GGR 22

[Ravi]

From the Soundcloud recordings of the weekly calls with the skippers, it sounds like the weather fax devices on board are a bit of a chocolate teapot. As far as I can tell, nobody has managed to get any weather fax info in the Atlantic. One of the competitors was understandably grumbling about the £10k that he shelled out for his two fax devices.

On the subject of the Soundcloud recordings ........
The GGR media team issue these sound clips unedited and the sound quality is quite awful. The volume of the competitors is a fraction of that of Don and the conversation is very very indistinct. While this adds a touch of authenticity, I wonder how difficult it would be for the GGR media team to do some basic sound editing with volume levelling and digital enhancement.

The GGR really don't do themselves any favours in publicising the race with their very amateur media team.

 

[jlavery]

From the Soundcloud recordings of the weekly calls with the skippers, it sounds like the weather fax devices on board are a bit of a chocolate teapot. As far as I can tell, nobody has managed to get any weather fax info in the Atlantic. One of the competitors was understandably grumbling about the £10k that he shelled out for his two fax devices.

On the subject of the Soundcloud recordings ........
The GGR media team issue these sound clips unedited and the sound quality is quite awful. The volume of the competitors is a fraction of that of Don and the conversation is very very indistinct. While this adds a touch of authenticity, I wonder how difficult it would be for the GGR media team to do some basic sound editing with volume levelling and digital enhancement.

The GGR really don't do themselves any favours in publicising the race with their very amateur media team.

I agree regarding coverage. It's pretty lazy.

There's also the daily YouTube briefings, which aren't bad but are a bit rambling.

I'd like a daily update on their website as to what's going on, rather than having to listen to unedited soundcloud files or watch a video.

 

[Wansworth]

Isn’t this YouTube conection etc completely negating the one important factor that the skippers faced loneliness,and complete cutoffness…..more in porta the than the so-called choice of boat with atransome hung rudder?

 

[jlavery]

Isn’t this YouTube conection etc completely negating the one important factor that the skippers faced loneliness,and complete cutoffness…..more in porta the than the so-called choice of boat with atransome hung rudder?

I think you're misreading.

The skippers have no day to day contact. They're not posting to YouTube. GGR race control are posting daily updates of tracker screens shares and commentary on YouTube.

 

[Wansworth]

I think you're misreading.

The skippers have no day to day contact. They're not posting to YouTube. GGR race control are posting daily updates of tracker screens shares and commentary on YouTube.

Ok

 

[jlavery]

From the event website today:
"Guy and Jeremy are still suffering from their barnacle invasion. Jeremy seems to be skipping Trindade to head south, Guy can still take shelter there to clean the hull. He is losing 30 to 40 miles a day to Elliott, who may well catch up with him at the island."

How come they've got barnacle problems? They've only been sailing for 47 days . Have they not antifouled their boats? What am I missing?

 

[Bajansailor]

How come they've got barnacle problems? They've only been sailing for 47 days . Have they not antifouled their boats? What am I missing?

The South Atlantic barnacles are much more hardy perhaps than their North Atlantic cousins, and they probably regard the European antifouling as a tasty snack when they latch on to the boat passing by?

More seriously, I wonder if the barnacles are mainly concentrated around the stern, or if they are fairly uniform around the boats?
Yachts running down the trades seem to typically accumulate lots of barnacles under the counter (if there is one) or in way of the stern.
But yes, it does not say much for the antifouling if the barnacles are latching on in 40 days.
I seem to remember reading in RKJ's book about his barnacle problems - I think he did some bottom scrubbing when he was in warmer latitudes?

 

[capnsensible]

I think I read that the problem is goose barnacles. This has caused big problems in the last race too.

They are tenacious, fast growing and get quite big in the scheme of things. And causing the yachts to be held back.

It's hard to imagine just what a pain they are. I've even had them growing on the blades of a watt@sea hydro generator tthat was in use!

 

[capnsensible]

 

[dunedin]

Do the Vendee Globe and Volvo boats suffer from barnacles, or is it just these slower boats?

 

[capnsensible]

It certainly seems to be more of a problem on slow yachts.

Quite how they manage to grow on a watt&Sea blade baffled me!

 

[Wansworth]

The likes of Hiscock had copper plate nailed on,a traditional approach

 

[Bajansailor]

When you consider that just a layer of slime on the hull bottom is enough to knock 10% off your boat speed (I think because it upsets the boundary layer?), just imagine what effect critters like barnacles have.
@capnsensible have you been on an ocean passage on a boat with coppercoat, rather than traditional antifouling?
I wonder if the barnacles still manage to latch on to coppercoat as easily?

 

[capnsensible]

When you consider that just a layer of slime on the hull bottom is enough to knock 10% off your boat speed (I think because it upsets the boundary layer?), just imagine what effect critters like barnacles have.
@capnsensible have you been on an ocean passage on a boat with coppercoat, rather than traditional antifouling?
I wonder if the barnacles still manage to latch on to coppercoat as easily?

Not as far as I remember. Has got me wondering though if copper paint is so good, why is it so rare?

It wasn't until I did a Panama to Tahiti passage that I got so much goose barnacle fouling. The tight footed little speed killers.

 

[Ravi]

From the event website today:
"Guy and Jeremy are still suffering from their barnacle invasion. .........

How come they've got barnacle problems? They've only been sailing for 47 days . Have they not antifouled their boats? What am I missing?

Tapio has reported barnacles, as well, in his latest tweet.

It would be interesting to find out which brand of antifoul the various yachts used! Also, whether any/all the yachts lifted and antifouled immediately prior to the race. Abilash's boat was certainly out of the water as it needed collision damage repair.

 

[Ravi]

In case anyone is unaware, the entrants are all posting to twitter on https://twitter.com/ggr2022?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

If you are not a twitter user, you can access the info without logging in by ......

1. Clicking on the login button on the popup window that obscures the info.
2. Closing down the login window by clicking on the 'X' at the top.
You will then be able to read the messages.

 

[Ravi]

Has got me wondering though if copper paint is so good, why is it so rare?

££££££s

It costs a good few years worth of antifouiling to coppercoat the hull. Also, possibly, racers don't want the additional weight!

Also, people report variable results.

Interestingly, in the GGR, Tapio has found that he only has barnacles on the transom - not anaywhere else. I think he hascoppercoat, but Ican'tbe sure.

Our boat which was on a drying mooring had coppercoat and it was v effective for many, many years. Even after 10 years, there was far less fouling than one would expect and it was noticable that any barnacles were very small and much easier to scrape off than normal. Our coppercoat application was a DIY job and not done by a yard.

 

[Ravi]

Simon Curwen seems to be sailing a fine race, despite his halyard issue.

His latest weekly voicecall is on Soundcloud, here.

 

[zoidberg]

The 'First Division' in the South Atlantic seem to be turning their event into something of a drag race.....

....with Kirsten currently fastest by a smidgen.

 

[Ravi]

I have to say that the GGR media coverage is an absolute shit-show.

Don is vastly experienced, undoubtedly hugely knowledgable aand I am sure that he would be wonderful company - but his skills as a journalist are pretty non-existent.

Today's Q & A session started with the host, Don, half heartedly apologising for the fact that he hadn't read the questions in advance, before rattling through the questions in his machine gun speed indistinct mumbling. How difficult is it to spend a few minutes reading through the questions in advance and making some notes on the answers? Even a hung over first year journalism student could manage that.

One of the Q&A questions was about which boats were powered by solar/ wind/ hydro and the questioner suggested that it would be useful to have a table showing each competitors' charging equipment. (A question which I think would interest many yachties|.) Don's response? "It would take us just as much time as you to get that data so we will leave it to you to find the information." Seriously! That is what he said! Do the GGR not realise what a media centre is meant to do? Can you imagine the newspapers publishing the football results and telling the readers to work out the league tables for themselves? The GGR don't seem to understand the concept of a media centre.

Don also said that they had asked the competitors for this information on a survey but they hadn't managed to get the information. ??? What? The GGR have done a safety certification on all the boats for their green cards! Power generation is part of the safety check. They HAVE this information. They just don't know how to manage their data!

As it happened the questioner was referring to the solar panel on a particular competitor's boat. I have no idea which competitor he was referring to because Don's delivery is so indistinct that - despite repeated rewinds and relistens - it is indecipherable. Early GGR youtube tracker videos received comments from non-native English speakers who found it impossible to understand Don's machine gun speed Aussie delivery. Don remarked on this but continues to speak as if Youtube video time costs the samer as 1950s transatlantic phone calls. These comments complaining about Don's presentation have disappeared - no doubt because non-native speakers have given up. The GGR either do not care or do not understand about broadening their audience.

On today's tracker video Don cheerily admitted, (not for the first time), that he hadn't actually looked at the weather forecast before coming on to talk about the race. Wow! What level of unprofessionalism is this? So, as he clicks through the various days of forecasts, he is humming and hawing about what lies ahead. He has no idea what is coming up on the next screen. Maybe they think that the viewing public can't tell that he is winging it. Embarrassing.

Add in the fact that there is no daily update on the GGR website to tie together the content of their Soundcloud audio, the tweets on Twitter from competitors and the map of the race positions - something that could be done in half an hour by a junior reporter. Any media outlet (or teenager) will tell you that regular and frequent social media publishing is essential if people are not to lose interest and go elsewhere. And yet the GGR put out a very banal weerkly update on their website. Whoever is running their media campaign should get their teenage kids to run it for them.

And the Soundcloud audio clips from the boats! No attempt to do any digital enhancement on them. There is no sound levelling which means that listeners have to adjust their audio for Don's voice which is 5 times louder than the entrant he is talking to. And even worse, when, (as often happens), an entrant's signal wanes and is indistinguishable, Don says, "We lost your there" and asks a new question, without finding out what was lost.

The GGR is a fantastic race with wonderful competitors who sail in a Corinthian spirit. In a way it is sweet to see the crass amateurism of the GGR media centre as a reflection of this ethos. Except the sailors in the race are competent, prepared and trying their utmost to succeed. The same cannot be said of the GGR media centre.

On the Q &A session, Don was asked what the biggest issue facing the GGR team was. He told us that it was sorting out the shipping of promotional gear - hats, T-shirts, etc. Perhaps it is a good thing that their media presence is such a disaster since, they would surely struggle to ship out another few hats and T-shirts if they got a global audience instead of the the following they have attained. If they keep up their media team performance their merchandise shipping problems should diminish.