[PUP] Med Bound 2007 Noon Report - June 17: It's swim time!

[Georgs Kolesnikovs]

Noon Report June 17, 2007

Position 34-22.6 N 53-12.9 W as of 12:00 EDT Sunday, June 17, 2007
Course 095 deg M
Speed 6.3 kts @ 1700 RPM
1,215 NM to go to Horta, Faial, Azores
Distance made good past 24 hours: 159 NM (6.6 kts)
Distance made good since Bermuda: 602 NM
Total fuel consumed (98.3 hours) 370 gals, average 3.7 GPH (incl. 
genset), fuel remaining 1110 gal.
Conditions: Wind variable 3-6 kts., swells 2-4 ft confused with 10 
sec. period, partly cloudy but with mackerel sky, visibility 
excellent.
Barometer 1024.0 mb and beginning to drop slowly.
Sea water temp 75 deg F, air temp 85 deg F.
ETA Horta: June 25, 2007

By early afternoon today the Med Bound 2007 Azores fleet had covered 
nearly 1/3 of the distance between Bermuda and Horta.  Conditions 
were so terrific and we decided it was a good day for a swim call. 
George was designated "swim call czar" and coordinated arrangements: 
about 1330 Bluewater would slow, Moana Kuewa and Salty Dawg would 
catch up, then Bluewater would stop and the other two yachts would 
close within about 100 yards and also stop, leaving one person at the 
helm to maneuver if required.  Judy promised rum punch to anyone who 
swam over.

As John Lennon observed famously, life is what happens while you're 
planning your life.  Just before we put the plan into effect  effect 
(and after much ado from Dennis about this being a swim call sans 
swim suits), Salty Dawg balked.  The plan called for the other yachts 
to stop a few hundred yards away, jump in long enough for pictures, 
shut down the engine to check oil, then move on.  For insurance 
reasons, Moana Kuewa needed to maintain two of their four-person crew 
onboard, and, anyway, Bernie wanted to shut down and check the main 
engine.  When all was said and done, Salty Dawg stopped a quarter 
mile distant, while Moana Kuewa was just a couple of boatlengths 
away.  Chris and Dave swam from Moana Kuewa to Bluewater,  Dave 
resplendent in his custom full-length pale-purple-with-yellow-lips 
Lycra body glove--at first we thought he was wearing his pajamas! 
(Katy was amazed to have visitors offshore but quickly got into the 
spirit of things!)  George, Judy, Chris, Dave, Katy and I had a good 
visit while we downed glasses of Judy's rum punch, took pictures, and 
enjoyed the company and the wonderful day. Standing in Bluewater's 
cockpit, we all agreed that it was great fun to see "new" faces and 
visit in person rather than on the radio.

George, Judy and I plunged into the 75-degree water-COLD at the 
start, but barely noticeable after a couple of minutes.  We posed for 
pictures, then I donned a mask went beneath the hull in search of a 
dirty knotmeter paddlewheel, cleaned same with a bristle brush, and 
checked the running gear-main propeller, auxiliary wing engine 
propeller, rudder, and stabilizer fins.  Hove-to in the swells, those 
onboard were concerned about me as the boat rolled, but, to be 
honest, swimming alongside and beneath the hull, I barely noticed the 
motion-the hull and I were in the same plane, so we were moving 
together, something I'd never considered when thinking about working 
beneath a rolling, pitching yacht at sea.  And it was so easy to see 
in the  clear, clear water-I've never been in clearer water, not even 
in a swimming pool.  According to the chart, water where we stopped 
was roughly 18,000 feet deep; if my math is correct, that's 
approximately 3.4 miles.

After 45 minutes aboard Bluewater, Chris and Dave swam back to Moana 
Kuewa and discovered a polypropylene line tangled in the yacht's wing 
engine propeller.  Using knives on lanyards, they managed to cut it 
away.  By the time we got underway, Salty Dawg was a few miles ahead 
and Dennis reminded us by radio that we have another 1,200 to catch 
up.  As I write this, we're back on-course for Horta.

Horta is three time zones east of Bermuda, and our little flotilla is 
roughly 1/3 of the way there, so yesterday we decided to move clocks 
ahead one hour.  Chris told us that recent research shows that the 
best time to do that was between 4 and 8 pm.  (I wonder how "recent' 
that research was, since in the Navy we virtually always moved the 
clock ahead on the dog watches, either 4-6 or 6-8 in the evening.) 
At any rate, yesterday at 1700 it suddenly became 1800 for Med Bound 
2007.  We are still adjusting to the time change in the same sense 
that everyone takes a day or two to adjust to daylight savings time.

Weather Bob's forecast is for increasing wind and seas beginning 
tomorrow.  The mackerel sky and barometer, now just beginning to dip, 
foretell that as well.  I also downloaded a few WeatherNet charts 
which show the high slipping away to the east of us as a low 
approaches from the west.  Unless there's a surprise in store, our 
winds should continue aft of the beam but we may get up to 25 knots 
or so with seas to match.  With quartering winds and seas, we'll give 
our stabilizers a good workout!

Meanwhile, a very contented Med Bound 2007 fleet continues its 
passage east under what must be considered some of the best 
passagemaking conditions ever.  I'd better get this out so I can go 
take a snooze.

As the shirt I'm wearing says,"Life is Good."

--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.