Voyage Summary - Horta, Faial, Azoes to Cascais, Portugal

SITREP:
Will not repeat my previous post. (see http://blog.sailboatreboot.com/2012/07/thomas-paine-in-cascais-portugal.html) A very hard passage but I made it. They say that women forget the pain of childbirth for the joy of raising children. I will have to ask Diane about that the next time I see her. I really doubt it. Spent the day walking around Cascais - it is beautiful as is the marina.  More in a separate post.

RECORDS:
Furthest East for Reboot and XO (I was in Nice on my honeymoon so I haven't made it yet.)
W 09 24.781

MOVREP
Dates: July 2 - July 12, 2012 (Including the day at anchor in Cascais to fix the engine.)
Voyage Length: 1036 NM
Great Circle Distance (overlooking I would have hit a couple of Azores on the way out: 911 NM
Distance lost to weather, tacking, missing a couple of Azores, etc.: 125 NM
Average Speed Made Good 4.9 Kts
Hours motoring (and not so motoring:) 16.5

SUPERMOVREP
Lake Worth, FL to Caicais, Portugal
Dates: May 30 - July 12, 2012 - 44 days
Voyage Length: 4129 NM
Great Circle Distance: 3568 NM
Distance Lost etc: 561 NM
Hours motoring: 58.7

CASREP
1 Hand held VHF radio will not break squelch.  So that is why people don't respond when I call them.
2. Cockpit VHF radio had control knob snap off.  I have to re-engineer the entire mount as it is too exposed.  At least it was the older fixed mount VHF radio.
3. Transmission: discovered it was almost out of oil (my fault, now on the maintenance list.) The oil fill plug snapped and has to be replaced.
4. Engine fuel filters: again my fault - should have paid more attention to draining the water separator bowl and would have noticed how much crud was in the bowl. After my experience coming into Cascais I don't think I will forget this again. At least I learned how to do this so it was messy (very hard not to spill fuel) but pretty quick.

XOREP
Did he become my buddy. Every time I stopped moving he was in my lap.

COMS
1.Thanks to Bill (KI4MMZ) and Fred (W3ZU) who contacted me every night on the maritime mobile service net frequency 14.3 Mhz and kept me sane.  They also passed weather information that was very helpful - I was able to reef down early in a couple of situations that made the trip easier. Also to Bill who I contacted with my engine/transmission problem. He got the scoop from Catalina Yachts which was most helpful, he also got me hooked up with the mechanic here that will order me a new oil dipstick.
2. Was unable to contact Herb (Southbound II) the entire trip.
3. Winlink (airmail) was usable most of the time. Propagation was very weird due to sun spots - but as I got closer to Europe it got easier.
4. Started using the German weather charts via RFAX.  They use a gnomonic (great circles are straight lines) map projection that takes a little getting used to.  Given that so much of the area covered is in the high latitudes it makes a lot more sense than the Mercator that we in the US grew up with.

Discoveries:
1. Three beers in a beautiful location improves the mood! Back to Diane and childbirth - I think she was raising Trevor and Spencer when the no alcohol while breast feeding was in vogue. That could be too much information (LOL)

ZZZZZZZ