NeilO
Member
Two hours of live coverage on France3
http://www.france3.fr/emission/voile/diffusion-du-02-11-2014-12h50
http://www.france3.fr/emission/voile/diffusion-du-02-11-2014-12h50
Grey Power has a spreaderless rig to allow the mast to be rotated. The booms act to spread the standing rigging and give the rig width in place of conventional spreaders, allowing the bare spar to be rotated within the rigging.What are the spars sticking out either side of R K-J's boat? Are they part of the rigging, or is it where he parks his spi poles, or what?
Present positions: 1 Snalbo 4 speed 30.4 kn, 2 Maxi Solo BP7 speed 20.1 kn. 3 Gitana XV speed 15 kn. neck in neck with PDB 2 speed 15.9 kn.
I had a look on board GDF Suez (currently leading) after they arrived, not a lot of much down below. The minimum boat limit was 4500, she was 4503, they were in the process of drying/dehumidifying all the moisture out.)
What do "4500" and "4503" measure?
Puzzled of Scotland
If 4500 was the MINImum, then they would have been OK at 4503. Pretty damned neat, planning, in fact.Kilograms I should think, meaning the weight of the boat was 3kg over the minimum allowed by class rules and they were doing their best to shed some of that excess weight.
Grey Power has a spreaderless rig to allow the mast to be rotated. The booms act to spread the standing rigging and give the rig width in place of conventional spreaders, allowing the bare spar to be rotated within the rigging.
Latest news... One boat struck a container ship. One helicopter rescue from an upturned hull. A third is drifting, awaiting a tow.
As another great Gaul once said, "These racers are crazy, toc, toc, toc."
If 4500 was the MINImum, then they would have been OK at 4503. Pretty damned neat, planning, in fact.
Yes, there's nothing to stop them setting off with a boat that weighs 4503kg. But they'll not want to carry any more weight than absolutely necessary so by removing 3kg of moisture from the inside of the boat they hope to gain any advantage that gives them however small. These are the limits that these guys race to and is part of the reason the race is always such a demolition derby.