Position 30-31.95N 74-04-36W as of 12:00 EDT Thursday, May 31, 2007 Course 089 deg M Speed 7.0 kts @ 2050 RPM 517 NM to go Hamilton, Bermuda Distance made good last 24 hours 165 NM, average speed 7.0 kts Distance from Fort Lauderdale 511 NM Total fuel consumed 475 gals, average 6.7 GPH (including genset time), fuel remaining 1005 gals Conditions: Wind 090 deg M @ 20 kts., swells 3-5 ft with 1-2 foot chop from 090 deg. partly cloudy, visibility excellent. Barometer 1023.0 mb and steady. Sea water temp 76 deg F, air temp 79 deg F. ETA RBYC Hamilton, Bermuda, mid-day Sunday, June 3 The eight-yacht Med Bound fleet continues on course for Bermuda and we are now almost to the halfway point. Yesterday afternoon we had a terrific example of the best kind of cruising weather-light winds, flat seas, and happy crew all around. Overnight, the wind increased to 20 knots and the seas built back to 3-5 feet with chop on top. While most of us have regained our sea legs and find these conditions on the good side of tolerable, there's a little more motion than we'd call for if we were placing our order. Weather router Bob Jones of Ocean Marine Navigation Inc. calls for improving conditions-up until Sunday, when he forecasts winds to 15-25 knots with higher gusts and seas 4-6 feet occasionally higher. The bottom line from his morning advisory reads: "If there is anything you can do to increase your speed to arrive in Bermuda as early as possible on Sunday, it will help you avoid the increasing winds that develop in Bermuda during the day. The earlier the arrival, the easier the wind/seas." Med Bound's "pull back" boat is Beso, the sturdy Nordhavn 40 Chip and Kay Marsh have brought around through the Panama Canal from Dana Point, and her top passagemaking speed over the long haul is just over 7 knots. For the past half day, the Med Bound fleet has had .5 to 1.0 knot of current on the nose (so what's new?), reducing our daily average to about 6.5 knots. We've added as much speed as Beso will allow, and we're up a 6.9 knot speed of advance to try to comply with "Weather Bob's" recommendation. If we can average that speed, we should arrive at RBYC in Hamilton at midafternoon Sunday. With a little luck, flat seas and some decline in the current against us, we'll get there hours earlier. Yesterday afternoon two fish, both mahi-mahi, were brought aboard Med Bound yachts. New Frontier reported a 38-inch specimen, while the Grey Pearl crew said size was very important but for some unspecified reason somehow never managed to measure length overall of their catch-there's some speculation that it could possibly be on the small side. Nevertheless, we definitely will have plenty of fish for what is evolving into a Med Bound potluck-on-the-pier at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. David and Lowie Bock will provide the grill, crewmember Dennis Bruckel is responsible for most of the fish, and the rest of us will bring go-withs. Bluewater now holds the fleet record for the longest catch: a 60-foot shellfish-encrusted length of polypropylene line with two or three nine-inch styrofoam floats attached. As we motored over it, it attached itself to our starboard stabilizer shaft, the bitter end trailing in the yacht's wake. George Howerton, taking a smoking break in the cockpit, spotted what appeared to be a long white line. After a quick meeting to discuss strategy, we broke out a deadly-sharp "hooknife" given to us last summer in Maine by our friend Charles Starke. (See the Hooknife at www.sailorssolutions.com.) I donned a harness in case I had to work from the swim platform, then we slowed the boat to 1-2 knots. All it took was using our nine-foot boat hook to reach down and bring up the polypropylene line and haul it onboard. We then cut it close to amidships (where the stabilizer fin is) and-to our surprise-the as-yet unseen floats bobbed up in our wake. We were back up at speed in less than five minutes. Joey Boothby, crewmember on the Nordhavn 47 Imagine, called to offer his services in case we needed someone in the water. Joey served as a rescue swimmer in the Navy and is eager to get into the water. Some of his crewmates are eager too because Joey has sworn off showers until he lands a fish on Med Bound, and so far he is fish-less. Joey works with James Knight of Yacht Tech, is a former Nordhavn 57 captain, and an all-around great guy to have around a boat. He can fix anything . . . except maybe a fish-less yacht. We've had a few questions about how our Schipperke Katy is doing on this trip. In a word, GREAT. Like the rest of us, she has gotten her sea legs, has a good appetite, and is her usual happy self. We've never met a seasick-prone Schipperke, so Katy is true to her breed. She has taken well to crewmember George Howerton; a few minutes ago George was snoozing in his cabin and Katy went as asked to get into bed with him. She does sleep around! This morning we heard from Downtime, the yacht that had to leave the rally because of stabilizer probems. Crewmember Dan Topp reported via e-mail that are proceeding to Charleston in flat seas using a single stabilizer. They hope to arrive tomorrow, Friday. We wish them godspeed. Other then Downtime's deal-breaker with the stabilizers, mechanical problems on Med Bound have been minimal, the equivalent of a few aches and pains but nothing significant. On our 8 o'clock roll calls, all captains are reporting their machinery in good condition and doing the job. We all make small repairs underway, to be sure, but by and large this Med Bound group seems very sound and the crewmembers are more than up to the task of keeping things running. I'll close with an observation about the true fishermen. David Bock mentioned that he had Salty Dawg's back door open all the time so Danforth, their Labradoodle, the only other dog on the rally, can come and go as she pleases. The door is open so the crew can hear the reel sing when a fish takes the lure and runs. Not being true fishermen aboard Bluewater, we take the easier route-let the generator and air conditioners run, keep the salt air on the outside, and enjoy what comfort we can muster. We get a lot of miles out of every fish and will be eating the 51-inch mahi-mahi we caught in the Bahamas in April all the way across the Atlantic. We catch 'em to eat! We're hoping the real weather will soon catch up with Weather Bob's forecast for today: ENE-E 05-10kts, waves 1-2ft. Swells, ENE-E 1-3ft, 7-8sec. At the moment it's due E 20 with seas 3-5 building to 4-6. Our fingers are crossed! --Milt, Judy, George and Schipperke Katy Aboard the Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, bound for the Med