[PUP] Med Bound 2007 Noon Report - June 25: Land ho!

[Georgs Kolesnikovs]

Noon Report June 25 2007

Position 38-23.1 N 29-23.7 W as of 12:00 Azores time (GMT - 0 hrs) 
Monday, June 25, 2007
Course 092 deg M
Speed 7.5 kts @ 2100 RPM
Distance to go: 34 NM to Horta, Faial, Azores
Distance made good past 24 hours:  164 NM (6.8 kts)
Distance made good since Bermuda: 1784 NM
Total fuel consumed (287 engine hours) 1215 gals, average 4.2 GPH 
(incl. genset), fuel remaining 265 gal.
Conditions: Wind NE 11 kts, swells N 2-3, partly cloudy, visibility excellent
Barometer 1035.2 mb and steady
Sea water temp 69 deg F, air temp 72 deg F.
ETA Horta: 1730 today

Land-ho!

The Azores are tall volcanic islands with steep drop-offs right 
offshore, and they remind us very much of Hawaii-tall, bold, green, 
with everything bigger than life.  The channel between the islands of 
Faial, to port, and Pico, to starboard, is dead ahead on the horizon. 
Clouds and just a touch of haze obscure the islands, and we are not 
able to see the top of Pico's 7,700-foot peak, but the wide, deep 
channel is easy to pick out.  The navigation waypoint we've been 
steering for since Bermuda coming up right on schedule; it's 32 miles 
due east of us.  And we don't have to change course even a single 
degree!

Our trip has been so pleasant and uneventful that I am humbled and 
almost embarrassed by the thought that we are following in the wake 
of thousands of others who have made this passage in conditions far 
more arduous.  I'm sure the Med Bound fleet has had an easier, more 
comfortable trip than most yachts-with better weather to boot. 
Although I never reminded my crew, it's a rare eastbound passage to 
the Azores that doesn't see at least one gale.  Yet over the last 
1,800 miles we've never seen wind over 30 knots!

When we left Bermuda on June 13, we expected a trip of 12 days.  And 
here we are, 12 days later, making landfall right on schedule. 
That's something I very much like about passagemaking under 
power-it's a lot more orderly and predictable than passagemaking 
under sail.  Looking ahead, 12 days seemed like an incredibly long 
passage.  Looking back, it seems like nothing.

Chris Samuelson, owner and skipper of the Nordhavn 57 Goleen, who 
crossed in his boat with the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally, e-mailed the 
Med Bound fleet earlier today with good wishes.  "Today you will 
arrive at Horta and will have crossed the Atlantic Ocean on your own 
bottoms," said Chris.  "Well done. The last leg to Gibraltar is still 
Atlantic but you are really in EU waters . . . Congratulations to 
your crew and to the other two crews and skippers."   We look forward 
to joining up with Chris and his admiral, Sonaia, for some Med 
cruising next month.

I don't want to get maudlin, but Chris is right: we have indeed 
crossed the major part of the Atlantic now, and Europe lies ahead. 
Crossing the Atlantic as skipper of my own yacht has been a goal of 
mine for many years, and it feels very good indeed to be on the cusp 
of fulfilling that.  To be honest, Judy and I briefly considered 
shipping Bluewater to the Mediterranean on one of the dock ships-in 
the end, however, I was sure I'd never be satisfied if we didn't 
cross on our own bottom.   I often reflect on the idea that in the 
final analysis, it's the things you DON"T do that most of us regret 
far more than the things we DO.

The past 24 hours have been exactly as weather router Bob Jones 
predicted: flat, calm, and under the influence of very high pressure. 
A NE wind popped up overnight to provide a little surface chop, but 
our single stabilizer fin is handling that with aplomb and we're very 
comfortable aboard Bluewater.  From all reports, it's very much the 
same aboard Moana Kuewa and Salty Dawg-comfortable, contented crews 
very much looking forward to landfall.  David notes that Dani's nose 
is in the air and she can sense the land nearby.  Katy, on the other 
hand, is far more interested in the lunch Judy is preparing for us 
and has no idea that, after 12 days at sea, she's mere hours away 
from finding a patch of grass.

I've exchanged e-mails over the past 24 hours with Marco Quadros, our 
agent in Horta, and just spoke with him on the satellite phone.  As 
much as we would like to have all three yachts together in the new 
marina, that's not going to happen.  We have to recognize that this 
is the busiest time of the year for the marina at Horta with 
literally thousands of yachts visiting during May, June and July. 
The upshot is that Bluewater and Moana Kuewa will be berthed on the 
quay wall at the old marina, and Salty Dawg will be in the new 
marina, a 10-minute walk away.  The quay (pronounced "key" by the 
way) is the same wall where the Delta 70 Zopilote laid when I joined 
Bruce and Joan Kessler in 1988 for my first Atlantic crossing.  It's 
also where Judy and I visited with Steve and Karyn James aboard 
Threshhold when we were in the Azores for the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally 
in 2004.  In a sense, this is like coming home!

Before closing, let me do a few salutes:

     --First to Bluewater's admiral and crew: Judy has done a 
fantastic job of organizing, preparing and getting ready for this 
trip--the logistics were overwhelming.  And she has put up with a 
cantankerous skipper and needy dog for over 1,000 miles to Bermuda 
and another 1,800 miles to the middle of the Atlantic.  A skipper 
could not ask for a better mate and a husband could never have a 
better wife and partner!

      --To crewmember George Howerton.  He fits right in, shoulders 
more than his share of the load, and is one terrific shipmate.  It's 
good to go to sea with people you like, and we really like and admire 
George.

      --To the other Med Bound yachts and their crews: Moana Kuewa, 
with skipper Chris Bauman, mate Bernie Francis, and crewmembers Dave 
and Mary Ann Plumb; and Salty Dawg, with skipper David and admiral 
Lowie Bock and crewmembers Dennis and Esther Bruckel.  You guys all 
made traveling together on a passage all it's cracked up to be!

     --To Pacific Asian Enterprises and especially to Jim Leishman, 
Amy Zahra and Jenny Stern: Our deepest thanks for all you've done to 
make Med Bound 2007 such a terrific and memorable event for those of 
us taking part.  As I've said many times, we could not have done it 
without you.

Lots to do to get ready for landfall so I'll quit here and get this 
off.  We expect to be in Horta for about a week, and this will be our 
last report until we are ready to depart Horta.

--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.