AT update - from the Hub

[cherod]

I see HB and AT have decided to head for Cape Town.

Alex Thomson ceases racing in the Vendée Globe - The Hub

The right call. I am sure everybody in the team is gutted, but have clearly made the right decision

Cherod, if AT had continue to race where else would he have gone?

i would never suggest for a moment that he would / should continue , so i can not help you .

 

[NormanB]

I see HB and AT have decided to head for Cape Town.

Snipped

A very sound decision 1800NM is long way to swim.?

 

[cherod]

i do hope that the middle aged english gentleman makes it to a safe port unscathed .

 

[cherod]

A very sound decision 1800NM is long way to swim.?

it is even a long way to sail with a damage boat

 

[LBRodders]

So he's out...real shame.

But I think there's a definite pattern forming. You can't have a cavalier type fast sailor in a fast boat for such a long race like VG

A fast risk taking sailor needs a tank and a careful sailor needs a fast boat.

HB have tried both repeatedly and failed. I don't think over this length of time luck comes into it.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

So he's out...real shame.

But I think there's a definite pattern forming. You can't have a cavalier type fast sailor in a fast boat for such a long race like VG

A fast risk taking sailor needs a tank and a careful sailor needs a fast boat.

HB have tried both repeatedly and failed. I don't think over this length of time luck comes into it.

So easy to criticise. Can you give any examples of where AT is any more 'cavalier' than any of the other front runners? And how, precisely, he was responsible for the damage - when nobody yet knows the cause of either breakage?

 

[cherod]

So easy to criticise. Can you give any examples of where AT is any more 'cavalier' than any of the other front runners? And how, precisely, he was responsible for the damage - when nobody yet knows the cause of either breakage?

its a bit silly to blame AT , he has maintained a speed which has kept him in touch with the leaders all the way ,, no more no less

 

[Kukri]

AT must be absolutely gutted. And the Board of Hugo Boss are sure to be thinking carefully about their future plans.

But - this perhaps represents not just the future of long distance racing but possibly, in a few decades, the future of transport by sea.

The point isn’t just that the boat never got out of the Atlantic; it’s that it’s designers, builders and skipper, all of whom have lots of talent and expertise, thought that it would get round the world. A lot of new knowledge has surely been gained. And nobody has been harmed.

 

[john_morris_uk]

i do hope that the middle aged english gentleman makes it to a safe port unscathed .

I’ll join with you and hope the English elite athlete who happens to be one of the best long distance sailors in the world makes it to port safely.

 

[cherod]

AT must be absolutely gutted. And the Board of Hugo Boss are sure to be thinking carefully about their future plans.

But - this perhaps represents not just the future of long distance racing but possibly, in a few decades, the future of transport by sea.

The point isn’t just that the boat never got out of the Atlantic; it’s that it’s designers, builders and skipper, all of whom have lots of talent and expertise, thought that it would get round the world. A lot of new knowledge has surely been gained. And nobody has been harmed.

one would have thot that it would have been prudent to have hired people who already have that sort of expertise that you think they may have now gained, the effort may then have been more successful . bit like the horse , the door and the bolt .

 

[Pete54]

one would have thot that it would have been prudent to have hired people who already have that sort of expertise that you think they may have now gained, the effort may then have been more successful . bit like the horse , the door and the bolt .

This rae is pretty much at the cutting edge of what people can do. That is the sailors - who push themselves to a point most people could not sustain and the boat are doing things which simply have not been done before. Close on 10 tonnes doing 25kts plus and then ploughing back into solid water? High tech construction - put into load environment which no tank can simulate - hardly surprising thee failures have occurred. Make the bots strong enough - they may not fly consistently, make them light - the usual competition imperative - you can break them.

The designers are extrapolating their existing experience into a new realm - unfortunately without much testing. So the failures are predicable - next VG should be quite something!

 

[zoidberg]

This one's not over....

 

[cherod]

This one's not over....

getting better every day ,

 

[Bobc]

Practice racing last night looked interesting. Seems Ineos have found some form now.

 

[cherod]

Practice racing last night looked interesting. Seems Ineos have found some form now.

would never go round the Horn

 

[zoidberg]

Remember those AC45s that came to Plymouth? Their people refused point blank to sail out round the Eddystone Light - visible from Plymouth Sound - and back. ( 10 miles x2 )

 

[NormanB]

I thought this was about the Vendee?

 

[cherod]

tonite le Cam 105 miles behind the leader ,, considering his 10 hours " compensation " that would put him ( " the elderly gentleman " ) effectively in the lead ,, allez Le Cam .

 

[ridgy]

tonite le Cam 105 miles behind the leader ,, considering his 10 hours " compensation " that would put him ( " the elderly gentleman " ) effectively in the lead ,, allez Le Cam .

Bestaven has 10h 15m recompense so I think he still has it just about.

 

[NormanB]

To be honest with weather patterns ahead of them anything could happen it’s crazy out there - chicken bones might be more useful than grib files.?