BoDream Expedition (Baja – Day4)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by oceanexplorer

We arrived in Turtle Bay (Bahia de Tortugas) at about 10:30 am today, Tuesday – a neat spot on the trip north. It’s a bit more than halfway north from Cabo San Lucas and a nice respite for us … as the winds so far have been strongly against us.

This small village has just a few conveniences. Most important to us is the ability to refuel, so we can continue motoring north as the winds are still forecasted to be against us … or at best, light and variable.

Within minutes of arriving at the anchorage this morning, we were approached by the local service that brings fuel out to you on the boat. Señor Enrique came first with his small launch to see what services he could provide and then, after leading us to a good anchoring spot, returned after a few minutes with a boat that is part fuel tanker. We took on nearly 85 gallons, which will be enough for us to make it to San Diego over the next three days.

Señor Enrique’s Welcoming Launch

While we had hoped to perhaps see some turtles here in Turtle Bay, we haven’t had such luck. We’re forever hopeful though to see more of the fascinating wildlife that abounds in these waters.

Approaching Turtle Bay …

The time at anchor here has been good, as we’ve gotten a chance to make a few repairs and fine-tune a few things that hadn’t worked out the way we wanted. Bodacious IV looks to be ready for another challenging night of winds, before forecasts say they will settle down Wednesday.

Anchored in Turtle Bay … a moment of stillness

After dark tonight we’ll head out around the point and Isla Natividad, and then make a course to the East of Cedros Island before crossing the Bay and continue up the coast. Off the north end of Cedros Island we will encounter competing currents that will cause the wave pattern to be very confused. With the level of particularly strong winds we’ve been seeing the past three days, we will probably have a few hours of uncomfortable sailing tomorrow … before things settle down.

Position in Turtle Bay: 27 41.099’ N, 114 53.169’ W

We’ll keep you posted on our progress, and hope to share more videos and photos with you tomorrow.

For now, at anchor in Turtle Bay – comfy with a dinner of chicken breast and ravioli. Desert? Think I’ll try the cookies!

In the meantime … below is a video of an interview with Bo IV’s engineer, Dave Hardy, shot back in Cabo San Lucas, about the science of ship masts … what keeps them up, what kind of loads they can bear … and what kind of mathematics you need to know to figure that all out.

Dave R. & Dave H. talk Masts and Mathematics …

Also … in case you hadn’t seen these yet, we want to remind you about the six “Explorer Guides” that are a part of this site and which you might use to help you engage with the kids in your world around various subjects (Math, History, Wild Life, Sailing Glossary, Environment and Geography) all of which intersect in some way with what is going on and around Bodacious IV and our Baja Expedition. Here’s a link that suggests ways that you might “Get Involved” and use them … and here’s a link to the Math guide page.

Thanks for keeping watch on us!

– Dave R., Tim, Heather, Jonathon and Dave H.

The forever beautiful Baja coastline …

BoDream Expedition (Baja – Day3)

Posted on April 2, 2013 by oceanexplorer

Well, it was quite the breezy day today out here Monday on the Baja coast. We’ve saw the winds spike as high as 30 knots and coming at us from various directions depending on how near or far from the coast we were. Such wind variations are caused by what are called “land effects.” What happens is that additional winds are created when the land heats up from the sun and the relative warmth compared to the coldness of the water causes a “thermal transfer” as the warm air rising off the land pulls in the cool ocean air underneath it. So, it’s been a day with a lot of back and forth, up and down depending on the winds and where we are! At the same time, the skies have been clear and the sun bright!

We have been seeing whales, but from a too far a distance for us to get any good videos of them. If you watch the horizon for a while though, you are sure to see them spouting … breathing out an upward gush of air and water. It truly looks just like the drawings or pictures in the books you read! In the three days we’ve been out here so far, on day one, we saw the one humpback whale wave its tail at us as we left the corner of Cabo San Lucas. Yesterday, we saw three whales while we were being entertained by a colony of seals. Today, we saw two spouts off our starboard (right) bow – but again, a bit too far away to capture in photos or videos. So, I’m going to say that was TWO whales too! We’ll keep a whale count and see how many we see through the entire trip.

Right now it’s a dark night and the moon has just started to rise. The stars are amazing as they always are, when you are away from the light of urban areas, where what is called “light pollution,” makes it difficult to see so many of the stars. The Milky Way, which is a swirling path of concentrated stars across the sky, was particularly brilliant tonight. Typically on dark nights, you also get to see phosphorescent plankton, but so far this trip, we haven’t seen any of it. I’m hoping that we’ll see some soon, and I can describe to you what we see … it is truly a beautiful thing nature shares with us …the plankton illuminate as the water is stirred up … like sparkles on a flowing black dress .

So, we learned another one of life’s valuable lessons today, which is to always check and take care of your equipment. Maybe it’s only your bicycle; or the brakes on your car, an important tool you need to do your job, or the computer you do your schoolwork on. For us today, it was the autopilot. It suddenly stopped working for us … and at a very bad time. The autopilot is a gizmo that uses a computer and a compass, to control a hydraulic rod that pushes or pulls to keep the boat going in a straight line. Late tonight, it stopped working just as we were rounding a point of land. Fortunately, I was at the navigation station at the time and saw the alarm, but it still took a few minutes for us to shut it off and steer the boat safely away from the point of land. What we discovered after crawling all through the back of the boat, was that one of the power leads was loose on its terminal. Once we got that corrected, it came back to life and we were back in business.

Here’s the autopilot, manually restored!

We’re all grateful to have it back, because with the wind and waves all stirred up as they were, standing at the wheel for long periods of time can get pretty uncomfortable. Imagine trying to concentrate on your job while someone is full-spraying a garden hose at you. So, always remember to check your equipment and make sure everything is working right before you head out on a bicycle ride or long car trip!

Dave & Heather – a small compass in her hand and a big one in front of the wheel.

There was a question posted to us on compasses, so in response, Dave interviewed the very knowledgable Heather on the subject. It’s great and informative stuff. Unfortunately, the audio w/the wind noise is a real challenge to understand … so, we didn’t post the video here … but, if you are the determined sort, it’s on our YouTube Channel … Part 1 of that interview is HERE and Part 2 is HERE!

So, that’s it for now. We hope we find and see more whales and maybe even some turtles in Turtle Bay on Tuesday when we stop and refuel there for the second part of our trip.

– Dave R., Tim Heather, Jonathon and Dave H.

Bodacious Dream Expedition Day #3 Position:
Position: 27 00.549′ N, 114 06.466′ W
Boat Speed: 6.2 knots
Course: 293 degrees

BoDream Expedition (Baja – Day2)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by oceanexplorer

We’ve had a full day on the water this Easter Sunday. The winds stayed pretty solid, mostly 15 to 20 knots and kept pushing directly into our nose, making it difficult to sail … so we continued to motor. About noon, we did hoist the mainsail to a “2nd reef” position – about half its full size. This is done to help stabilize the boat in the waves. When the winds blow stronger, we make the sails smaller so we can better control the boat.

Mainsail 2nd Reef Mainsail in “2nd reef” position

Here Bo IV crewmember Heather explains what reef points are and why they matter when you’re using the motor on the boat.

We’ve been out here since noon on Saturday, and it’s now about 21:00 hours on Sunday, so that’s about 33 hours total time. So far, we’ve gone about 225 miles and have about 180 miles left before we reach Turtle Bay, where we’ll stop for more fuel before heading on to San Diego.

We’ve seen some fun wildlife today. First off, this morning we were visited by a colony of seals. There were quite a few of them and they kept us entertained by following along with us, playing in the wake of the boat and body surfing the waves alongside Bodacious IV. They look like they had nothing much else to do but play – which was entirely fine by all of us.

A seal colony comes to visit

Later in the day, we came upon a feeding frenzy. We could see a flock of pelicans diving into the water and making all sorts of commotion. I’m guessing there were 100 of them in the area. At the same time, we could see a lot of dolphins surfacing and jumping. What it looked like to us was that the dolphins had run into a school of smaller fish, and were forcing them to the surface as they fed on them, at which point those fish pushed to the surface became easy glistening targets for the pelicans.

A nearby bird and fish feeding frenzy

This is an example of what’s called a “food chain” in nature, where bigger fish feed on smaller fish, and other animals then feed on various even smaller species. It was sure interesting to watch the whole event unfold, which Captain Tim Eades did from his special little nest.

Captain Tim Eades

Given the wind and waves conditions, we’ve found the easiest course to stay along the
coast in about 60 feet of water. We’re not entirely sure just why at this depth, the waves and wind are less, but the advice we were given by local sailors has been holding true.

As we watch the coast go by, we can see how dry and arid the desert landscape is. Often it is barren or sandy with only brush and cactus – very brown and dry-looking. Also, at night, there are very few lights on the shore which tells us that there are very few inhabitants, and those that are there are mostly small, subsistence fishermen who live in small shacks while they fish the area.

We were told that along this coast that fresh water is a valuable thing, and that if we need something from these people that offering them fresh water in return is a common courtesy.

This is Bo IV’s onboard watermaker.

Bo IV has a system on board that takes salt water and desalinates it in to fresh water. So, as long as we have engine power and can use this machine, we can create fresh water out of salty ocean water – which of course comes in real handy, if we are all to have our several precious cups of coffee.

The rack in the galley, where we store our cups.

After the long day on the water, we each take our turn keeping watch through the night, as we continue on to Turtle Bay.

More from this fantastic world tomorrow.

– Dave R., Tim, Heather, Jonathon and Dave H.

Bodacious Dream Expedition Day #2 Position:
25 44.205’ N, 112 08.983’ W
Boat speed: 7.3 knots
Course: 345 degrees

BoDream Expedition (Baja – Day1)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by oceanexplorer

We untied Bodacious IV, Saturday at Noon, PST time and motored out of the Cabo San Lucas Harbor past many people vacationing and swimming among the beautiful beaches.

After finishing up final sorting and storing of the gear, as well as a final safety meeting, we got off to a good, but late start. While all five of us are very experienced sailors, we’ve never all sailed with each other before, and it’s necessary for safety purposes that we all have the same understanding of the procedures, so that should an emergency arise, we know not only where everything is, but also what each other is (or should be) thinking.

Baja Coastline

Just after we turned around the first corner and headed in the general direction of our destination San Diego, we were treated to a most wonderful site – a humpback whale surfaced and waved its tail at us as if to wish us off on a good trip! Unfortunately, we weren’t quick enough with the camera to capture it, but we certainly are planning on seeing more whales along the way. It was difficult to tell the length and size of this humpback, but we know they are generally 39–52 ft (12–16 meters) long and weigh approximately 79,000 lbs (36,000 kilograms) They are famous for their songs. (Do you know how long they typically live? You can find the answer in our Wild Life Explorer Guide.)

We were also visited by a school of dancing porpoises and a large turtle, but again, it was difficult to get the cameras on them. We’ll be quicker and better prepared for the next round of visits!

Meet a few of the crew: Dave Hardy (Engineer) & Jonathan Pond (IT Specialist)

It looks now like the wind is going to be against us for most of the trip. That is going to make it more difficult than we’d hoped to sail, and we’ll most likely have to motor much of the way. There is a high pressure system moving north of us off San Diego, (the dark blue and green in the upper left corner of the wind map below) which is producing winds that circle high pressure in a clockwise direction. With the high pressure pushing from the left and in front of us, those winds will come down directly on our bow, and so act to push us away from our destination.

The moon rose behind us last night, as we were about 60 miles south of Magdelana Bay. We’ve been told by other sailors that know this route and these waters – to stay relatively close to the shore to stay out of the worst winds and waves. It does seem to make the trip smoother to be in about 60 feet of water.

BDX1_sunset_3.30 Sunset … Day One

So hopefully, the new day will allow us to get some video. In the meantime, If you care to, go ahead and ask us some questions. To do that, just go HERE and fill in the form.

And to all of you … have a lovely and peaceful holiday!

– Dave R., Tim Heather, Jonathon and Dave H.

Bodacious Dream Expedition Day #1 Position:
23 48.191′ N, 110 45.552′ W
Course 319 (Angle on the 360 Degree Compass (more on that soon)

BoDream Expeditions – Trailer for a Sailor (Video)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by oceanexplorer

Dave and the crew left Cabo earlier today! Look for updates soon! In the meantime, check out our BDX Video “Trailer!” WhOOp! It’s short & sweet! (Thanks 2 Rob Forney!)

How U Can Join BoDream Expedition #1!

Posted on March 29, 2013 by oceanexplorer

Now that the Newport Beach to Cabo San Lucas race is over and Bodacious IV is berthed in Cabo, our hope is to commence the expedition tomorrow, Saturday, March 30th. We’ve got some things we need to do aboard Bo IV before we can take off – such as stock provisions, fuel as well as clean and change the prop from a racing prop to a more efficiently powered prop for motoring purposes. And naturally, we want to give Bo IV’s Captain Tim Eades a chance to rest up a bit, after a job well-done! So, now that the dockside celebrations are over, the BDX crew and myself are cleaning and preparing for the upcoming trip.

So, moving forward with the actual BDX Game Plan … here it is …

:: KEY LINKS

• The Bodacious Dream Expeditions website has all the important information on our Baja Peninsula Expedition. (This is a 5-6 day sail from Cabo to San Diego, CA aboard the 52′ Bodacious IV – w/ our crew of 5.)

• The Live Latest Updates page on the BDX site is where ALL new posts will go first … and it will carry the chronological stream back to the start.

• Our Bodacious Dream Expeditions Facebook page is also ready to keep you updated as well. For those of you who do Facebook, that will be an easy way to keep up with the daily updates. So, make sure you LIKE us over there … to receive those updates in your newsfeed.

:: EXPLORER GUIDES

On the BDX site, we’ve uploaded our six “Explorer Guides.” These are our youth-focused study guide “worksheets,” in a variety of subjects (math, history, wild life, etc.) relative to the Baja and to sailing. They’re pretty cool … even if I do say so myself! (Thanks to our great team!)

:: A MENTOR? YOU?

One way you might get more involved is if you have any kids in your vicinity, we encourage you to be a “mentor” by sharing with them the materials and opportunities that the expedition offers, and working with them on some of the questions and problems the guides pose, AND by following us along as we make our way north. I’m betting there are even a few questions there that will give the adults a challenge too.

There’s also a sweet printable map of our route to help you keep daily track of our progress. (Put in on the fridge!)

:: A LITTLE EXPEDITIONARY HOW-TO

Here, by way of example, is how I would share the Expedition with my young friends Brett and Harry. (This how-to stuff can all be found on the BDX website at the “Mentor Guide” page.)

• First off, I’d show them the website and help them read through the front information pages. Go to the “Expedition Overview” section and print out the Baja Peninsula page. This is a few pages of information about the Baja Peninsula and should be quick and easy reading. And again, there is the Baja Map to print out and reference.

• Next, I’d go to the “Explorer Guides.” These subject-specific worksheets are designed to be printed out and used for fun exchanges with the kids. A bunch of the questions can simply be answered by referring back to the information contained on the Baja Peninsula page. In addition, you can have fun figuring out other problems posed about distances, speeds and how we navigate.

• Then each day, probably in the early afternoon, I’d check the site for the latest daily update on the Live Updates page. There will be photos from the boat, stories about our day and maybe a video or two about fun things we do or see along the way. You’ll be able to plot our course, figure out where we are and follow right along with our progress.

• At any time, feel free to send along any questions, ideas or suggestions you might have right to Capt. Dave. Use the BDX Contact Us form, or the BDX Facebook page … or oceanexplorer@bodaciousdreamexpeditions.com is another good address.

Beyond that, the rest is pretty much up to you. Be curious, ask questions, do some addtional exploring on your own and strike up conversations!

My broader hope in all this, is to find new ways to share the wonders of the majestic ocean, the excitement of sailing as well as the pure fun of sharing new experiences with adults of all persuasions and children of all ages. We would like nothing more to awaken bodacious dreams in the minds of youngsters, such that one day we may see them (and you as well) out on the ocean and exploring the wonders of the Earth on their own.

It certainly began that way for me. Such are the nature of big dreams!

We MORE than welcome your input! We’re counting on it. Thank you one and all!

Ok then, on to it! See you out there!

– Dave, Bodacious Dream, Bodacious IV & the Crew

Bo IV Walk-Thru Part 1 (Video)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by oceanexplorer

Captain Dave Rearick of Bodacious Dream … in San Diego Harbor, takes us on the first half of his short tour of Bodacious IV, the ship that Dave and the crew will use for the first upcoming Bodacious Dream Expedition of the Baja Peninsula – beginning on March 29th, 2013.