MOD 70 - VIRBAC-PAPREC 70 capsized off the coast of Belle Ile

Never let a helicopter fly that close when you are sailing.

They don't appear to have taken any action once she started tipping, was this staged?
 
Wow! Great footage! Surprised how long it hung for before finally going over!!! Must be hell of a job getting it the right way back up!!
 
KevinT1 said:
Staged ???? - that willl cost a shed load to put right - did you see the mast give way ????

The rig was cut away and lost, and the trimaran was towed in upside down
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Granted it will cost a lot of €, but I would have expected such an experianced crew to de-power the sails in just under eight nanoseconds. And it makes brilliant footage, they were SO lucky to have it filmed.
 
Camelia said:
Granted it will cost a lot of €, but I would have expected such an experianced crew to de-power the sails in just under eight nanoseconds. And it makes brilliant footage, they were SO lucky to have it filmed.
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More details here: http://www.jpdick.com/fr/actualites/les-explications-du-chavirage-de-virbac-paprec-70.html

They say they tried to ease the sails (I assume that's what choquer means in this context) but in the case of the main it was the traveller being eased (I guess that's their normal trimming control so the one they had to hand) and it wasn't eased enough. The skipper has ended up with fractured vertebrae so unless it was a stunt going horribly wrong I think we can discount the theory that it was staged.

Pete
 
One of the comments on Youtube under the vid states

"The reason that this happened, was that the persons responsible for easing the sails, were on strike due to payment issues. This reminds us not to leave the dock with crew grievances "

I wonder if there's any truth in that.
 
npf1 said:
One of the comments on Youtube under the vid states

"The reason that this happened, was that the persons responsible for easing the sails, were on strike due to payment issues. This reminds us not to leave the dock with crew grievances "

I wonder if there's any truth in that.
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N'importe quoi...!! They were hit by a squall and didn't have enough time to release the main-sheet. They did however release the jib but this wasn't enough.

To think that anybody would do this voluntarily in a racing yacht is beyond a laughing matter.
 
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Maybe they had a riding turn.... You can see left hand bloke holding the tail of the mainsheet so something must have prevented easing it (of course past 80 odd degrees of heel they are going to have their work cut out either seeking refuge or planning for when the whole thing lands on their heads, as nearly happened to the guy who fell out!
 
Not convinced the helo contributed - no downwash visible on the sea

And boat hung there for long enough without sheets being dumped. Always easy after the event...
 
These guys are some of the most experienced large multihull sailors on the planet. But they are sailing light weight boats with huge rigs and just 2 crew. The forces involved probably make dumping the main sheet a non trivial task - particularly when on a deck sloping 80 degrees - when in fact was too late anyway.
 
saltylegs said:
At least one in the water and 2 came out of the escape hatch I think.
Was the traveler dump man taking a errr, umm, "dum-?" :o
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I think they were practicing for a two handed event, the Transat Jaques Vabre, and there were two on deck sailing the boat. Presumably helicopter was hired by team for publicity shots - but got more than they bargained for.
From video looked like third person was hiding out of sight below for photo shoot - and also got more than bargained for
 
They were caught by a squall coming from behind.They let the main go but (according to the text) not far enough.That makes me think that if they're vulnerable to a simple squall how can they hope to cross an ocean?
 
30boat said:
They were caught by a squall coming from behind.They let the main go but (according to the text) not far enough.That makes me think that if they're vulnerable to a simple squall how can they hope to cross an ocean?
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They are like Formula 1 cars of the oceans - you could build them safe and slow, but to win they are always on the edge. Hence occasional capsizes are a risk of the game. On a bad year perhaps half the Vaques Vabre fleet could do so - but hopefully more moderate so none will.
As they were filming from the helicopter at the time probably pushing a bit too hard for the publicity shots
 
bikedaft said:
Not convinced the helo contributed - no downwash visible on the sea

And boat hung there for long enough without sheets being dumped. Always easy after the event...
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I asked the hubby of a lass at work who is a helio pilot to take a look at the footage. He agrees the helio was not to blaime. Be it a riding turn as others have suggested they did not cope well with the situation.

Still makes great footage :o
 
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