Right now, Bodacious Dream is smack in the middle of its maiden race across the big pond.
On Sunday July 22nd, Dave and the Bodacious Dream crew (Matt Scharl, Emma Creighton and Mark Zaranski) along with 19 other Class 40 competitors, left Quebec, Canada on their way to St-Malo, France. The race is appropriately called Québec Saint-Malo and it covers a distance of 2,897 nautical miles, or 5,365 kilometers.
The first Transat Québec Saint-Malo in 1984 marked the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier’s first voyage from Saint-Malo to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534. Every four years since then, the Transat Québec Saint-Malo has brought together the best professional monohull and multihull ocean racers around for an epic Atlantic crossing.
One of the classic offshore yacht races, the Transat QuĂ©bec Saint-Malo is the only continuous west-to-east offshore crewed race in the world – and Bodacious Dream is the FIRST American crew to ever compete in the race.
The boats first have to navigate their way down the St. Lawrence River. The river can be narrow in places, and with its islands, reef and sandbars, the technically challenging 400 nautical mile stretch can be full of surprises. What’s more, the skippers have others in their line of sight, which is not always the case during the true offshore part of race. Strategy and tactics play a key role here.
To learn more.. The Québec Saint-Malo website is here.
And you can track the standings here.
Here’s a shot taken at the start of the race.. Bodacious Dream is on the left.
In the week that the gang has been on the water, somehow in the midst of getting pounded by huge waves and high winds, they’ve been sending updates via a satellite connection, which we have posted and will continue to post on both the Bodacious Dream Website BLOG and on our Bodacious Dream Facebook page.
Catch up on the wet and stormy week that was.. And tune in to the week to come.
If you have not done so yet, Like us on Facebook, and you’ll get live (or close to live) updates in your own Facebook newsfeed, or follow the blog where the latest updates are always posted first at http://bodaciousdream.com/captains_blog
Thanks,
For Dave & the Crew (who are a little busy right now)
– the stowaway spoon