Noon Report June 15, 2007 Position 32-20.55 N 59-09.90 W as of 12:00 EDT Friday, June 15, 2007 Course 095 deg M Speed 6.1 kts @ 1700 RPM 1,516 NM to go to Horta, Faial, Azores Distance made good past 24 hours: 134 (5.6 kts) Total fuel consumed 155 gals, average 3.0 GPH, fuel remaining 1325 gal Conditions: Wind 090 deg M @ 8 kts., swells 2-3 ft confused mostly from N, mostly overcast, visibility excellent. Barometer 1017.0 mb and steady. Sea water temp 74 deg F, air temp 78 deg F. ETA Horta: June 26-27, 2007 The 11 people and two dogs on the Horta leg of Med Bound 2007 are settling in as Bluewater, Moana Kuewa and Salty Dog continue on their passage east, maintaining an inverted-V formation. Katy and Dani, Med Bound's two canine crewmembers, seem to have come to grips with the fact that there are no patches of grass on the horizon and are gaining their sea legs . For Katy's fans, I am pleased to report that Katy played with her toys for hours yesterday afternoon, bringing each one in turn to us. The squeaky red ball was the favorite of the day. At mid-day yesterday the wind began backing, and by late afternoon was ESE at 15 knots--the dread HEADWINDS, a real surprise since weather router Bob Jones had told us to expect strong SW-SSW winds. It was rainy and windy through the afternoon with the wind ahead of the beam, but the rain cleared and by just after dark we could see Moana Kuewa's running lights off on our starboard quarter, and Salty Dog's green off the port quarter through the night. Winds overnight were E 15 to 20, and the 4-6 foot seas gave George a bumpy, noisy ride in the forward stateroom. By daybreak winds were down to 5-10 knots, backing to due E, and the confused seas were way down, giving us a comfortable ride. With the E winds came current on the nose, and the Med Bound fleet's forward progress has slowed. We continue at the same 1700 RPM pace that netted us 6.3 knots 24 hours ago; now we're lucky to see 5.3 knots. It's looking like a SLOW trip to Horta! But headwinds notwithstanding, it's very comfortable onboard and we're a happy ship. Yesterday afternoon George came up from the engine room reporting that the stuffing box was too hot. He and I returned to the ER and heat-gunned the unit; the heat gun read 150 deg. F, far too hot. (I had checked it less than two hours before and it was at its usual 90 degrees.) For those not familiar with this critical piece of equipment, the stuffing box is a cylinder-shaped bronze fitting around the propeller shaft. It permits the propeller shaft to exit the boat without admitting lots of water through the same hole in the hull. It works by pressing lubricated flax packing ("stuffing") against the shaft to keep the all but a drop of water every few seconds from entering the hull as the propeller shaft turns. The periodic drop of water is vital because it lubricates the packing and keeps it cool. In our case, the water inflow had ceased altogether, and the friction from the propeller shaft turning at a bit over 400 RPMs caused heat the build up, a situation we had to remedy quickly. Step one was to slow down the engine (reduce friction) and cool down the stuffing box; we used ice and water in a zip-lock bag. Step two was to try to restore water flow to the box. The fix was simple: loosening the "follower" in the box and putting the boat in reverse a couple of times to loosen up the packing-doing that we managed to get water flowing again. In the process, we discovered that the stuffing box itself was not properly secured to the boat, and it did about a half-revolution while we were working it it- frightening since doing its job of keeping the water on the outside depends on it being securely fastened to the boat. We took care of that quickly. This is when having a satellite phone can make your day. I reached James Knight, who knows Nordhavns like a Don Juan knows women and this boat in particular like a husband knows his wife. James confirmed that the hasty actions we'd taken were right on the money. He believes some old stuffing, perhaps hardened from use or friction or heat, had disintegrated into tiny pieces, blocking the inflow of water. Loosening the stuffing box's follower and using reverse to loosen the packing was just the right approach, he said. Getting the doctor's diagnosis and approval after rendering the treatment and dispensing the medication may not be the proper order, but it's nice to have confirmation nonetheless. James, by the way, was in our favorite summer hangout, Southwest Harbor, ME, working aboard Sun Dog, a Nordhavn 62 owned by our friend Robert Greenbaum. Robert crossed the Atlantic aboard his Nordhavn 50 on the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004, so three years ago at about this time Robert was right about where we are today. He was also at Coral Ridge Yacht Club to see us off when Med Bound departed. Small world! We've monitored the stuffing box carefully ever since. Yacht maintenance lore holds that the stuffing box should be "cool enough to keep your hand on," and ours is back to running about 90 degrees, just under 20 degrees above the outside water temperature. As much as visiting exotic ports like Bermuda and Horta, it's this kind of stuff that makes crossing an ocean in a small boat a challenge and a true adventure. An owner takes great pains to make certain that everything is ready to go on an ocean crossing, yet all it takes is failure of one vital piece of equipment like a stuffing box to ruin a passage or even end a trip. With another 1,500 miles to Horta ahead of us, those are not the kind of problems we need. And we're confident that we have the knowledge, tools and spares to deal with most of the problems we'll face. If we were not willing to take the acceptable risks that go hand-in-hand with crossing an ocean in a small yacht, we'd be a lot happier staying home and reading about it! I should mention that Judy and I consider ourselves blessed to have George Howerton as crew on this trip. Our modus operandi is having the boat to ourselves when cruising in coastal waters, but the reality is that things go much smoother with three people aboard on passages more than a few days long. To put it simply, George is a superb crewmember-bright, funny, enthusiastic, and extremely reliable. It was George who discovered the stuffing box problem. And when he and I were working in the hot, noisy engine room to stabilize the situation, it was George who tactfully reminded me that putting the engine in reverse-the very tactic we had used on our wing engine stuffing box in Fort Lauderdale-would likely make the situation better. Not only does George have a better mechanical sense than I, but his quirky sense of humor and upbeat approach to life make him a real pleasure to be around. And, Judy points out, confirmed bachelor George will eat anything-and be grateful to have it. Crew is easy to find; good crew is not, and we're fortunate to have very good crew in George! As our slow boat to Horta continues her passage east, more and more we find our thoughts drawn to what goes on around us-aboard Bluewater and the other two boats in company with us. We also continue to receive reports from other Med Bound yachts, like the one from Braun on the N62 Grey Pearl that read: "The Pearl has just exited the Gulf Stream, by necessity crossing at a point where it had bulged to 90 miles wide. Rough passage - wind NNE 23-34knts., seas NNE 11-17, speed 5-6.5 knts. Mechanical: Alternator belts exploded on main engine, rubber bullets flying everywhere, watched from inspection window until the show was over then replaced belts while underway with wing engine power and wing backup stabilizer pump system engaged." You can see that Bluewater is just one more boat out here doing it! --Milt, Judy, George and Schipperke Katy