At sea 310 miles south of Bermuda. Date and time: Saturday May 20, Noon AST Position: 27-15.2 N 63-37.1 W Course: 009 deg. M Average speed: 6.75 kts.. Distance made good since departure: 518 NM Distance made good noon to noon: 162 NM ETA St. Georges, Bermuda: 0800 Monday, May 22 Conditions: Wind 170 deg. M at 3 kts, seas 2-4. ft., mostly overcast, air temp. 80 deg. F, sea temp. 80 deg. F, barometer 1031.6 mb - steady As forecast, late yesterday Bluewater passed through part of a front stretching SW across 25N 60W then toward the Windward Passage. Beginning in late afternoon we saw a long north-south squall line to our west on radar, but Bluewater didn't pass through it until about 2100. It brought no lightning or wind, and even the rain was light-we didn't even get a good washdown. Current on the nose continue to hold down our daily mileage, so I asked Bob to tell us what currents his models and other information show for this stretch of ocean. His comments pretty much reflect what we see on the pilot chart but not what are are actually seeing day-to-day: "The prevailing ocean current is generally favorable with a NW setting current of 0.5kt in your area. The current can/does become more confused the closer you get to Bermuda, but you should be able to experience a NW-N current of 0.3-0.5kt until about 30N/lat, then the current should be more confused." Last time Judy and I made a passage from the Caribbean to Bermuda was in 1984 aboard our 32-foot ketch shortly after I retired from the U.S. Navy. As this time, we had just finished a winter of cruising in the Caribbean and were eager to get up to Bermuda and back to the USA. But the contrasts between our cruising then and our cruising now are sharp: --Then: 90-100 mile days if the wind blew - now: 150 - 170 mile days regardless. --Then: keeping cool meant opening hatches and ports to catch the breeze and trying to dodge the spray - now: keeping cool means running the air conditioners. --Then: navigation was by "satnav" and our then-high tech Magnavox 4102 receiver averaged a fix every 90 minutes, with a Tamaya sextant as backup - now: three GPS receivers, Nobeltec electronic charting, and real-time 24/7 fixes; the sextant remains home on the closet shelf. --Then: primitive radar detector which would beep whenever it detected a radar signal (and whenever we flipped on a light) - now: two radars with range up to 48 miles, AIS, ARPA. --Then: Aires steering vane - now: two Simrad autopilots each with its own Accusteer continuous-running pump. --Then: 40 gallons of diesel in our tank plus another 20 on deck - now: 1480 gallons of diesel in our tanks. --Then: 30 HP Westerbeke diesel burning a quart an hour - now: 174 HP Lugger diesel burning 4-5 gallons per hour. --Then: 110 gallons of fresh water and no watermaker - now: 400 gallons of water and a watermaker that can make 25-30 GPH. --Then: SSB ham radio for long haul communications and occasional phone patches - now: Iridium satellite phone for voice and e-mail with Ocens software. --Then: High seas forecasts via SSB and an analog barograph - now: weather routing from Bob at OMNI and a digital barograph. --Then: Two 4D lead acid batteries with Hydrocaps and a 100-amp 12 volt alternator manually regulated by an "AutoMAC" - now: 2 AC generators, a 275-amp 24-volt alternator, and a 16 AGM batteries: six 8Ds, two 4Ds; and eight GP-31s. --Then: 300 watt inverter mostly to run electric drills and the like - now: 4 kW inverter to run all 120-volt appliances on the boat. --Then: tiny icebox/freezer cooled by cold plate refrigeration and propane stove/oven - now: home-sized refrigerator/freezer with icemaker plus propane stove/oven and electric microwave/convection oven. Cruising today in our Nordhavn is certainly more comfortable than back in 1984 in our little ketch, but the challenge of planning, undertaking and completing a successful passage is every bit as satisfying today as it was then. We've come a long way in 22 years! Next report: noon tomorrow. --Milt, Judy, Dean and Schipperke Katy -- Milt Baker Bluewater Nordhavn 47 #32 http://www.bluewaternav.com