Category Archives: Québec to St-Malo

QuĂ©bec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 12

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Good evening all!!

It’s about the equivalent of 11 pm here. The weather continues to be grey, dark, damp and rainy….typical North Atlantic conditions!! Mark’s up driving… back and forth with the waves and wind. I’ve been tending to much needed regular maintenance onboard. We switch off every hour or so and I give him a break. Everything below and above is wet. We probably evacuate about 15 gallons of water every shift. The constant flow of waves over the deck run off the stern, some of which then makes its way through a compromised gasket on the stern hatch. The routine at the end of my watch is to switch crew, then I climb back there, scoop water into a bucket and then it’s pumped by one of the others on deck out the boat. About 4 buckets a watch – messy, clumsy and unfortunate work. We’ve had a number of other compromises as well, but are making the best of these situations. We continue to push the boat and ourselves toward France – hoping to gain position in the standings too. Ireland’s off our port bow about 100 miles and St. Malo about 400. We’re hoping the wind continues with us to the finish and some much needed sanitizing!!! A day of sunshine and nice winds would be a real change of pace. We’ve been stuck with the low pressure system for 7 or so days…which has made for a fast passage, but a change of pace would be nice.

Hope to be in France in a few days!!

– Dave

QuĂ©bec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 12

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Last night will not be forgotten quickly!!!!

Before I get to that, we’re sailing fast under 2 reefs and the solent almost straight at the barn in 30 to 35 knots of wind, looking for it to slowly diminish as we get closer. Last night came with the forecast that the wind would build to the mid-30s and then fall slowly back to where it is now.

The boat had been sailing with the code 5 and a reefed main for the last 24 hours or so. We were all pretty comfortable with it, knowing that it’ll take 40 knots and that there was good full moon visibility. Emma and I started our watch at 8 UT with her driving. After an hour or so, I took over and was having a great time, working hard and loving the speed, top recorded was 24.9 knots.

The seas began to build into steep mountains in pretty short order. At one point, I stuck a wave and had a foot of green water flow from front to back washing my legs out from under me. Being clipped in, I didn’t move and simply played superman as the water passed under. We had a good laugh over that.

An hour or so later, I had broached once, but recovered it quickly. Some time later, a massive wave hit us; I would guess it was 20 ft from top to bottom. I was ready and square to it when it hit. With a ride like an elevator, the stern was picked skyward and the bow dropped down the face of the wave – not fun like take off and go fast; it was 50 degrees flaps down and submarine!!! Stuck the bow in the water up to at least the mast and kicked the stern over the top, the boat just hung there for a moment until it kicked to the side and we needless to say WIPED OUT! The sail flogged violently with no speed on and tore, Emma, quickly went to the bow as Mark and Dave came up on deck. The sail wrapped on the forestay a handful of times, but after about 20 minutes of wrestling with it, we had it down. This seemed like a very long time to us, great job was done by all in controlling the situation. If you can see the kink in our track last night that was during this procedure, and the solent up, other than the torn sail, no worse for wear.

Emma and I went down for some much needed rest. About an hour later, with the boat going well, I was cold and decided I had to get up to grab a fleece. Just as I was climbing out of the pipe birth feet first, looking backward, the bow fell down and stabbed into a wave stopping everything but me it in its tracks. I was launched forward 12 ft into the forward bulk head, head-first, hitting the back of my head just below my occipital process. Bo Dream’s pretty yellow color was now getting highlights of red. I sat for a minute collecting myself and was surprised I wasn’t in worse shape. I opened the door to Mark and all he said was, who’s bleeding, I tilted my head down and he said, “All you need now is two eyes back there and you’ll have a face.” The gash is just below the prominent bump I have back there, so I would guess it acts as a nose.

Anyway I stopped the bleeding and laid down for a bit. Getting up to go on watch I found a deep bruise on my thigh and head pounding, but for what it’s worth, not too bad.

600 or so miles to go, France – here we come.

– Matt

QuĂ©bec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 11

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Drysuits are awesome, I started putting the drysuit on during my watch about 7 days ago, still for the most part dry inside. 2 layers on the bottom, 3 on the top, drysuit to cover. Pretty simple, remove, and repeat every 4 hours. Mark has been doing the same. Dave and Emma have had a hard time dealing with the latex gaskets around the wrists and neck; it must be that we are just used to them from the years of sailing the multihull. Right now I wouldn’t be nearly as happy without it. Right now, it’s my best friend.

Speaking of friends, I started noticing a fly in the cabin 8 days ago, he/ or she is still with us. Is it fair to say we’re sailing with 5? I don’t dare swat him at this point, during the days I don’t see much of him/ or her, but at night she hangs out on the Zeus screen, that is our navigation panel. Two nights ago, I had to get up because I thought theer was a ship nearby on the AIS, turns out it was just fly hanging out.

Other boats, none for the last 7 days, not even a sign of life except for the plastic bottle I saw yesterday. You could easily think we’re the only one’s on the planet right now.

– Matt

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 11

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Hello All!!!

Holy smokes, what a ride!! While our position in the fleet leaves something to be desired, this marvelous experience has given us much more than we expected. We’ve been attached to a low pressure weather/wind system since we exited the St. Lawrence area and headed to open ocean….winds have been mostly in the 20’s and the boat speeds have all been teens and occasionally into the 20’s with extended surfing on waves. With each ride on a wave, comes a gush….well more like a flush of water that clears out the cockpit of anything and at night leaves phosphorescent-like lightning bugs swirling around your hands and feet. Tonight we were blessed with a patch of clear sky and the nearly full moon shone down on us….very uplifting but sure would have been nice for it to have been sunshine. We haven’t had any since heading out across the open waters of the North Atlantic.

We’re having fun clicking off 50 plus miles every 4 hour watch giving us 300 mile days….with presently something like 807.6 miles to go till we reach the entrance to the English Channel. Boy, that’s a lot of water!! From there we’ll have another 150 or more miles to St-Malo. We’ve learned a lot and been humbled by the sea once again, but that’s why we sail. One can only hope to be respected by the sea in return, and allowed to pass thru it.

Thanks for following and keeping up with us. We’re doing our best and hoping to catch up to a few in front of us before the finish. Regardless, its been a grand adventure!! Back on deck to get wet now, and taught a few more lessons by the sea.

– Dave

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 10

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I just caught a ballyhoo, got him on the deck and slowly washed him from the front to the cockpit and out the back. Has to be a pretty unlucky fish in this giant ocean to have that happen. Then again, how often does a ballyhoo get the opportunity to sail a class 40?

Been pretty rough with wind, reaching conditions so that the boat healed over 20 degrees; virtually impossible to hit the correct letter on the keyboard.

Right about at the 1000 miles-to-go stage; our routine is pretty well-ingrained. Dave and Mark have been paired together. Being the same age, they have had a fair bit to to chat about – and Emma and I have been working together. We don’t seem to have a whole lot in common other than sailing this cool boat. Usually one of the pair will be steering, and the other sits under the doghouse ready to go if anything needs to be done. I usually just look out the back of the boat, Emma reads and listens to her iPod, I think she’s close to finishing her second book.

We have all taken on the other little jobs that need to be done while racing. I do the weather and computer stuff, Dave and Emma have been doing the thankless job of getting water out of the boat and Mark does more than his share of driving.

Tonight’s a clear beautiful moon-filled night; can’t ask for better or more beautiful conditions.

Looking for an opportunity to catch a few boats, but these reaching conditions make it difficult to move up.

Sleep well,

-Matt

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 8

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Our attempt to sail a bit low and fast to take advantage of what was forecast for the winds so we might swing around to the SW, has been abandoned. The newest forecast has the winds staying out of the NW. Opportunities to make up ground from here will be minimal in this straight to the barn jib reaching.

I don’t know if the tracker shows it, but the last 24 hours of as sailing has been fast and awesome, sustained rides over 20 knots have been commonplace.

Now after being out here for our 9th day, the learning curve for crew and boat has been steep, and we wish we had had a mentor willing to go through the various systems to refine them and make them offshore worthy. From stacking systems to long spoons for the freeze-dried food, from sail changes to water removal, everything will be looked at from a new perspective.

The results of the Atlantic cup had our expectations high. The reality is that we’re 5K runners moving up to marathon distance. We’ve learned tons and are getting Bo Dream prepared for its ultimate goal of Dave’s circumnavigation.

I would love some strawberry rhubarb pie right now. Dave wants scallop shrimp ceviche, Mark wants Chinese food and a whole chicken and Emma wants a guava off Drew’s mom’s tree.

– Matt

BoDream Newsletter -7.30.12

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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.

Transat Québec Saint-Malo Start of Race - 7.22.12

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

= Subscribe to the BD Email Newsletter by going to http://bodaciousdream.com

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 6

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A note from Matt, delayed from Saturday..

Good morning,

The sky and the water is gray with cloud cover and a light rain every so often, good wind and Bo Dream is pointing east.

We hit something like a log or palette last night. All I know is, it was hard.  We hit it, drug it for about 10 seconds and it slipped off the back only hitting the keel and not the rudders. Doesn’t seem to have done anything bad – just a sudden bolt to wake you up.

The only life out here are birds. One is called a Storm Petral and not sure of the other. They fly around behind the boat, though haven’t seen any of them catch anything or stop to land. Seems like a tough way to make a living.

Would like to get back the decision to gybe north yesterday morning, as it doesn’t seem to have helped us at this point. I would guess many of you were wondering why we would do that, as you can see the wind has slowly shifted from 330 degrees to 180. Being on the inside of a header is great, but the extra distance to get there doesn’t appear to be worth it.  Again I need to continue to remind myself that this is a long race, and there will be multiple systems to deal with – not just a shift and your dealing with the Manitu Islands.

Well, we’re going strong now and Bo seems to really like jib reaching. so it’s time for her to make up for my mistakes.

– Matt

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 6

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Hey Everyone!!

Hope you’re all having as great a time as we are.. so how does damp, tired, and 2200 miles till we see land become a great time?  Well, for Matt, Mark and I, this will be our first Atlantic crossing and that keep us moving!!  This is Emma’s second – her first one was on her mini-a 21 foot class of solo sailors!!  You can imagine how her energy keeps us all going. I’m curious how its going to feel the last day or so coming into European waters and nearing the end of this race.

Matt’s written you much about life onboard.  Pretty clear perspective though maybe a bit understated. Dampness is everywhere and the engine charging hours are a clamor to lay as much wet clothing on or around it to get it dry again.

The racing has been great. These competitors are really tenacious. We’ve been through our ups and downs and have been able to move ahead, as we continue to look for opportunities to climb up the standings even more.  The boat’s taken a lot of punishment the last 5 days and I’m happy to say we’ve only broken a few things…a boom vang line, an inexpensive harken shackle and few other very minor things. I’m sure we could have broken much more if we didn’t have such a top crew onboard when we got the boat racing along at 23 knots with water everywhere and wind increasing, as Matt told you, taking down the spinnaker….whew….could have been ugly if it weren’t for the band – Matt on point, Emma on the helm and Z on the “piano” (the pit where all the lines come into 16 jammers).

So hang in there….more to come soon.

– Dave

Québec to St-Malo – BD Update – Day 5

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Sorry it’s been a day or so since I’ve been able to get out an email. The last 36 hours have been busy and wet.

Started out yesterday (Thursday) early morning 4am’ish coming out on watch to rain, 15 knot winds and thick fog – terrible driving conditions and for the most part the only thing happy were the birds flying around. Then later that morning came strong winds and 6-8 foot seas that resembled a washing machine. This was most uncomfortable for about 5 hours. The wind then picked up and with spinnaker flying, we were finally moving well again, so well that we had to switch to the reaching kite and were off in 30 knots of breeze, heading straight for the Saint-Pierre Island which we had to round at 20+ boat speed.

Getting to the island, the wind lightened and we went forward to a jib reach were we were greeted with mild conditions and about 5 hours of flat seas – not to mention the sight of Mare, EDF and Jack in the Box.

We haven’t been able to get position reports, so seeing them brightened our spirits, cause as any sailor will tell you when you’re floundering around just trying to keep the boat moving, you can’t help think everyone else is leaving you in the dust.

After the island and with the spinnaker flying, dusk soon approached and along with a sudden increase in wind speed up to 35 knots, the A4 kite that we were flying, is as the book would say – good up to 24 knots. We were overpowered and doing everything we could to keep the boat under the kite, and not wipe out.  Emma did an awesome job of keeping the worst from happening, while somewhere in the process, hitting 23 knots of boat speed.

With Dave and I on the bow, it took everything we had to get the spinnaker snuffed and down, which we did with no issue other than my  memory of those set-to-failure workouts we used to do at Michigan, that until you were really used to them would drive you to the locker room puking your brains out from exhaustion. That was me 5 minutes afterwards – but in general now, feeling  just fine.

We throttled back some last night in order to recharge our personal batteries and recover from the hardest 600 miles any of us had ever sailed, mentally and physically.

We’re now sailing under the A4 downwind spinnaker in sunny 65 degree temperatures and 15- 18 knots of wind.  What a difference a day makes. There’s not another boat in sight. We know we lost some distance, but are confident we’ll make it back now that we can let Bo Dream run. We know she’s fast.

Tactically up until now, this has been a lot like the long distance races we do in the Great Lakes, 50 to 300 mile legs where you have to pick a side, deal with one wind change or weather system.  Now with 2300 miles in front of us, this is a new game tactically. Long term decisions aside, for now we’ll be sailing mostly a rum line course, in beautiful sailing conditions.

– Matt, Emma, Mark and Dave