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American Spirit II - Day 390; A Slow Day Sailing and Another Boring Log; Saturday, January 31, 2015



Let me address the 'boring log' comment in the subject line first. The sail from Cape Town to St. Helena and then from St. Helena to Salvador, Brazil is so pleasant that nothing is breaking on the boat; we're not being pummeled by big waves and high winds; we're not running out of food, coke or beer; and other than catching a few fish, seeing a Sperm Whale, seeing our first blue sunrise flash,visiting St. Helena including Napoleon's homes and tomb; and swimming with Whale Sharks, not much is going on so there's not much to report. Hopefully when we get to Brazil there will be lots to report; like Carnival.

Today is the last day in January.

Up at 5:53 AM and I relieve Jeanine at 6:20 AM. The wind 10/12 knots and we're sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.8 knots over the land. Its clear out, but horizon clouds do a 360 around the boat.

The sun rises at 7:01 AM, with a lot of clouds on the east horizon, but the upper limb shines thru as it rises above the horizon. Clear enough to show a green flash if that's possible; but its not. A pretty sunrise but no green flash. Three fish lines are in the water, left in from last night. I'll explain in tomorrow's log why that's a mistake and won't happen again. Stay tuned!

At 7:31 AM the engine's been off for 24 hours now. Yeah!

At 9:00 AM St. Helena Start Time, its 8:00 AM locally as we passed 15 degrees West Longitude. The wind is 10/11 knots and we're sailing at 4.7 knots thru the water and 5.1 knots over the land. Our COG (Course Over Ground) is 248 degrees. Not bad.

Jon from Polaris hosts the 10:00 AM net.

Breakfast at 10:20 AM consists of scrambled eggs; cut up, spiced and olive oiled potato; chilled fruit cocktail; and brown bread. Jeanine has oat meal and tea with honey in it. A ton of honey.

We turn the generator on at 11:01 AM for 4 hours; to charge the boat batteries. Even though the hydro generator is in the water, we're not going fast enough to make 100% of the electricity we need. We also start making 4 hours of water with the water maker. Because the water maker takes a lot of energy to make water, it will take longer to charge the boat batteries by making water at the same time.

Our noon position is 14 degrees, 3 minutes South; 17 degrees, 39 minutes West; and we're 1,212 miles from Salvador, Brazil. We averaged 5.0 knots in boat speed from noon yesterday. Not great, but acceptable. Once we're 950 miles from Salvador we'll be half way from St. Helena.

At 12:02 PM we jibe the boat from port to starboard tack. The spinnaker and boom are now on the port side now.

From 12:30 PM to 1:38 PM I type one log and do a couple of emails; then use the satellite phone to send and receive emails. Joel orders a weather GRIB file, but sail mail says it won't deliver it because its over 4,000 bytes of information. Go figure.

We have chicken noodle soup for a rare lunch. I spice it up and add some wine. It's so spicy hot the chef should be shot. Sorry Joel and Jeanine.

I nap from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM, and Joel naps from 4:00 PM to 5:15 PM. I can't remember if we turn the generator off at 3:00 PM or 4:00 PM.

Dinner at 6:00 PM is blackened T-Bone steak cooked on the propane grill by chef Joel; home made french fries (which Jeanine says is the best boat fries she's had on the trip so far); and 1/2 corn on the cob each. By cutting each corn cob in half we double the number of times we can have corn on the cob from 3 times to 6 times. During dinner the small propane gas cylinder drops from the grill to the transom. Joel makes a mad dash to grab it. Too late. Like the 2 gallon bucket I lost overboard a few days ago, they both are with Davy Jones Locker now. I think I have plenty of the small camping propane cylinders, so losing a new one shouldn't be a problem.

We roll up the spinnaker at 6:15 PM and go wing-on-wing, with the whisker pole on the port side and the mainsail and boom on the starboard side.

Jon from Polaris hosts the 7:00 PM net. I hear 12 boats out of 18 sign in. NDS Darwin says they caught a 30 kilo (66 pound) tuna; and that they currently have 25 knots of wind. The 25 knots of wind is probably a squall blowing threw. Nexus says during the net that they just rolled up their geneker as a squall blew threw.

Joel and I removed the canvas insert between the dodger and bimini at 7:16 PM so we could see more stars and the almost full moon overhead.

At 7:22 PM the wind is 11/12 knots and we're sailing at 4.5 knots thru the water and 5.1 knots over the land.

The sun sets at 7:45 PM, and clouds on the horizon obstruct our ability to see a green flash. Jeanine sees a 'cloud green flash.' Since its not a 'horizon' green flash it doesn't get recorded as number 38. I actually saw a maroon/purple glow on the sun's upper limb as it set behind the horizon clouds. I've never seen that color scheme before during a sun set. And I've seen a lot of sun sets! As has become our custom, Joel has a red wine at sunset and I have a white wine.

Joel goes to bed at 9:02 PM. On watch, I see Venus getting ready to set on the port bow, 5 degrees above the horizon. Jupiter is behind us, to the left of the transom and 20 degrees above the horizon, rising. And as I said earlier, the moon is almost full and overhead. The moon is so bright that you can almost read a book by the light its giving off. The wind is 11/13 knots and we're sailing at 5.4 knots thru the water and 5.8 knots over the land. I'm wearing shorts and a long sleeve shirt.

At 11:00 PM the wind is 9/12 knots and we're sailing at 4.6 knots thru the water and 5.1 knots over the land.

Joel relieves me at midnight as he's doing the 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM watch. As is our custom, I make coffee for him as he assumes the watch, and deliver it to him in the cockpit when its ready. We've found that letting the coffee brew for 5 minutes after the boiling water is poured into the French Press gives it a better taste.

Brian Fox

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