>From Milt Baker, Med Bound 2007 organizer: The pressure is down and the pressure is on. If you wondered why you haven't heard much from Med Bound 2007 in a few days, consider that the eight yachts arrived in Hamilton a week ago, and crewmembers have been focused on getting their yachts ready and seeing Bermuda. However, barometric pressure is down as another low pressure system hovers near Bermuda, bringing windy, squally weatherfar from ideal weather for beginning another ocean passage. "Our luck on the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally was incredible," said Nordhavn marketing director Jennifer Stern in Newport. "We had nine events pre-planned, and we hit all nine perfectly." But that was 2004 and this is 2007, a very different year in the North Atlantic weather-wise. Med Bound's departure from Fort Lauderdale was delayed by high winds and seas, and now the rally's departure from Bermuda is delayed for the same reason. We had hoped to have all Med Bound yachts depart Bermuda this weekend, but weather router Bob Jones is firm in his recommendations against departing. All we have to do is look out the window to see how right he is: grey skies, squalls, and heavy winds from the wrong direction. The Bermuda marine forecast puts is succinctly: "Low pressure to our north will bring blustery winds and higher seas for a time. Unsettled weather associated with a nearby frontal boundary will persist into Monday. Today - winds westerly 20 to 30 knots gusts to 35 knots, easing west-southwesterly 15 to 25 knots later... Widespread showers with fair to poor visibility, isolated thunderstorms... Seas outside the reef 6 to 9 ft... Tonight - winds west-southwesterly 15 to 25 knots, gradually easing southwesterly 10 to 15 knots by the end of the night... Patchy rain or showers with fair to poor visibility... Seas outside the reef 6 to 9 ft, decreasing..." So we wait, watching the weather on the Internet, and hoping for improvement. Meanwhile, crewmembers are getting antsy because long delays were not in the original plan. While the yachts headed for the Mediterranean have crewmembers with open schedules, those returning to the U.S. have schedules to meetand we're all seeing once more that schedules and ocean-crossing passages in small yachts do not make good bedfellows. As we wait, crew reinforcements are arriving. Jeff Leishman, chief designer of the Nordhavn yachts, has joined the crew of Greg Beckner's N47 Imagine, along with Andy Hegley of the Nordhavn Southeast Sales Office. Dave Balfour of the Nordhavn Northeast Sales office has joined the crew of Jim Fuller's N43 Summer Skis. LATE REPORT AS OF NOON, MONDAY, JUNE 11: Two Med Bound yachts departed Bermuda this morning. N62 Grey Pearl is headed for Annapolis with Braun and Tina Jones and another couple aboard, and Greg Beckner's N47 Imagine is headed for Newport with Nordhavn chief designer Jeff Leishman, Nordhavn Southeast sales representative Andy Hegley and two additional crew onboard. They're going a couple of days ahead of weather router Bob Jones' recommendation but are willing to tough it out to get there-- conditions that appear to be uncomfortable rather than dangerous. The other three Newport-bound yachts expect to leave in a couple of days, and we're hoping our three Horta-bound yachts will leave about the same time to begin our 12-day passage to the Azores. We have a terrific sunny, low-wind day here in Bermuda today to celebrate the Queen's Birthday. What we surmise from weather reports and conversations with Bob Jones is that weather systems are especially difficult to predict right now. Neither high pressure nor low wants to really take hold, so they're duking it out with neither really winning. We're seeing evidence that the Bermuda/Azores high is trying to establish itself in a more summer-like pattern, and we're hopeful that'll settle things down. With a little luck, it's beginning to appear that we'll have winds mostly aft of the beam for our 12-day run to Horta and that the rest of the Newport-bound boats will have a good 640- mile rhumb-line trip. At least we hope so! --Milt Baker, N47 Bluewater, RBYC, Hamilton, Bermuda