Second crew member to be introduced

Hi all, I received a findmespot location from Dad this afternoon at about 3:00, you can see it here. There was never any doubt that they were in the middle of nowhere, but the findmespot location description includes "nearest location: not known"!

I thought I would take a moment to let you know about Clyde. Of the four crew members that I am not related to I have had the most contact with Clyde's wife Pat from their home base in Georgia. The two of them were once in the poultry business and have enjoyed many interesting trips aboard a few different size boats, all getting larger than the last! They have tried a few times to do the Great Loop finally completing the trip in 04-05. They also manage to charter once in a while with trips to Alaska on the inside passage as well as in the warmer climes of the British Virgin Isles, St. Martin, Puerto Rico and St. Vincent. With over 6200 hours of cruising documented to me Dad was very happy to have such an experienced sailor on board. With all that sailing experience Clyde knows his way around the galley and has been keeping the crew happy and full with great meals and baking to boot! They may even be a bit heavier than when they sailed!

You can bookmark this map to see progress if you like, I have included a pink line for the first leg of the trip to Horta and an orange line for the trip to England.

Happy sailing and remember Don't let the urgent displace the important things in life!

Le reve 1/2 way to Horta

The crew is half way to Horta and things still sound like they are going well. Dad reported that it has been rainy and windy for the last 2 days. This morning they saw a beautiful double rainbow.

I have referred to doing bios on the crew, and I have had one request from an anonymous commenter to talk about the crew. The hansom fellow posted here is Bern. He has a long list of accomplishments which made him a natural choice to come along for the Big Ride. Born in Maryland he had certificates in archery, skeet shooting, motor cycle safety, first aid instructor and ski patrol. He has served in the Military '67 - 75 as an Aircraft Weapons Mechanic. Graduating from Perdu '83 with B.Sc in Accounting, Computer Science and Industrial Management he has the background to fix pretty much anything that goes wrong on the boat. And if there should need to be some work below the water line on the hull of le Reve, he has is scuba ticket to boot! I know Dad was very excited when Bern agreed to become part of the crew. Bern's US Coast Guard Captain's License and his sailing experience on his own Hans Christian Christina sailboat named "Chinook" just added to the all around package that Bern brought aboard.

The most recent location of le Reve is here remember to scroll out to see where the boat is relative to NA and Europe
Link to the map from previous post.

New Myspot location

If you click on the second link in the previous post I have updated the map that shows where le Reve is as of today at 11:00 am

Quick update

Got a SAT call and a text message saying that all is going well aboard le Reve. They are here
You can also see the line of progress by clicking here
The information that I have so far is that rough seas forced them a little farther south than they wanted, but that the wind is expected to shift to the west which should get them some better speed, that is suppose to happen in about 2 days. The call I got tonight said that they had a great day, only low rolling waves and that they caught (and ate) a Mahi mahi. It was nice to have some fresh fish! Dad made the comment that the crew were wondering when they might be getting bored, because so far no one has! Everyone is doing well on board and Dad apologized for not sending a location update yesterday, but poor weather forced him inside before the findmespot device could get a good link to the satellites. Look for more updates soon!
B~

Belated departure picture

I have updated the map with the latest findmespot location sent from le Reve. Click here (you can bookmark this map if you want to)

I received a call from Dad on the sat this evening. We had a short talk - and then he had to call back as the call was dropped. The second connection was much better. Dad's numbers indicate that they are about 540 miles of shore and about 1/4 of the way to Horta and expects to arrive in 10 days. He reports speeds of up to 10 knots on occasion since entering the Gulf Stream - previously topping out at about 6 knots.

They have had a few minor issues only this far into the trip, but sounds like everyone is enjoying the challenges that are presenting themselves. First off the watermaker wasn't working properly. With a call into the manufacturer and all the smart guys on board they corrected the problem. The other thing that is not working is the radar. They have a backup system AIS which is working very well. He mentioned they have seen a few ships using the AIS and are comfortable with it's abilities even though they have been experiencing thick fog in the am and pm. Seas are calm right now, but they had some rough seas this am causing difficulty in moving around on the ship without holding on to something.

More information to follow as I receive updates.

The picture here is courtesy of Gary & Pat Marchenia Aboard PrimeTime in New York. I didn't get it in time for the first post and I thought I would put it in here.

Location Update

I received a location from dad yesterday June 7th at about 4:00. He also says that things are going well, they have seen many dolphins, mola mola (pictured here) and a whale. They are approaching the Gulf Stream and I will get another message when that happens. Stay tuned for small bios on the crew members.
Happy Sailing! Click here for a map showing line of progress.

The Big Ride

Well, all the preparation has been accomplished. The supplies laid in and the course decided upon. The crew has assembled and the trip has begun. Dad and the rest of the crew set off for the far shores of Europe this morning at about 8 am. You can see the location of their ship as they left the harbour by clicking here.
I will be your host in this blog for the duration of the voyage as Dad will not have any internet access for a few weeks. He will be sending me updates and I will pass them along. I should introduce myself. I'm Bill's oldest son Brad. I will pass on the location of le Reve so you can track their progress. The locations will be links to maps.google and if you scroll out you can get an idea of where the ship is in the ocean. I received an update on Dad's location at 3:30 today and they had made it to here
The weather looks to be good for about the next 8 days. After that there may be a bit of wind to deal with. Stay tuned for all the developments. A quick explanation of the title- Luke (my oldest son) prayed for his Opa while he was on "the Big Ride" and it stuck at our place for the name of this expedition.