Manhattan Azores Brest

28 Days Later ... 28 Jours plus tard...

2006-07-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

Message de la part de l'épouse de Jean-Marc aujourd'hui à 4:30pm Heure de Brest

" ça y est ! Ils sont arrivés !"

A message from Jean-Marc 's wife Delphine today at 10:30am New York time

" That's it ! They made it !"

One of the last updates... hopefully

2006-07-05T19:28:00.000-04:00

48 04 N
07 59 W

130 NM to go ... we are very close :) arrival estimated: Thursday early morning ...can't wait for my café au lait with croissants au beurre, nom de diou...

Still no land yet but more activity on the water, mainly fishing boats.

Weather is cloudy but nice, not cold and we have a little wind pushing us West.

Yesterday, we celebrated 4th of July, by drinking 1 beer each and having some Belgium Chocolate... such a luxury cruise here.

Allez les bleus...

486 Nautical Miles to go...

2006-07-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

Sunday July 2
46°57 N
16°35 W

486 Nautical Miles to go but we have a strong East wind in the nose and East, it is where we want to go :( We hope that the wind will changed direction soon. Weather is good now but yesterday we had a lot of rain and it is not fun to be outside at the wheel for 3 hours completly wet...

another update from the middle of nowhere :) (Fred)

2006-07-01T11:06:00.000-04:00

48° 02 N
20° 33 W

Saturday July 1

Making some progress here...633 nautical miles to go. So a few nights ago during my watch, it was dark and I was probably sleeping at the wheel (don't tell the other guys). Suddendly, I am hit by something in the face, something wet and like jelly...like a snowball...in the middle of the ocean. I switch on my flash light and
there is that flying fish shacking on the deck... Really wierd animal...a fish with wings like a bird. And the poor guy managed to hit my face in that big ocean...I put it back to the water...hope he is fine :)

Where are they ? Où sont t'ils ?

2006-06-29T20:17:00.000-04:00

Type in their position and zoom right in !

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Please fedex us a CHEASE BURGER :)

2006-06-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

47°41 N
27°10 W
Thursday June 29

We are still moving East, fast, 899 nautical miles to go... we do 100/150 a day ... you do the math :) We are doing the North Atlantic Diet, better tan the South Beach, recommanded for overweight sailors and smart models... you can try it at home it's easy. Just don't by any food and eat what you have for the next 2 weeks. 1 meal a day for lunch with rice or pasta, spam or corned beef... left over for dinner if there is any... :)

By the way this is day 20 of the trip. 20 days without seing any land, a few boats and even less planes... here is our daily routine:

1500/1730 Jason
1730/2000 Fred
2000/2300 Jean Marc
2300/0200 Jason
0200/0500 Fred
0500/0730 Jean Marc
0730/1000 Jason
1000/1230 Fred
1230/1500 Jean Marc

Next time, i will tell you what happened during one of my night watch...

I F&"a"'G WANT A CHEESE BURGER :)

2006-06-28T19:10:00.000-04:00

(Fred)
46°39 N
33°30 W
Tuesday June 27

We are still going east. Last 2 days were nice and sunny. Today we have rain, strong wind and rought sea. We should have nice wind for the next 3 days. Since we didn't stop at the portuguese deli, we need to be carefull with the food but what we have is okay for the rest of the trip. A few days ago, we saw a big red buoy drifting...we decided that this buoy shows the middle of the Atlantic :) Always a lot of dolphins with us and sometimes walles ... we didn't fish anything yet except a bird that got caught in the wire.

Nous allons toujours vers l'est. Les 2 derniers jours étaient ensoleilés et sympas. Aujourd'hui, nous avons un peu plus mauvais temps mais le vent devrait etre avec nous pour les 3 prochains jours. Comme on s'est pas arreté à l'épicerie portuguaise, va falloir faire avec ce que l'on a question bouf, mais on a assez jusqu'à l'arrivée. Il y a quelques jours, on a vu une grosse bouée rouge qui dérivait...on a décidé qu'elle indiquait le milieu de l'Atlantique :) Toujours beaucoup de dauphins avec nous et des baleines parfois ... toujours rien peché, à l'exception d'un oiseau qui s'est pris dans le fil.

last strech...

2006-06-26T12:35:00.000-04:00

46°29 N
37°01 W
Monday June 26

Hello
We stopped our course toward Island and finally turned East :) We found the favorable wind we were looking for 3 days now. We are going an average of 8 knots and this should stay the same for the next couple of days. Main sail and spinaker are up.

Bonjour
Nous avons arrété notre route vers l'Islande et avons tourné à l'est finallement. Nous avons trouvé les vents favorables que nous cherchions depuis 3 jours. On fait une moyenne de 8 noeuds et cela devrait rester comme ça pour les prochains jours. La grand voile et le spinaker sont envoyés.

We are going directly to Brest...

2006-06-23T13:54:00.000-04:00

Saturday June 23
43°18 N 41°50 W

We are going directly to Brest. Azores anticyclone is not letting us to go to the Azores because the wind is against us. Going North and trying to get West winds. Should be in Brittany around July 12. Everything is okay.

Nous allons directement à Brest. L'anticyclone des Açores nous empèche d'aller aux Açores car on a le vent dans le nez. On va au Nord pour avoir des vent d'Ouest favorable. On devrait arriver en Bretagne autour du 12 juillet. Tout va bien a bord.

A dream within a dream

2006-06-23T13:15:00.001-04:00

Jean Marc,

It is of course with a great deal of disappointment to know that I will not join the crew at the Azores and go all the way to Brest together. The hard decision you made to sail straight to Brest is wise, considering your location, the condition of the boat and weather reports. I also want to thank you for the heartfelt words you sent me regarding that decision and I 'd like you to know that our unconditional friendship stands strong.

As you can imagine this trip has been haunting the laboratory of my mind from the day you announced the news of you coming to New York to deliver a 39’ sailboat to France. Timeless days of preparing the boat, imagining the outer and inner world of sailing the North Atlantic Ocean in great company have filled my heart with much anticipation, excitments and happiness.
The journey you are sharing on board of Petit Scarabee along with Jason & Fred has an unestimable value. An experience that you will all remember for the rest of your life.

May the wind takes you all to Brest safely.

Ton ami Christophe

blessings and wishes for a safe journey

2006-06-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

Just wanted the "on-board" crew to know that I am with you in Spirit.
I regret not getting the chance to test my seaworthiness with such a great group of guys. Perhaps another adventure will come our way. I do believe the next logo will be even better. Until then I still have the polo shirt.

I wish you the safest of journeys to port in Brest.

To Jean marc I wish a joyous family reunion and baptismal reception.

PUTAIN d'ANTICYCLONE !

2006-06-22T18:40:00.000-04:00

Nous sommes confrontés en ce moment à un anticyclone très puissant qui influe des vents faibles et contraires à notre route. Après avoir consulter les prévisions météo, cela risque de durer. J'ai beau tourner le problème dans tous les sens, rien n'y fait.. Petit Scarabée ne fera pas escale aux Açores. Je prend la décision de faire route sur Brest.

jean marc
P.S. voici notre position, qui t'aideras peut-etre à mieux comprendre ma décision au vu de la météo. 42°08N 41°47W à 17H30 heure de New York.

At the present time we are confronted to a very strong anticyclone that influx low winds and contrary to our destination. Having checked carefully the weather reports, it seems like this situation will last. I have tried to look at this problem many different ways, but nothing works. Petit Scarabée will not stop at the Azores. I make the decision to go on straight to Brest.

Jean marc
P.S. here is our position, that will help you to better understand my decision in relationship to the weather. 42°08N 41°47W - 17.30pm New York time.

News via Satellite Phone

2006-06-18T14:02:00.000-04:00

J'ai reçu aujourd'hui à 10.24am NY time un message de Jean-Marc via téléphone satellite.

" Tout va bien pour le moment. Notre position est la suivante...
38° 33NORD 47° 24OUEST.
Il n'y a pas beaucoup de vent et le moteur de Petit Scarabée est en panne depuis le 13 Juin.
ce qui explique le fait que nous ne communiquons plus via e-mail afin d'economiser l'energie.
A plus tard "

Sa voix etait tres calme et sereine.
Ils ont parcouru 2280KM en 10 jours. Il reste 1750KM jusqu'aux Açores...
Christophe

I have received today at 10.24am NY time a message from Jean-Marc via satellite phone.

"All is well at the moment. Our position is...
38° 33NORTH 47° 24WEST.
There is no much wind and the engine of Petit Scarabee is out of order sine June 13th.
That is the reason why we are no longer communicating via e-mail in order to save energy.
Talk to you later"

His voice was very calm and serene.
So far they have gone 2280 KM in 10 days. Remaining 1750 KM to the Azores...
Christophe

Half-Way in the "Sea of Atlas'

2006-06-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

Petit Scarabée is half-way from the 'standing city' and the Azores Archipelago.

Petit Scarabée est à mi-chemin entre la 'ville debout' et l' archipel des Açores.

battery pb :(

2006-06-15T10:16:00.001-04:00

june fithteen
we have bateries problems ;;; need to save energy ;;;;lasr email from
the boat for now;

update

2006-06-15T10:16:00.000-04:00

it has been " four stressfull days here but we made it : sob alberto
won't touch us :)

Jason here...

2006-06-13T10:17:00.000-04:00

2006-06-13
38°52.638N
58°56.443W
18 :15

Jason here. The past two days have been thrilling indeed. Our course
had called for us to head pretty much due East to the Azores, just over
two thousand nautical miles from nyc. The wind behind us which we had
been riding since the last blog entry was from the southern section of a
low which passed by to our north. This was what created the high seas
which we’ve been busy surfing down the face of from the tenth until
yesterday morning. My top speed by the way was 12.9 kts – not too
shabby. We had wind speeds mostly in the mid twenties to low thirties
but there were a couple of gusts in there over forty knots. There
wasn’t much sleep to be had since the auto pilot doesn’t work all that
well or for very long and the boat had to be steered very carefully in
order to take the high waves well. Anyway, we had a bit of a rest
yesterday only until we learned from our weather routing service (which
we receive via email through our satellite phone!) that we were right in
the path of Tropical Storm Alberto which is making it’s way up the coast
of the U.S. as I write this. We didn’t lose much time before adjusting
our course to SE, and for the last twenty four hours we’ve been putting
on as much speed as we can and as much distance between us and some
weather serious enough to be named. I think we’ll be out of the way of
the worst of it by the time it reaches us and that it will pass by to
the north of where we will be leaving us with winds no stronger than
with which we’ve already dealt if with seas a bit higher than the last.
I’m afraid the fishing reports will be on hold for the next few days.
In other words, we’re going to have our hands full for at least five or
six days and hope you can wait for news about the fish until then. But
just to hold you over: The evening before yesterday we were joined by
what seemed dozens of dolphin all swimming and jumping and racing with
the boat. We cheered for them and I shall not soon forget the sight of
a handful of the graceful creatures diving towards us down the back of a
nine foot high wave which just passed beneath us. Magic!
- JAV

News

2006-06-12T10:15:00.000-04:00

2006-06-10
40°18.717N
68°26.775W
14 :10

Pretty strong wind today (20 to 25 knots) and big fat waves (10 feet).
We are surfing the big waves and making a pretty good speed (11 knots).
It’s like New Rochelle, Mike, but sober J The boat shakes and bounces
all over but that okay. We saw our first dolphins… when I was at the
wheel, I bumped into one … poor guy didn’t see us coming, we are going
so fast.
Vent fort et grosses vagues aujourd’hui. Nous surfons sur les vagues et
avançons assez vite (des pointes à 11 nœuds). Le bateau rebondie et se
secoue dans tous les sens mais ça va. On a vu nos premier dauphins …
Quand j’étais a la barre, je suis rentre dans un dauphin. Il nous a pas
vu venir… on va tellement vite.

Fred

Fishing Report #2
I put the Ravisher (my name for it) on the line last night, the one that
looks like a silver fish with purple fringe. It’s weighted and swims
underneath the surface of the water - supposed to be killer. If we had
it out now, I’m pretty sure we’d be eating well tonight but the waves
and speed have been keeping us a bit too busy to fish. The key as I
understand it is to be able to stop the boat quite quickly as soon as
the fish strikes and certainly that is one thing while making way at
five knots and something else entirely while scooting along at nine.
Thrilling sailing we’re doing though – the waves towering above the
helmsman, the scale giving a new shock each time I climb through the
companionway and to the cockpit of a boat surrounded by nothing at all
still. Everyone seems well and the boat is handling herself nicely.
Exciting night ahead I’m sure. - Jason

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2006-06-11
40°00.892N
64°09.659W
18 :30

This wind makes us go very fast but life aboard is difficult… everything
moves …
Le vent nous fait avancer rapidement mais la vie a bord est difficile…
ca bouge …

Souls in the High Seas

2006-06-11T15:13:00.000-04:00

Bonjour,
tout va bien à bord mais l'équipage est maintenant fatigué.
Les conditions météo rendent les quarts de barre tres éprouvants...
Le fichier météo que Christophe envoie chaque jour est précieux pour nous.
Nous avons vu hier un groupe de dauphins venir jouer avec nous; tres
beau spectacle ! Le bateau marche vite, j'espère avoir ratrappé un peu
de mon retard...
jean marc

Hello,
All is well on board...However the crew feels tired due to the hard weather
conditions we have been sailing through. The forecast report that Christophe
sends us everyday via e-mail is very precious to us. We saw yesterday a group
of dolphins...coming near the boat to play. What a an amazing sight !
The boat is going fast and I hope I had caught up with my delay...
jean marc

Portraits

2006-06-10T10:22:00.000-04:00

Jean Marc

Jason

Frederic

Seth

Christophe

First message from the boat/Fishing Report #1

2006-06-09T15:14:00.000-04:00

2006-06-09 09:25
40°26.372N 71°25.386W

Hello. This is the first message from the boat. I had my first night watch from 2:00 to 5:00. Helpfully, it was very windy (25 knots), so the main sail block broke and the two other guys were up to fix it, so I had company for a while ;) ... The next hour, I was alone in the dark, looking for tiny lights at the horizon (is this one red or green?)...amazing.

Bonjour. Voici le premier message du bateau. J’ai fait mon premier quart de nuit de 2:00 à 5:00 heure. Heureusement, il y avait beaucoup de vent (25 nœuds ) alors la poulie de la grand voile s’est cassée et les 2 autres matelots se sont réveillés pour réparer. Comme ça, j’ai eu de la compagnie pour un moment ...Pendant la dernière heure, j’étais seul dans le noir, scrutant l’horizon pour les feux des autres bateaux (est ce une lumière rouge ou verte ?) ... extra ordinaire.

- fred

Jason here. I’ve decided to write the daily fishing report as a way of
organizing my thoughts.
Fishing Report #1
40°25.674’N 70°58.798’W
1426hrs

My morning watch begins at 0730, maybe a little late to get the line
out, green and yellow jelly head on the end of it. The rod is strapped
to the starboard quarter rail with Velcro straps and backed up by a
safety strap so that if it goes in the water, at least I won’t lose the
whole rig. Making bubbles, swimming just like the good people at
Capitol said it would, and so I am a fishing. Trim the sails. Some
orange juice. My girlfriend is very beautiful, I think. The sun is
trying to poke out of the sky. Come on, Sun! Blogging. She brought me a big bag of leftovers from the restaurant and I heated up some Salmon cakes for the guys last night. Chocolate pudding or some sort of mousse as well. Aluminum rammikins and a raspberry on top. Magic. It’s still very grey and damp outside. My 1500-1730 watch begins in fifteen minutes. I’m going to change the green jellyhead for something else. I don’t know which one yet and I just realized I won’t be able to tell you since I threw away all the packages and the jellyheads are the only lures I remember the name of . I’ll try to describe them the best I can when I figure out what hey’re like. More to come. End of fishing report #1.

'Day Dreaming'

2006-06-08T09:48:00.000-04:00

Day dreaming is one way of opening the intuitive and creative side of the brain when we have spent too much time in logical left brain activities. Day dreaming can be a form of visualization, wherein a person 'sees' an image then creates into whatever they want that image to do. It can help you plan for your future wherein you create the various ways events could unfold in your life... Someone who daydreams is seeking to fulfill a dream or hope in their mind. While it may seem a useless human behavioral glitch, it can actually be quite constructive...

A transat also starts with a trip to Costco.

2006-06-01T22:11:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Costco to buy food for the trip ... and loaded the boat just before a big storm :(

Aujourd'hui, nous sommes alles faire les courses chez Costco ... et charge le bateau juste avant un gros orage :(

A transat starts with a nice logo.

2006-06-01T08:01:00.000-04:00

Le nom du bateau est Petit Scarabee 2.

The boat's name is Petit Scarabee 2.