American Spirit II - Day 394; 'Twin Yokes' Join Us For Breakfast & a Good Day of Sailing;. Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Up at 5:00 AM. Jeanine was exercising in cockpit right above my head, rocking back and forth one of the three recliner chairs. The chair's metal frame was hitting the backrest in the cockpit, sending the noise down to my sleeping quarters.

I relieved Jeanine at 5:40 AM. At 6:06 AM the wind is 19 knots and we're sailing at 6.5 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. Its cloudy, which is normal in the morning around sunrise; and the wind is howling thru the rigging. Which is not normal in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Standing watch is full of tension now when we're going wing-on-wing. With the tri-reacher pole acting as a whisker pole, if the jib back winds the pole will break like the whisker pole. Because the tri-reacher pole is thinner than the whisker pole, it will break more easily. We broke the whisker pole once before, when the cap holding the pole to the mast broke off when we back winded the jib. That time, the auto pilot didn't go off rounding us into the wind. We just had the wind angle on the jib set a little too close to the lee.

When on watch now, when we're going wing-on-wing, we can't go below during the watch to even use the bathroom, as the auto pilot may fail at that moment. It has never turned itself off when the cockpit was unoccupied, but there's a first time for everything. Except for the South Atlantic Ocean, we haven't used the whisker pole that much on our voyage, because the winds are usually not directly behind us.

The almost full moon is bright off the starboard bow, 30 degrees up from the horizon. Jupiter is right of the moon, just a little bit. Cool.

At 6:56 AM the red glow of a fast approaching sunrise is fast rising upward behind me. With the almost full moon brilliantly lit on the bow, the effect is surreal. Mother nature doesn't get much better than this!

At 6:58 AM the auto pilot shut off...again. I'd noticed the boat was slowly drifting left into the wind. This is very irritating.

At 7:00 AM the wind is 18 knots and we're sailing at 6.2 knots thru the water and 6.6 knots over the land.

The sunrise at 7:39 AM (St. Helena Start Time; its 6:39 AM locally), is not obstructed by clouds, though there are lots of clouds around the rising sun, but there is no green flash. Its a beautiful 'cloud sunrise.' As usual, I take some pictures. I must have a hundred or more pictures of sunrises and sunsets now.

At 8:00 AM the wind is 18 knots and we're sailing at 6.3 knots thru the water and 6.3 knots over the land. The waves are 5-6 feet, so we're rocking and rolling a fair amount. Unusual for the South Atlantic Ocean.

The wind increases to 21-23 knots and I put in a half reef in the mainsail; and a few minutes later I put in another half reef. 'Reef early and often,' is one of our practicing rules on the boat.

At 8:51 AM he depth gauge reads '16.4 feet.' A big fish (shark?) or a school of fish probably swam under the boat and gave us the reading. We're in 10-15,000 feet of water.

At 9:02 AM the wind is 15 knots and we're sailing at 5.6 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land.

Tim from Ghost hosts the 10:00 AM net.

In breaking open four eggs for breakfast, one of the eggs produces 'twin yokes.' I have never seen two yokes in one egg in my life, yet alone in the over 1,440 eggs I've opened on this voyage. I took a picture so no-one can think I've made this up. Breakfast consists of eggs; cut up potato; chilled pear halves; and brown bread...for Joel and me. Jeanine has oat meal and honey with her tea.

The auto pilot turns itself off again at 1:13 PM. As before, I catch it before it can break the tri-reacher pole. There is no alarm. The auto pilot just shuts itself off and goes into 'standby' mode.

Our noon position is 13 degrees, 51 minutes South; 26 degrees, 33 minutes West; and we're 693 nautical miles from Salvador, Brazil. We're 139 miles closer to Salvador than noon yesterday, and have averaged 5.8 knots speed.

We shook the reef out of the mainsail at 12:38 PM. The wind is 14/15 knots and we're sailing at 5.1 knots thru the water and 5.8 knots over the land.

From 1:00 PM to 2:12 PM I write one log and do some emails. We then use the satellite phone to send and receive emails. As usual, we get disconnected the first time, so we have to place the data satellite call again. Even if I've transmitted half of the data, when we get disconnected, we have to start all over again.

I nap from 3:30 PM to 4:15 PM; and Joel naps from 4:20 PM to 5:20 PM. At 4:20 PM the wind is 14/15 knots and we're sailing at 5.1 knots thru the water and 5.9 knots over the land.

Dinner at 6:30 PM consists of blackened chicken cooked on the propane grill by chef Joel; baked potato; and creamed corn.

Tim from Ghost hosts the 7:00 PM net. Polaris gives the position of some (long line?) fishing buoys they happened upon; 12 degrees, 39.3 minutes South; and 33 degrees, 7.3 minutes West. Thank you Polaris. We immediately put a waypoint on our chart plotter to mark this location.

The sun sets at 8:24 PM. Clouds obstruct the setting sun, so no green flash.

I take a pre-watch nap from 8:20 PM to 9:20 PM. Joel lets me start watch a half hour later than normal. Thank you Joel.

At 9:30 PM the wind is 12 knots and we're sailing at 4.5 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land. Our COG is 270 degrees. The full moon is directly behind us, rising in the sky.

At 10:32 PM the wind is 11/13 knots and we're sailing at 4.8 knots thru the water and 5.3 knots over the land; and at 11:48 PM the wind is 13/14 knots and we're sailing at 5.6 knots thru the water and 6.2 knots over the land.

Joel relieves me at midnight.

Brian Fox