[PUP] Bluewater Noon Report July 5, 2007: Of hiring agents and buying fuel

[Georgs Kolesnikovs]

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 at 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 at 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.