Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
Charlie Dalin has shut the door on his pursuers overnight.

During the night Dalin has done some great sailing to fight off the challenge from Burton who was chipping away at his lead. After losing miles to Burton in the early part of the night, Dalin changed course from 126° to 95° to get a better downwind angle in the Southwesterly and, with some fast sailing, emerged with his lead intact at the end of the night..

This great personal duel should continue for the next 3 to four days as a straight battle of boat speed in similar conditions.

Dalin will also be aware of Ruyant, who seems to be attached to a 200 mile long tow rope behind his boat.

It is not such great news for the peleton who are trying to keep ahead of lighter more Southerly winds from the high pressure moving behind them. Joschke and Pedote are already falling behind at the rear.

It is worse news for those even further behind who will find a huge area of dead wind blocking the narrow gap between the exclusion zone and the Aguellas current. At least they will get a sun tan.

For the 3 leaders, though, it should be an exhausting Southern Ocean downwind sleigh ride in F6-F8 conditions for days on end. It will be fascinating to watch.
 

muppetdodger1

New member
Joined
27 Nov 2020
Messages
6
Visit site
Charlie Dalin has shut the door on his pursuers overnight.

During the night Dalin has done some great sailing to fight off the challenge from Burton who was chipping away at his lead. After losing miles to Burton in the early part of the night, Dalin changed course from 126° to 95° to get a better downwind angle in the Southwesterly and, with some fast sailing, emerged with his lead intact at the end of the night..

This great personal duel should continue for the next 3 to four days as a straight battle of boat speed in similar conditions.

Dalin will also be aware of Ruyant, who seems to be attached to a 200 mile long tow rope behind his boat.

It is not such great news for the peleton who are trying to keep ahead of lighter more Southerly winds from the high pressure moving behind them. Joschke and Pedote are already falling behind at the rear.

It is worse news for those even further behind who will find a huge area of dead wind blocking the narrow gap between the exclusion zone and the Aguellas current. At least they will get a sun tan.

For the 3 leaders, though, it should be an exhausting Southern Ocean downwind sleigh ride in F6-F8 conditions for days on end. It will be fascinating to watch.
I am wrong in thinking Jean le Cam is a serious contender here. He seems to be as fast if not faster than anybody at the moment, he's not that far behind and he will gain a time bonus surely from the rescue of Escoffier and the passing off of the same to the naval ship. Those two time bonus's will surely put him right in the mix if he can keep the wind good.
 

Seven Spades

Well-known member
Joined
30 Aug 2003
Messages
4,700
Location
Surrey
Visit site
I am wrong in thinking Jean le Cam is a serious contender here. He seems to be as fast if not faster than anybody at the moment, he's not that far behind and he will gain a time bonus surely from the rescue of Escoffier and the passing off of the same to the naval ship. Those two time bonus's will surely put him right in the mix if he can keep the wind good.
He need to be much further south because where he is he is going to be sailing a much longer distance. Yes he is in with a shout as are all the top 8/9 I thihk that there are enough whales to go around and he only has 1 fin to worry about which must halve his chance of meeting a(n?) UFO.
 

LONG_KEELER

Well-known member
Joined
21 Jul 2009
Messages
3,721
Location
East Coast
Visit site
He need to be much further south because where he is he is going to be sailing a much longer distance. Yes he is in with a shout as are all the top 8/9 I thihk that there are enough whales to go around and he only has 1 fin to worry about which must halve his chance of meeting a(n?) UFO.

And the non turbo Damien Seguine going well .

Le Cam and co are probably partying every night so they could well take their eye off the ball.
 

Bathdave

Well-known member
Joined
4 Apr 2012
Messages
1,348
Location
jersey, CI
Visit site
Sebastian Demetruea on Merci has done a mast walk to fix his anemometer ...laid the boat on its side and climbed up the mainsail, he and his team reckoned it was safer than a conventional mast clim ..then slid down the main like a giant chute when done,

clealry Alex set a precedent though he didn’t do itby himself in the southern ocean

you have to admire the courage and innovation of these guys and girls
 
Last edited:

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
I am wrong in thinking Jean le Cam is a serious contender here. He seems to be as fast if not faster than anybody at the moment, he's not that far behind and he will gain a time bonus surely from the rescue of Escoffier and the passing off of the same to the naval ship. Those two time bonus's will surely put him right in the mix if he can keep the wind good.

I think that you have a good point. As you point out his 400 mile deficit is misleading since the jury have yet to decide his bonus.

Even a 400 mile lead is not impossible at this stage of this race if the weather Gods smile on you. If the bunch ahead of you find themselves blocked by a 200m wide high pressure where the wind is 5 knots and you are sailing at 20 knots, you can make up the distance in a single day.

In terms of pure excitement, though, I find the Dalin vs Burton duel fascinating. I think that Burton has got inside Dalin's head and is making him sail in ways that he would not choose.

But you have reminded me to not forget Le Cam and co. because, as you say, they are still very much in this.
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
He need to be much further south
Ah, but let us not forget that Dalin (and Ruyen) went even further North of where Le Cam is now! (And Le Cam is only about 100M North of Bestavin and Seguin. )

But, yes, you are right that the further South that you can sail the better in terms of distance. The fancier foiling boats don't like the big seas in the South as much as calmer waters to the North but that shouldn't affect Le Cam.


I thihk that there are enough whales to go around and he only has 1 fin to worry about which must halve his chance of meeting a(n?) UFO.

? ?
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
Sebastian Demetruea on Merci has done a mast walk to fix his anemometer ...laid the boat on its side and climbed up the mainsail,

In the Southern Ocean? With 25 knots of wind? Singlehanded?
Madness , absolutely madness! Also, brave, resourceful, ingenious, skilful, determined and lots of other admirable things. But still - utter madness!

Why couldn't he just have got the young lad from the marina to go up there while he watched from the bar, like everyone else does?

Seriously, though - utter respect to the young man for pulling off an audacious feat of great seamanship.
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
At the minute, the two leaders must be hitting some seriously bad conditions. Their boat speeds have dropped from around 17 knots to around 10 knots!

The weather prediction apps don't differentiate between their conditions and those of Ruyen who is doing 18 knots behind Dalin and 100M to the North of Burton - but there is obviously some serious localised muck down there if it has nearly halved their boatspeeds of the leading 2.

The (seemingly imprecise) weather app forecasts a 150M band of higher wind ahead of them, so it could be that the forecast has slightly misjudged the location of the high wind zone .... or it could be about to get even nastier for them. Interestingly, Ruyen is on course to sail just North of the predicted high wind zone.

Good luck through the dark night to them. It can't be fun.
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
Hi can anyone with better than my rudimentary school french tell me if Le Cam is saying, in this video, that there are multiple large ships behind him?


(There was a fleet of (six) fishing boats sailing in a line around there on the Satellite tracker earlier today. Presumably trawling with nets. )
 

westhinder

Well-known member
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Messages
2,471
Location
Belgium
Visit site
Hi can anyone with better than my rudimentary school french tell me if Le Cam is saying, in this video, that there are multiple large ships behind him?


(There was a fleet of (six) fishing boats sailing in a line around there on the Satellite tracker earlier today. Presumably trawling with nets. )
He is talking about the one large fishing vessel on the horizon and the fact that there is a large sea running as sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. And he is wondering what type of fishing they’re doing, either very long nets or strings of pots, as they are laying buoys with AIS.
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
He is talking about the one large fishing vessel on the horizon and the fact that there is a large sea running as sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. And he is wondering what type of fishing they’re doing, either very long nets or strings of pots, as they are laying buoys with AIS.
Thanks. I noticed a line of fishing boats on the Marine App behind Le Cam/Bestain/Seguin . Behind each boat was a little sphere marked as 'unknown vessel'. It would seem that they they were trawling between the two tiers of racing boats. Hmmm. They probably didn't think the 'yachts' would be travelling at 20 knots.
 

Ravi

Active member
Joined
18 Jun 2013
Messages
749
Location
NorthEast England ... Greece (Kalamata)
Visit site
Saw something on another website but couldn't find anything on the Vendee site. He may have a problem. EDIT: Have had, he looks to be back up to speed now.

If it was just the conditions, he must have taken one hell of a battering since he had previously been making decent progress in F7/8 and ,6m waves!

It may have been a breakage that he has sorted but the fact that Dalin also slowed for a while suggests that it was weather.

I wonder if it will make Burton rethink his high risk strategy.

EDIT. Meanwhile Ruyant remains exactly 200 miles behind the leader. Is he on a tow rope?
 
Top