Aug 4th, 2012 NY to Bermuda Challenge
08-07-2012, 06:02 AM
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08-07-2012, 11:05 AM
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CONGRATS nice record
congrats nice record, thats got to be the balls to do something like this. with no veiw of land for 85% of the run. big balls that is. it had to be real tuff last year with the bigger sea's and rain. glad you gave it another shot congrats one more time. Art
08-08-2012, 03:27 PM
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08-08-2012, 03:41 PM
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08-09-2012, 12:56 PM
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You could have flown the chopper to Bermuda and track them the whole way u wussy
Congrats to Chris and Tyson.
08-09-2012, 03:41 PM
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We would have needed those saddle tanks for all the extra fuel !
To be quite honest last time when we were 20 miles offshore in an R44 it was a very uncomfortable feeling... Loss of all communications and no one around to know if something had happened.
08-09-2012, 03:43 PM
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Just think how this felt to be in the middle of no where ... 
08-19-2012, 12:12 PM
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Official Bermuda Challenge Trip Report
Sorry for the delay in posting our official trip report but now that Tyson and I are back from Bermuda here goes:
After waiting all summer for a decent weather forecast over the 780 mile Bermuda Challenge race course, I called Tyson on Thursday August 2nd with the good news – the weather was shaping up for a Saturday morning NYC departure. Tyson dropped everything and had a flight booked within the hour. While Tyson was making his way east to New York I began repositioning the boat from Virginia Beach to Liberty Landing Marina just west of the Statue of Liberty.
Friday we hit the fuel dock and topped off the boat with 686 gallons of diesel. We received quite a few puzzled looks as marina onlookers stared at the running fuel pump and followed the fuel hose over to a little center console tied up among much larger mega yachts . Once fueling was complete we spent several hours going over all our safety equipment, talking through emergency/contingency plans and procedures and checked all our supplies, spare parts and tools. Around dinner time Tim Sharkey met us at the boat for a few pre-race pictures and to go over the plan for departure on Saturday. After a quick dinner we retreated to the hotel to check every imaginable weather website and try, somewhat unsuccessfully, to get a good night’s sleep.
After a lengthy discussion with our weather routing company Saturday morning and double checking all available weather data we determined the weather forecast was favorable and stable enough to take our shot at the Bermuda Challenge world record. Departure time was set at 930AM EST which would allow us to clear NYC before the afternoon sea breeze set up, enable us to get several hundred miles offshore and clear of ships, buoys and floating debris around New York before dark, and would allow us to arrive in Bermuda after sunrise providing light to help navigate the extensive reef system encircling the island.
At 910 we received a text message from Tim that he was airborne in the helo and headed to the start line. With that note we said our final goodbyes, took in all lines and idled out on the marina. At exactly 930 with Tim overhead we advanced the throttles on our 37 Statement center console and we were officially off on an adventure of a lifetime. With Tyson on the throttles and me on the helm we ran wide open from the start line past lady liberty outbound for sea.
NYC harbor is always bustling with activity and Saturday was no exception. We had to keep a sharp lookout for large ferry wakes, floating debris and hundreds of commercial vessels moving about throughout the harbor. Once we cleared Sandy Hook we encountered a significant swell where the Hudson currents met the ocean currents.
After launching off of one of these large swells, and unbeknownst to us, our engine hatch ram bottom bracket broke and disconnected from the stringer attachment point. At some point shortly after this occurred we launched off another wave and the now disconnected ram came down directly on top of our large port engine positive battery cable grounding it out against the engine.
We became aware of the problem when at 50 mph we lost both engines, all electronics, everything and coasted to an eerily quiet stop – still within site of the Manhattan skyline. Tyson ran back to check the engine compartment and calmly announced “Fire – I need a wet towel” Now those of you who know Tyson know there is no better person to have onboard in a situation like this. Within 20 seconds I had a towel soaked and back to the engine compartment only to find Tyson had already put the fire out and was assessing the damage. The result: 3 of our 4 batteries, including both port and starboard starting batteries were shot, the port battery selector switch was melted and inoperable and the port engine positive cable was melted completely through. Turning the ignition on either engine resulted in silence. While Tyson rewired the port engine electrical system bypassing the melted switch I began removing the battery box covers and hooking up the jumper cables we brought in the Damage Control tool kit.
After making field repairs to the melted battery switch and melted engine cable we were able to jump start each engine from our sole remaining (house) battery. With the engines now back online, engine hatch tied down and GPS showing 765 miles to the finish line, we put the throttles on the dash and started to take back the 40 minutes we had just lost.
After we were back up and running for half an hour we began to settle into our routine making hourly fuel consumption calculations which we continued every hour throughout the rest of the trip. We expected rough conditions in the vicinity of the North wall of the gulf stream so we ran as fast possible in the 2 -3 foots seas heading east.
Around 4pm we began crossing into the gulf stream and the wind and seas began to pick up. The area of the gulf stream you have to cross on a rhumbline from NYC to Bermuda is particularly treacherous as severe temperature gradients exist between the warm and cold water eddies breaking off the main current which causes significant localized severe weather. As seas built to 6 – 8 feet we reduced speed to 30 – 32 mph while we pounded our way east.
Around 8pm we received an update from our weather routing company who was tracking our position in relation to the eastern limit of the gulf stream and informed us that the weather on the other side was calmer as predicted. We patiently pushed forward through the washing machine like conditions dodging thunderstorms with as little course deviation as possible.
Around 1130 pm the moon cleared the clouds hanging low on the horizon, the seas laid down to 2 -3 feet and it was time to roll. From 1130pm to 330am we drove and throttled with everything we had squinting at the dark seas ahead of us trying to keep the boat in the water as we made up for lost time and tried to put as much time in the bank as possible knowing that we expected the seas to pick up as we neared Bermuda.
About 150 miles out, the seas started picking up again and we eased the throttles back slightly and pushed onward. Our 780 mile route from NYC to Bermuda had 7 waypoints, 3 leaving New York, 3 entering Bermuda and one very very long leg from Sandy Hook to Kitchen Light. As the sun broke the horizon Sunday morning we passed Kitchen Light which was a huge morale boost for us. The seas continued to build as we navigated the reef toward St. Georges as if the Island wasn’t ready to relinquish the World Record which had been held by Bermuda native Neil Bernie for over a decade.
At 809 am Bermuda time we crossed the finish line coming through Towne Cut Channel in St. Georges, Bermuda beating the existing record by almost an hour with the current record now at 21 hours, 39 minutes for the 780 mile race.
I would like to thank all our sponsors, friends, family and follow OSO’ers who helped us over the course of this entire adventure and I would like to personally thank both Nick Buis of Statement Marine and Mike Anderson of Performance Outboards and Machine who were with me during my first record attempt. We share this record with both Nick and Mike who weren’t able to be physically with us during our latest Bermuda run due to professional commitments but who were essential in helping us make this world record a reality.
After waiting all summer for a decent weather forecast over the 780 mile Bermuda Challenge race course, I called Tyson on Thursday August 2nd with the good news – the weather was shaping up for a Saturday morning NYC departure. Tyson dropped everything and had a flight booked within the hour. While Tyson was making his way east to New York I began repositioning the boat from Virginia Beach to Liberty Landing Marina just west of the Statue of Liberty.
Friday we hit the fuel dock and topped off the boat with 686 gallons of diesel. We received quite a few puzzled looks as marina onlookers stared at the running fuel pump and followed the fuel hose over to a little center console tied up among much larger mega yachts . Once fueling was complete we spent several hours going over all our safety equipment, talking through emergency/contingency plans and procedures and checked all our supplies, spare parts and tools. Around dinner time Tim Sharkey met us at the boat for a few pre-race pictures and to go over the plan for departure on Saturday. After a quick dinner we retreated to the hotel to check every imaginable weather website and try, somewhat unsuccessfully, to get a good night’s sleep.
After a lengthy discussion with our weather routing company Saturday morning and double checking all available weather data we determined the weather forecast was favorable and stable enough to take our shot at the Bermuda Challenge world record. Departure time was set at 930AM EST which would allow us to clear NYC before the afternoon sea breeze set up, enable us to get several hundred miles offshore and clear of ships, buoys and floating debris around New York before dark, and would allow us to arrive in Bermuda after sunrise providing light to help navigate the extensive reef system encircling the island.
At 910 we received a text message from Tim that he was airborne in the helo and headed to the start line. With that note we said our final goodbyes, took in all lines and idled out on the marina. At exactly 930 with Tim overhead we advanced the throttles on our 37 Statement center console and we were officially off on an adventure of a lifetime. With Tyson on the throttles and me on the helm we ran wide open from the start line past lady liberty outbound for sea.
NYC harbor is always bustling with activity and Saturday was no exception. We had to keep a sharp lookout for large ferry wakes, floating debris and hundreds of commercial vessels moving about throughout the harbor. Once we cleared Sandy Hook we encountered a significant swell where the Hudson currents met the ocean currents.
After launching off of one of these large swells, and unbeknownst to us, our engine hatch ram bottom bracket broke and disconnected from the stringer attachment point. At some point shortly after this occurred we launched off another wave and the now disconnected ram came down directly on top of our large port engine positive battery cable grounding it out against the engine.
We became aware of the problem when at 50 mph we lost both engines, all electronics, everything and coasted to an eerily quiet stop – still within site of the Manhattan skyline. Tyson ran back to check the engine compartment and calmly announced “Fire – I need a wet towel” Now those of you who know Tyson know there is no better person to have onboard in a situation like this. Within 20 seconds I had a towel soaked and back to the engine compartment only to find Tyson had already put the fire out and was assessing the damage. The result: 3 of our 4 batteries, including both port and starboard starting batteries were shot, the port battery selector switch was melted and inoperable and the port engine positive cable was melted completely through. Turning the ignition on either engine resulted in silence. While Tyson rewired the port engine electrical system bypassing the melted switch I began removing the battery box covers and hooking up the jumper cables we brought in the Damage Control tool kit.
After making field repairs to the melted battery switch and melted engine cable we were able to jump start each engine from our sole remaining (house) battery. With the engines now back online, engine hatch tied down and GPS showing 765 miles to the finish line, we put the throttles on the dash and started to take back the 40 minutes we had just lost.
After we were back up and running for half an hour we began to settle into our routine making hourly fuel consumption calculations which we continued every hour throughout the rest of the trip. We expected rough conditions in the vicinity of the North wall of the gulf stream so we ran as fast possible in the 2 -3 foots seas heading east.
Around 4pm we began crossing into the gulf stream and the wind and seas began to pick up. The area of the gulf stream you have to cross on a rhumbline from NYC to Bermuda is particularly treacherous as severe temperature gradients exist between the warm and cold water eddies breaking off the main current which causes significant localized severe weather. As seas built to 6 – 8 feet we reduced speed to 30 – 32 mph while we pounded our way east.
Around 8pm we received an update from our weather routing company who was tracking our position in relation to the eastern limit of the gulf stream and informed us that the weather on the other side was calmer as predicted. We patiently pushed forward through the washing machine like conditions dodging thunderstorms with as little course deviation as possible.
Around 1130 pm the moon cleared the clouds hanging low on the horizon, the seas laid down to 2 -3 feet and it was time to roll. From 1130pm to 330am we drove and throttled with everything we had squinting at the dark seas ahead of us trying to keep the boat in the water as we made up for lost time and tried to put as much time in the bank as possible knowing that we expected the seas to pick up as we neared Bermuda.
About 150 miles out, the seas started picking up again and we eased the throttles back slightly and pushed onward. Our 780 mile route from NYC to Bermuda had 7 waypoints, 3 leaving New York, 3 entering Bermuda and one very very long leg from Sandy Hook to Kitchen Light. As the sun broke the horizon Sunday morning we passed Kitchen Light which was a huge morale boost for us. The seas continued to build as we navigated the reef toward St. Georges as if the Island wasn’t ready to relinquish the World Record which had been held by Bermuda native Neil Bernie for over a decade.
At 809 am Bermuda time we crossed the finish line coming through Towne Cut Channel in St. Georges, Bermuda beating the existing record by almost an hour with the current record now at 21 hours, 39 minutes for the 780 mile race.
I would like to thank all our sponsors, friends, family and follow OSO’ers who helped us over the course of this entire adventure and I would like to personally thank both Nick Buis of Statement Marine and Mike Anderson of Performance Outboards and Machine who were with me during my first record attempt. We share this record with both Nick and Mike who weren’t able to be physically with us during our latest Bermuda run due to professional commitments but who were essential in helping us make this world record a reality.
