is that if the boat was up to no good, they'd probably have had their lights off. To top things off, the boat had no AIS. This contact occurred at 23 degrees, 12 minutes North and 79 degrees, 29 minutes West.

At 10:17 PM the wind is 9 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.3 knots thru the water and 7.4 knots over the land.

At 10:55 PM we are starting to travel alongside an area that my chart plotter says is a 'Dangerous Shoal.' No kidding. Its 10 miles to our starboard and goes for hundreds of miles.

At 10:57 PM the wind is 8 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.9 knots thru the water and 7.0 knots over the land.

At 11:50 PM the wind is 7 knots and we're motor sailing at 7.2 knots thru the water and 7.5 knots over the land. The boat is still rocking and rolling a lot. Sleeping will be fun tonight.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox





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