Noon Report July 5, 2007 Position 38-40.1 N 29.29.0 W as of 12:00 Azores time (GMT - 0 hrs) Thursday, July 5 Course 097 deg M Speed 6.9 kts @ 1850 RPM Distance to go: 802 NM (70% of the way) to go to Gibraltar Distance made good past 24 hours: 165 NM (6.9 kt average) Distance made good since Horta: 348 NM (30% of the way) Total fuel consumed: (50 engine hours) 200 gals (13.5%), average 4.0 GPH (incl. genset), fuel remaining 1280 gal. (86.5%) Conditions: Wind NE 3 kts, seas NE 1-3, mostly cloudy, visibility excellent Barometer: 1033.5 and steady Sea water temp: 70 deg F, air temp 75 deg F. ETA Gibraltar: PM July 10 Although it'll soon be time to pay the piper, Bluewater and the Med Bound fleet continue to make good progress in nearly perfect trawler weather: light winds, slow and easy ocean swells, and excellent visibility. The temperature is perfect for leaving the boat open most of the time, though we do tend to collect what Chris Bauman on Moana Kuewa calls "sea scum," a light coating of very fine and moist salt on surfaces near the doors and windows. For that reason, Chris tends to run a generator and air conditioning 24/7 while we simply wipe down the interior surfaces periodically, a small price to pay for keeping the boat open. Nordhavn 50 owner Phil Eslinger had a post on the Nordhavn owners' site noting that using shipping agents in foreign countries can be a huge aid for passagemaking trawler owners when cruising overseas. He proposed starting a list on the site all of the agents Nordhavn owners have used. If someone will pass this to the site, let me provide the following contact information for Marco Quadros who has been a wonderful resource for Nordhavn owners visiting Horta: Marco Quadros (senior agent) Bensaude Agentes de Navegaceo Lda. Rua Vasco da Gama, 42 Horta, Faial, Azores (Portugal) Tel. 351-292-293-031 or 351-292-293-033 Mobile: 351-918-792-536 marco.quadros@bensaude.pt As something worth adding to the list, I should also mention that fuel arrangements for both the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally 2004 and Med Bound 2007 have been made through Global Yacht Fuel in Fort Lauderdale. Essentially, this involves establishing an account with Global, then notifying them when and where one wants to bunker. Using their worldwide contacts, Global will negotiate the best price, arrange the fueling (usually through an agent such as Marco above), and bill the owner, meaning you can pay for your fuel through your U.S. bank account rather than in local currency. The fuel we've gotten using Global on this trip (and on the NAR) has been among the cleanest we've ever burned and arrangements have been virtually hassle-free. Global makes its money by taking a small percentage of what we pay for fuel, yet the fuel prices are normally less than we'd pay if we simply drove up and asked for a full-up so they're saving us money. More important, perhaps, my comfort level is high with my sense that our chances of getting good, clean fuel are greater using Global. However, keep in mind that they are not interested in talking to you about less than, say, 1,000 gallons at a time. Their principal business focuses on bunkering megayachts, so 1,000 gallons is small stuff to them. Contact information: Richard Manto, Gail Vanstone, Marianne VanCline Global Yacht Fuel 412 SE 17th St. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 Tel. 954-462-6050 marianne@globalyachtfuel.com By most standards, our "fireworks" last night would have to be considered lame. We had a handful of expired shotgun shell type red flares and a pistol for launching them. Half had expired in 2003 and the other half in 1997. While some burned brighter than others, all were bright red, easily seen by the other boats a mile or so away, rose high enough into the air that they burned for about eight seconds before hitting the water, and continued to burn for 3-4 seconds just below the surface of the water--the burn below the water was haunting to see. This showed us once more than expired flares are a whole lot better than none at all! This morning I put out our single fishing line just after taking the 0600-0900 watch. The lure hadn't been in the water ten minutes when I heard the reel go off: ZRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Alone on watch, I throttled back the boat to dead slow, ran to the cockpit and increased the drag on the reel, retrieved the six-foot gaff from its overhead cockpit rack, and began to reel in the fish. At first I wasn't sure I had anything-there was little pull on the line. George appeared in the cockpit, and whatever was at the end of the line began plop-plop-plopping in the wake . . . I commented to George that it seemed like perhaps we had lost everything but the head of our catch to a shark. Continuing to bring the line in easily, looking back I then saw what appeared to be the tail of a small fish at the end of the line. Whatever I was seeing, as I continued winding in the line it came alive-there definitely was a live fish there and if, indeed, I was seeing a tail it was no longer tangled in the line. Our catch of the day turned out to be a 24-inch female dorado (mahi-mahi) which we easily boated through the transom door. She looked so small I was tempted to release her, but I was overcome by the urge for fresh mahi-mahi--we fish for food, not sport! George went back to bed, I throttled up, and cut the fish into steaks, and washed down the bloody cockpit. I think we have broken the fishing hiatus; less than an hour later, Dennis on Salty Dawg reported catching a small tuna, then another at mid-day. I asked what Salty Dawg was using for lures to catch tuna and the answer came back: the pink ones. We've yet to catch a tuna, so I traded my blue squid lure for a larger pink one. The hunt goes on . . . is there sashimi in our future? We may be in close to a news vacuum out here, but thanks to Jeff Merrill of Pacific Asian Enterprises we know that Alinghi won the America's Cup yesterday. Thanks, Jeff! PAE's sales representatives ("yacht brokers") are definitely a giant step ahead those I've met elsewhere in the industry, and Jeff is one of the best of the best. Notably, Jeff's customers become his friends and they come back to him again and again when it time to buy or sell a boat. Keeping customers happy was at the top of my list when Judy and I owned Bluewater Books & Charts, and I know it's right at the top of Jeff's list. I am not one of Jeff's customers, but I am pleased to count him as a friend. Speaking of friends, our longtime friends Pam and Andy Wall are about 400 miles ahead of us in their 39-foot Freya sailing yacht, in which the circumnavigated years ago, and we've been sharing weather information. This morning, Pam reported: "What a night last night! Moon out with fast-moving clouds, wind NNE 20 plus, big seas, cold in the cockpit but are we moving! Cape St. Vincent 227 miles bearing 131. We are holding high and close to the wind anticipating stronger winds as we close the coast and want to fall off with the potentially higher wind. Sunny with racing clouds, but very cool." We look forward to seeing Pam and Andy in Gibraltar. Meanwhile, according to Weather Bob we'll begin seeing more serious weather late tomorrow, and it should continue to increase right up to the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Bob, here's what our Sunday will look like: "NW-N 20-25kt, gusty 30kts thru midday. Freshen NW-N, occ NNE 25-30kt, gusty 35kts during the pm/hrs. Waves build 6-8ft, up to 9ft possible during Sun/pm. Swells NW-NNW 6-8ft. Generally clear to partly cloudy." The good news is the wind and seas should not be from ahead of the beam. Sounds like we'll need to launch the paravanes tomorrow before the wind pipes up; they'll slow our progress a bit but a keeping the boat comfortable is a high priority for this captain! George, Judy and I continue to devour books on our passages, with George setting the pace. I'm midway through Gore Vidal's 1984 biographical novel Lincoln, set in the Lincoln White House beginning at the time Honest Abe took office. It offers a fascinating look at our new nation at a rough-and-tumble time in its history-and the role Lincoln played in ending the Civil War. At the same time, on George's recommendation, I picked up Linda Greenlaw's Hungry Ocean, a well-written account of her experience as skipper of a 100-foot longline swordfishing boat out of Gloucester. Although Bluewater is not a fishing boat in any real sense, George loved the many parallels between Linda's 1,000-mile passages to and from the Grand Banks and the ones we're making on this crossing. I agree! We've just entered a small rain shower, but the radar shows we'll leave it behind in minutes. Time to close up the boat! --Milt, Judy, George and Schipperke Katy -- Milt Baker Bluewater Nordhavn 47 #32 http://www.bluewaternav.com A compilation of reports from Med Bound 2007 may be viewed at <http://www.nordhavn.com>. Click on Med Bound 2007.