Normandy Channel – BD Update – Day 3

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Hello everyone from the southern Coast of England!!
(50 deg 16.9615 N Latitude/ 002 deg 28.1460 Longitude)

We are about 15 miles South of Weymouth, England where earlier today we played some serious “Etch-O-Sketch” with the GPS Chart Plotter that keeps track of our navigation. We’ve learned some difficult lessons about ocean current here in the past few days. Yesterday, being just outside the grasp of wind put us behind and into an adverse current, and it took another tide cycle before we were able to enter the “Solent” and circumnavigate the Isle of Wright.

Today, again with the Etch-O-Sketch, I was diligently trying to catch the competitor just in front of us, when we noticed a different look to the wind and water. Heading up, we were able to sail into wind, and the competitor just missed it. That started a couple hour battle where the objective was to sail as fast as we could to counter the adverse 4 knot current – though seldom negating it altogether. We started a large circle, which we could see inscribed on the Etch-O-Sketch. Quite amusing, but more interesting is that we never went backwards through the whole, large mile-sized circle!! As we sailed forward at 3 knots, the 4 knot current drove us backwards and around in a loop!

We had a similar experience yesterday when with no wind, we were sent back and forth – east and west, across the entrance to the Solent waiting for wind, before realizing that it not being there at that moment was actually a good thing, as we couldn’t make forward progress, and so would likely have had to anchor and wait for the tide change anyway.

So, it’s been an interesting trip so far, to say the least. Frustrating for sure, as the current has not been our only issue; we have a compromised jib as well. In the recent repair of the batten pockets, somehow the leach cord, an internal trim line, had been severed. The result is that we aren’t as beautifully efficient an upwind sailing machine as we usually are.. and most this race so far, has been light and upwind!

But on the good side.. we are sailing on a beautiful day in the English Channel! It’s sunny with a crisp temperature, but a beautiful 9 knot wind and relatively flat waters. Even though we missed the current cycle last night, we had a beautiful sail through the Solent and around the Isle of Wright.. a famous spot from sailing history as the first America’s Cup race in 1851 was around the Isle of Wight.

Bodacious Dream at the start of the Normandy Race
Bodacious Dream at the start of the Normandy Channel (Photo by Sam Holliday)
In any case, we finally got some wind late in the day and sailed the last ten miles with our new William Blair spinnaker, which looked and sailed beautifully. Once in the Solent, we were able to sync with the tides and sail around the island and out the Western entrance.. all under the beauty of the setting sun and rising moon. Quiet, peaceful, not real fast – but forward – so we were quite happy. Needless to say, these two events make up for the time we spent assessing the latest position reports….Ugh!!

Right now, with the weather in front of us and our inability to sail as efficiently upwind, it looks like we may not finish the race until Tuesday or even later. There is a big high ridge that will block all of us for an extended period of time, not long after rounding Fastnet Rock. Such is the sport of Yacht Racing.

Until later.. hope you all had a great Labor day!! In the U.S. that’s the holiday that marks the end of the summer. And for those of you elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, hope you’ve having a great end of Summer. And for our friends in New Zealand.. winter’s almost over and summer’s on its way!!

– Dave (and Matt)

Normandy Channel – BD Update – Day 2

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Hello from the English Channel,

I can say without a lot of worry that this is extremely frustrating. Here we sit with no wind and in about last place. The conditions are either 3 knots of current going east – or now it’s going west, making almost no progress in the direction of the Ile de Wight. At this point, we cannot help but ask, “How did we get here?”

Bodcacious Dream at the start of the Normandy Channel Race

The race started in 10 knots of wind, and we did a small triangle before setting out to the first island we had to round. It was upwind and going pretty well, 5th, until our boat speed took a small but noticeable drop while we were inshore of the competition, sailing lower and slower, we felt we had just sailed out of the wind line and were starting to be effected by the adverse current. We worked our way offshore across the back of most of the boats, fell to 13th, but still felt as though something was wrong. Finally, we decided to stick the boat into the wind and back down to see if something was on the keel and indeed there was a big glob of weeds – and so after some work, we were back up to speed.

As it was getting dark, we sailed back to shore to find that we’d gotten back into about 9th. At that point, we sailed just a bit too far offshore and into an incredibly bad current at the same time the wind started to get light. It took us over an hour (and probably the loss of 5 miles to the competition) before we were out of the worst of it. At that point though, the wind had dropped to under 7 knots. As we continued to go upwind, we could clearly see that our ability to stay with the few boats around us was being compromised.

A small lesson in sail selection: This boat’s intention, as most of you know, is to take Dave around the world next year in a mostly downwind fashion. On closed courses, such as this one, all points of sail are usually touched upon – reaching, downwind, upwind, etc. So far, since the start, we have gone upwind and in light conditions. In such conditions, a flatter sail is preferable – one that attaches to the tip of the bowsprit, which is very flat (think super sonic jet wing to minimize drag) so as to be able to sail close to the direction of the wind. We do not have one of these sails; ours is large and very full for more power (think C130 cargo plane, i.e., slow but powerful flight). Hence, our not so desirable position.

The frustration also comes in knowing we’re on a really fast boat, like a Porsche, but without the correct sails for what we’ve been doing for the last 24 hours (or in the Porsche’s case, sitting on snow.) We know things will change, but will it be too late to get back in touch with the crowd? With this light wind, the only way to get through the Solent (the strait that separates the Isle of Wight from the mainland of England) is to have an outgoing tide. We know the leaders are there now. We are praying that we can get there in 10 hours to have the tide help us through it also, but are worried that they’ll be over the horizon and completely out of touch by then.

In the face of it all, we are sailing and having fun with what we’ve got, but it’s difficult not to have all the same horses that the other boats have. As the trip continues, we’ll work on more ways to get Dave prepped for his big challenge.

– Matt (and Dave)

BoDream News – 9.02.12

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Well, here we go again!!

It’s early morning Sunday in Caen, and the last minute preps for the race are taking place.. final stocking of food and clothes onto the boat, return the car.. etc.

It’s time to go racing! There is quite the parade scheduled for today. We leave the harbor around noon, and follow each other out the long canal to the locks, and then out into open water. Our actual start is expected at 5pm – so you can figure we’ll be spending quite a bit of time just waving to people. (BTW, 5pm in France is early morning in the U.S. – so by the time you folks there read this, we’ll already be out to sea.)

Matt and I had quite a bit of fun, right in the middle of everything Friday, when the crowds began to pour into the race village area – which made walking down the sidewalk nearly impossible. At one point, Matt called out to me down below on the boat that someone wanted our autographs! Well, as it turns out, a lot of folks here have a competitor’s sheet for the race crews, and they just stroll around and collect autographs!! All afternoon, whenever we walked the sidewalk, people would stop us and ask for our autographs!! What an interesting turn for a couple of Great Lakes sailors for whom the only autograph we’re usually asked to sign, is a charge receipt!

Anyway, hope you’ll have time to enjoy some tracking of the race. The weather looks to be fairly mild, without too much wind. It’s likely to be a seven or eight day race, but still full of all sorts of interesting navigation problems posed by the many cargo, ferry and fishing boats we’ll pass (as many as 200 per day,) as well as the unpredicatable currents and pockets of wind – and no wind. You’ll likely see lead changes happen often, which should make it all more exciting.

There are some contingencies in place to shorten the race, so we’ll have to see what develops. Matt and I are certainly hoping to at least round Fastnet Rock, one of the legendary pinnacles of sailing.

So for now, we’re packed up and heading to the boat. We’ll have more details to share in a week or so, when we return here to Caen.

In the meantime, here are some links from the Normandy Channel Website, should you care to track deeper. (Hit the small Union Jack icon in the upper right corner to get an English Translation.)

1. General Background on the Race
2. The Course as Viewed by long-time Competitor, Halvard Mabire
3. Dynamic Race Map
4. Rankings

We will also be doing our best to get whatever updates Matt and I can manage to send, up and on the Bodacious Dream website as well as on our BD Facebook page.

And that all said, it’s time to live the dream!!

– Dave & Matt

BoDream News – 8.31.12

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Bonjour!!

Hello from Caen, France. The sail from Cherbourg was a Journey Magnificent. We left just after noon on Wednesday with a following breeze and sea, and sailed almost to the harbor entrance at Caen before the winds shut off for the evening, causing us to have to motor in the rest of the way. At around 10:00 pm, we motored into the lock which controls the water in and out of the harbor, and then up the channel to the center of the city (nearly a two hour trip!) – where the stage is set for the Normandy Channel Race which starts this Sunday.

Pierre, a friend of Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron from Campagne de France (our friends and close competitors in the last two races,) made the trip with me. He’s a fun character who not only made the time go by quickly, but made the passage through the locks and bridges much easier, with him interpreting the French language for me. I’m getting better with my French, able now to order food and get what I expect, talk to a cab driver, rent a car, talk with hotel staff and purchase my du pain au chocolat and jus d’ orange in the morning!! Give me another month, and I’ll see what else I can learn.

Pierre at the helm
Pierre at the helm just outside of Caen, France.  

Matt Scharl, my co-skipper, arrived yesterday afternoon ahead of us and was able to scope out Caen and set up things for our arrival. We connected today, reviewed the work list, made contact with the race directors and sorted out our plan of attack for the next few days in preparation for the start. So far, things are looking quite good. Each race we do gets a little easier as many of the tasks we do to prepare for them only need to happen once. At this point, many of those items are in place, and don’t need repeating – so that gives us more time to focus on the race itself.

Bodacious Dream, quietly moored in Caen, France
Bodacious Dream, quietly moored in Caen, France

This race is a rather complicated one in that it starts with a triangle course around some local marks before heading to a mark off the French shore. Then the course heads north to marks along the English shore, then across to Ireland for a couple of marks including the famous Fastnet Rock, before heading back to Caen. At 1000 miles long, there are plenty of provisions to shorten the course or change it to make the sailing fit the time schedules of the race. The last couple of races have had shortened courses, and with the early weather predictions for light winds here, who knows what the final course will be. That will make it interesting – not just for us, but for you following the race as well. So hang tight, and follow our updates on the website and Facebook, as it’s gonna be a fun one.

Special thanks to Pierre for sailing with me to Caen.. and as he announced as he first stepped onboard.. “This is my first time in the U.S.!”

And good luck to all our friends back on Lake Michigan who will be sailing the Tri-State Race. Not unlike our race.. three states, one weekend.. we’re three countries, one week. Hoping the summer warmth remains for you. With a new perspective on Ocean racing vs. Great Lakes racing.. I can tell you that many of those Tri-State Races were just as cold and wild as the North Atlantic was this year.

More Soon!!

– Dave
<dave@bodaciousdream.com>

BoDream News – 8.27.12

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As I write this, it is morning here in Cherbourg, France.

The time I’ve been here in Cherbourg has been sweet. I am spending some of it relaxing and lots of it making repairs and modifications to Bodacious Dream, in preparation for our next race, the Normandy Channel Race, which starts September 2nd. That’s this coming Sunday! The time till then is going by very quickly!

So, with the tiller welded and repaired, autopilot instrument replaced, vang reworked, halyards reworked, leaks stopped, new handholds, sails repaired and a lot of other smaller items taken care of, it’s time to leave Cherbourg and sail to Caen for the start of the race.

We’ll be leaving here tomorrow about noon – I hope, as all sailing around here depends on the tides. The two headlands – one to the west and the other to the east have tidal races where the currents run 7 knots or more, and if the wind is against the tide, the wave action is severe. So, you play your passage according to the tides. There is nothing quite as much fun as having the tide going with you, boosting your speed by the speed of the current. So, if we have to motor in light winds at 6 knots boat speed with a 7 knot current, we’ll be making 13 knots. Against it, we’ll just have to wait.

So, the Normandy Race is 1000 miles. We start in Caen and sail across the English channel then along the southern coast of England and out to the famous Fastnet Rock (the last sight of Ireland for emigrants sailing to America) and then back to Caen via one of the islands. I expect this to take us about five or six days, weather pending of course.

Normandy Race 2012

To follow the race, set your sights on www.normandy-race.com. There’s a ton of information and tracking to follow our progress. There is a great line up of competitors, many of whom are the biggest European names in the sport, so we’ll certainly have our work cut out for us to stay ahead of them.

I’ll be sending another write-up on the Quebec-St. Malo race here shortly. Sorry for the delay on that, but gettin’ comfy with these new electronic media thingies takes a bit of time for this ol’ grey-haired sailor!!

Soon,

– Dave
<dave@bodaciousdream.com>

BoDream News – 8.20.12

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Transat Quebec—St. Malo
The River Portion Race day in Quebec City, July 22nd, dawned warm and sunny as predicted, but with more wind than expected.  The last minute scurries all went well… breakfast for Mark and I, weather for Matt, details for Emma… check out of the hotel, drop the crew, drop the rental car, return to the harbor… a typical busy time.  And as it would work out, the boats were on the other side of the lock, which was open when I got there and heightened my anxiety wondering if it would close so I could get to the boat. It did, but then again, trapped Emma on the other side… and once again they closed it to let the crews over. Never a start without a last minute worry!!

Quebec-St Malo - Beginning of the Race

We exited the harbor to cheers and announcements over the loud speaker… something new for us Americans but typical in these events.  The boats paraded up the river to the starting area and spent time sailing about the river giving the press the opportunity to photograph the event.

Quebec-St Malo - Beginning of the Race

Quickly enough, the start gun fired and the fleet was off on a downwind start, colorful spinnakers flying in 10 to 12 knots of wind, gybing back and forth in close quarters past the beautiful waterfront of Quebec City.  The race organizers couldn’t have asked for a better situation — 21 Class 40’s, another two monohulls and five multihulls filling the waterfront with colorful sails on a beautiful Sunday! Wish I’d have had the time to take a few photographs of the show, but I’m sure the picture was better from the shore.

The winds and currents in the river kept the rankings continuously changing. One moment we’d be up in the front of the pack, the next gybe we’d be further back… a current change and we’d be smoking boats… and then, in reverse, it’d be our turn.  Through the entire afternoon and into the evening, we’d considered various routes down the river — constantly referring to the tide and current charts we’d acquired to predict where the best places might be.  And as it would be, as night fell, the winds let up and we all struggled to keep the boat moving forward again, constantly watching competitors move forward and then back aft.

This sailing went on for two days… working gybes and sail changes, watching currents and navigation and wondering where competitors had gotten off to and when they might show up again.  The one beautiful distraction to it all was the occasional sighting of a whale and the wonderful sighting of Belugas… so magical — almost glowing white against the blue waters.  At night, when the winds had gone away and our progress was marginal at best, sometimes only forward by way of the currents, you could see the stars overhead and hear the sound of whales blowing around you. And as if that wasn’t enough, the lonely wallow of a Northern Loon would break the stillness giving a grandness to this St. Lawrence River.  As a Great Lakes sailor, I’d always thought of sailing out the St. Lawrence.  Next time, I’ll take my time and make this part of the trip last a few weeks.  There’s so much unspoiled grandeur to be explored.

Quebec-St Malo - On the Water

The race spotted six “marks” along the route out the St. Lawrence at six different harbors along the way.  This gave the residents the chance to enjoy the race passing their shores and provided the fleet an opportunity to consolidate and reconnect with their competitors.  A few of these marks were especially beautiful coming near sunset with a beautiful backdrop of a small harbor and lights… and some came in the middle of the night.  Most all of them came with some frustration as the winds turned fluky near the shores.  More than once we saw huge swings in leads and positions pending our location with the wind and currents — fun if you were on the good side of things and not so much fun if you weren’t.

One especially un-fun situation occurred late at night.  Mark and I were on watch and blasting along the shore on a Jib Reach, Matt and Emma has passed a few boats on their watch and had left three or four for us to catch. We were overtaking them one at a time and feeling pretty good about our position having moved to the front of the pack, when we learned from Matt that we were supposed to turn a mark just behind us… Mark and I had wondered why the other boats stayed so close to shore!!  Embarrassed, like scolded little boys, Mark and I tacked about, returned and rounded the mark, our lead now gone and in sixth place in this pack of boats. With frustrated determination, we worked hard the next hour and passed all six boats once again. We wondered the rest of the race how we might have advanced with winds and currents if we’d not missed that call.  Be assured, that story will get better as time goes on, and likely in about five years, we’d have won the race if we’d not missed that mark!!

Stay tuned for the next section of the race…

– Dave
www.bodaciousdream.com

P.S. If you have the chance, pick up a copy of Sailing Magazine and read the story on the Atlantic Cup Race!!

BoDream News – 8.13.12

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Bodacious Dream and I are now in Cherbourg, France. We left St. Malo on Saturday with a young man named Julien who was introduced to me by friends on Campagne de France. Julien is a great young sailor with an energetic and fun attitude. Together we covered the 100 miles to Cherbourg in about 15 hours, in what I’d call a very pleasant sail. On the way, we passed the Channel Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and others. Interesting areas I’ve heard about and read about through history and sailing. Now I’ve been there!!

sunset off sark & guernsey islands
Sunset just north of Sark and Guernsey

I’ll be here in Cherbourg for a couple of weeks before we head to Caen for the Normandy Channel Race which starts on September 2nd. The Normandy Channel race covers 1000 miles of the English coast line out to Fastnet Rock and back to Caen. Again we will be up against some great competitors, many of whom we haven’t yet met, which will make it even more fun.

While here on the Normandy coast and in Cherbourg, I plan to take some time to visit and see some of the historic sites of World War II and the D-Day Invasion. This will be interesting as I remember the stories my Uncle Frank told me of being in the first wave on D-Day.

I’ve been working on more updates on the St. Malo race for you, and will be sharing those here in the next couple of days. In the meantime, if you’re up for a few great short stories, I have a great link for you — let me explain.

Harry Mark Petrakis and his wife Diana have been like a second set of parents to me since I was very young. Dean, their son and I grew up together and Harry was always offering up advice and wisdom as we came of age. Since those years, Harry and Diana have always looked out for me, often finding work for me when times were tough and gave me much of my first starts in construction. Harry has spent a lifetime writing short stories, novels and a major motion picture — A Dream of Kings. His works are regarded as major contributions to literature.

On occasion, Harry writes an essay which is published in a Chicago newspaper, the Sun Times… the series is seven or eight pieces long at this point, and the most recent one was published this past weekend. It was forwarded to me by Mark, Harry’s oldest son and the architect of our web and social media presence. And on an additional note, Diana, the steadfast matriarch of the Petrakis family and the one who has kept watch over us all, celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday!! Happy Birthday Diana!!!

So if you care to read a sweet recollection about the hobos that came thru the small Chicago diner that Harry owned in the 1940’s and that inspired much of his later writing, here’s the link right here.

If you care to read more, here is the link to Harry’s other Sun-Times essays he’s written.. or learn all about his work at http://harrymarkpetrakis.com/

As for me, it’s back to washing more boat parts, creating a work list and making preparations for the Normandy Channel Race… oh, and following up on more stories for you from the Quebec-St. Malo race.

I’ll be back with more stories real soon,

– Dave

BoDream News – 8.08.12

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Good Morning!!

Today’s weather in St. Malo is much improved over the past few days. The sun is out and bright and the temperatures are warm.  It has been more like northern Michigan since we arrived, which has made our work of drying out the boat a bit difficult.

It’s been a few days of recovering with great French food, lots of treats to choose from, good conversation and laughter with friends and working on the boat to flush out the salt water and dry the gear. The crew has all headed for home now, and I have some time to finish up the boat and develop a work list of items to prepare and fix for the upcoming Normandy Channel Race here in a few weeks. More on that later.

St. Malo is a beautiful little town….walled in for security some centuries ago, it was bombed and nearly demolished during World War II, but has been rebuilt with the same flavor of its original design. Coblestone streets, old buildings, neat shops and cafes along with street vendors, artisians and entertainers. Easy on your mind and comfortable on your soul, after a long passage.

Here’s a picture of all the boats lined up along the wall with the city in the backdrop, the last having finished just yesterday.   We think 118 is the nicest looking one there, but we understand our bias.
BD in St Malo

I’ve got to head over to do some laundry, take care of a few things and hopefully find a quiet spot to write up some more stories from the race to share with you all.  Give me a day or so and I’ll have some more updates.  Until then….enjoy the dream.

– Dave

www.bodaciousdream.com

QuĂ©bec to St-Malo – Dave Post-Race1

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Hey there Everyone!

Whoa!….what an amazing time we’ve had. We finished the race yesterday late morning, or maybe it was early afternoon…..seems to not matter much when the last 14 days all ran together. It was necessary for us to have a tow after the finish because of a questionable engine seal, so once we finished, they towed us to a mooring where we left the boat for 7 hours and came ashore to celebrate our finish. We were met by the other competitors and enjoyed a couple of beers with them before heading to grab burgers and showers. I’m sure we were a smelly bunch of sailors!!

Bodacious Dream in St Malo

The experience is beginning to set in now. What a beautiful place the St. Lawrence portion of the race is. The wildlife was amazing. Whales everywhere, dolphins, birds…. especially the lonely call of the Northern Loon. If you ever wanted to see that area of the continent, be sure to make time to do it. I certainly hope I’ll get a chance someday to do it at a more leisurely pace. And the trip across the “pond” as the regulars call it, was a blast sail. We hit speeds of 26 knots and can’t begin to describe the intensity of the ocean when the wind is up as it was……it seems to me there is enough energy in a couple of waves and the wind to power the world for months!!

We’re enjoying the town of St. Malo, this quaint village is surround by protective walls — as if it were a fortress. It was totally destroyed during World War II, but has been rebuilt much like original with the small cobble stone streets, little shops and restaurants and all the charm you’d expect from a French town. It seems I’ve been here before…..maybe a few lives ago as a ship’s captain……

We spent a few hours today undoing the boat and readying her for a wash out. We have to wait our turn for a hose to clean out the inside. Seems like that will be tomorrow and then we can relax some and figure out our next move. Until then, we’ll just hang out, enjoy the stories with the others, enjoy a BBQ party tonight and rest and restore our bodies.

Hope you all have enjoyed the trip with us. We certainly wished we’d done better in the end finish, but given this was our first trans-oceanic race and we lost a couple of sails, had some gear problem and had to nurse the boat some, we think we did well to keep the power on and pick off other competitors right up to the end.

Stay tuned for more stories!!

– Dave