Well, it’s getting exciting around here! The Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Race to Cabo San Lucas is just a few days away. The Captain of Bodacious IV, Tim Eades and I brought Bodacious IV up from San Diego where she has been for the last month getting ready for the race. It was a 70-mile trip and we left at the crack of dawn in a thick marine layer of fog – motoring all the way up to Newport Harbor. The sun burned off much of the fog by afternoon, and though it was a motor trip, Tim and I had a chance to relax a bit and to reflect on the enormous amount of work accomplished in the last month.
With great help from many of the folks in the San Diego Area, we were able to take Bodacious IV from a “taken apart and shipped” state to fully-rigged and race-ready. The great folks at Driscoll’s Yard helped with the heavy work of installing the keel and rudder, stepping the mast and launching the boat. The gang from Rigworks handled much of the rigging and tuning, while Patrick and the guys at North Sails helped to make the sails just right for the boat. Then there was Russell at Seatech who helped us with the watermaker … in addition to the many other good folks in the area who played a part in bringing Bodacious IV back to strong racing form. Many thanks to everyone!
Bodacious IV in the foreground, Dorade second (winner of the 1938 Trans-Pac) and behind her is War Path … previously sailed as the famous Nitemare of Chicago and the Great Lakes. All are here preparing for the Cabo Race at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club.
Now onto the race itself! The race is an 800-mile race from Newport Harbor, California to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – down along the coast of Baja, Mexico. This is one of those classic California races and the lineup of competitors is pretty significant. Follow the crew of Bodacious IV right here on the Newport Harbor Yacht Club Cabo ”Race Tracker.”
While I won’t be onboard for the race this time, I will be heading down to Cabo to help return the boat to San Diego, which will mark the beginning of our new adventure … Bodacious Dream Expeditions! … a series of fun, periodic voyages of discovery and learning as we move towards sailing Bodacious Dream around the world! Our plan right now, depending on conditions of course, is to leave Cabo on March 29th. In preparation for the expedition, we have launched a new Bodacious Dream Expeditions website and a BDX Facebook page as well to help us to share the 5-6 day experience with you and also to help bring fun facts and information to kids .. and people of all ages. If you have kids in your life who you think might find this of interest … we encourage you to follow our progress with them. Check out these new pages!
As if to genuinely welcome Bodacious IV and us back to the Pacific Ocean, Tim and I had a special treat on our trip up from San Diego, when we encountered two whales frolicking along the coast. What a beautiful sight to see them swimming along in such immense majesty and grace. During our expedition up from Cabo, we hope to have and share more of these magnificent experiences with you.
And finally … with spring knocking at the door back home in the Great Lakes, I’ll be back in the Midwest this weekend at Crowley’s Yachtapalooza, giving another talk on Saturday, March 23rd at 10:30 am. Yachtapalooza is a great event that takes place at their lakeside boat yard on the South Side of Chicago. They’ll have all sorts of displays and information or just hang with other sailors and catch up on a winter full of stories. Following my 30-minute talk, the Great Lakes Singlehanded Society will be introducing solo sailing to anyone who is interested. So, if you’re looking to get into some of this crazy solo sailing stuff, that would be a great place to start. Here’s the full  Yachtapalooza Schedule of Events.
Hope to see some of you there. If you are, be sure to come say hi!
Dave & Bodacious Dream!