At Sea - 313 NM SE of Beaufort, NC Report as of 12:00 EST Nov. 5, 2005 - Next report in 24 hours PART ONE FOR ALL Good weather continues and life onboard Bluewater is falling into a nice predictable routine. Winds increased overnight to 12-15 knots on the port beam and seas to 3-5 occ. 4-6 also on the port beam with a nice 8 sec period. The Gulf Stream extended well east of where we expected, but we left it behind after dinner last night, noting that water temperature fell to 78 deg. and boat speed climbed to 6.8-7.0 knots. Yesterday we set a fishing line with carefully selected lures producing our usual results: no fish. There are few birds to be seen. We've also seen only one ship in the past 24 hours, which makes the watches easy. For those wondering, we are standing three-hour watches, which works fine for the three of us. The watch day begins after dinner, with Judy on the 2100-0000, relieved by Dean on the mid-watch 0000-0300. I come on for the morning watch, 0300-0600, followed by Judy from 0600-0900, Dean 0900-1200, and me again 1200-1500. We have an informal watch schedule from 1500 to 2100. The paravanes remain deployed, but I experimented with the Naiads when the seas picked up overnight, and found that the ride was a bit more comfortable with the active fins turned on so they remain on and doing a good job for us. In view of the forecast for the late part of the trip, I've elected to keep the paravanes in the water even though they seem to cost us about 6 NM a day. Onboard systems are functioning well, though at dinnertime last night the rudder angle indicator showed wild gyrations from 25 degrees to port to 25 degrees to stbd but the boat never changed course. I immediately dove into the lazarette to check the steering gear (which we check at least every three hours) and found everything there in place and doing its job perfectly. We switched to our second autopilot and RAI, and, strangely, the malfunction was with both autopilots (and both RAIs); it went on for about 20 minutes before mysteriously halting just as suddenly as it began. We're not superstitious, but we suspect it's the Bermuda Triangle reminding us who's really in charge in this area. We've all commented on how quiet and comfortable the Nordhavn 47 is. Full-load displacement of 85,000 lbs. helps, and we actually started the trip a bit over our waterline in places. The quiet also helps a lot. At the moment we have music from Dean's Ipod playing in the pilot house-John Denver-and the engine is just a soft rumble-barely perceptible. I contrast that with our Grand Banks 42, a wonderful boat, but noise at cruise RPMs was significantly greater-and it takes a toll on the crew. This is the first N47 with wet exhaust and engine room temperatures have been a problem for us since the beginning. The engine room overheating problem remains with us. At the top of the ER, temperatures on this trip have been as high as 145 degrees, about 70 degrees above the outside temperature, with the engine at 1900 RPMs and no genset running. That's OK for a quick engine room check, but anything more than a few minutes becomes a real chore. Just wait 'til we're in the warm Caribbean, running faster and running a genset! We're carrying additional 3-inch ducting to be installed once we get to Venezuela to remove more hot air from the ER. We also expect to have another layer or two of silver insulation wrapped around the very hot 7-foot exhaust tube running most of the length of the ER and now radiating heat throughout. Judy is treating us to fresh baked cookies and her usual terrific cuisine, and Katy, our morale officer, is her usual happy self--into everything and always looking for a handout or someone to play ball with. Scott and Mary Flanders, with whom Dean crossed the Atlantic on the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally confided that Dean loves thick maple bacon, so Judy laid in a supply and is giving us each a few strips for breakfast. One of us puts Dean to shame in admiration of the bacon: Katy. And she is very in-your-face about demanding her fair share. For someone who weighs in at 11 pounds, she is one tough cookie! PART TWO FOR OMNI WEATHER Until last night, winds and seas have been just a bit to the south of your forecasts, Bob, but the direction, speed and seas now match very closely what you're forecast. Thanks for your latest advisory calling for winds and seas to increase as we approach Puerto Rico, with winds to 22 kts, possibly higher, and seas to 7-9. The good news we see there is that winds should be aft of the beam and the seas will have longish periods. We are continuing to the new rendezvous point with an ETA late Sunday, but it appears Seabird will be about eight hours ahead of us at the rendezvous point and it's my guess the rendezvous will not occur. As of 10 this morning, we both had about 240 NM to go to the RDVZ point, Seabird traveling at 8.2 knots and Bluewater at 7.0 knots. PART THREE FOR ALL Position 30-30.0 N / 73-18.1 W as of 12:00 EST Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005 Course 168 deg M Speed 6.6 kts @ 1925 RPM 847 NM to go to Fajardo Distance made good last 24 hours 156 NM, average speed 6.5 kts; distance from Beaufort 313 NM, average speed from Beaufort 6.5 kts. Fuel consumption 240 gals (est), fuel remaining (est) 1230 gals, avg 1.3 MPG and 5.0 GPH. Conditions: Wind 040 deg M @12-15 kts., swells 2-4 ft occ. 3-5 from 040 deg. M, partly cloudly, Visibility excellent. Past 24 hours seas have backed from SW, and winds averaged 5-12 kts. from SE, backing today to NE. Partly cloudy. Barometer 1023.8 mb and steady. Sea water temp 78, air temp 80. ETA Fajardo: correction from yesterday--13:00 Thursday (not Sunday) Nov. 10. All is well. --Milt, Judy, Dean and Schipperke Katy -- Milt Baker Bluewater Nordhavn 47 #32 Bound for Venezuela, via Puerto Rico, from Beaufort, North Carolina http://www.bluewaternav.com/index.html