Vendée Globe 2016-2017

Great to see the update from Alex. Interesting to hear that the wind speeds forecast will give him some "hectic days". Very understated! Clearly he is going to be cautious, he certainly can't catch Armet if he sustains any damage.
 
The big question is are any foiling boats going to make it home. The attrition rate seems very high and there is still a long way to go yet.
 
VG www says "Has been polled at between 2-3 knots slower" than Armel.....beginning to wonder if he has damage to one of his sails as he certainly doesn't seem to have the boat speed he once had, and he's currently on the favoured tack. Hopefully he is just being cautious, ready to pile on the pressure again post Cape Horn but realistically I suspect he needed a good few hundred mile cushion ahead of Armel by then to hold him off up the Atlantic. Still, a lot can happen and am I right in saying Armel's is the only foiling boat not to have had some damage so far?
 
Seven Spades said:
The big question is are any foiling boats going to make it home. The attrition rate seems very high and there is still a long way to go yet.
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3 of them in the first four.. so I think at least one of them will make it :)

Conditions should be better after the third cap. Even the Pacific is better than the Indian!
 
The danger now is........... if The Boss gets separated any further, he then faces the possibility of missing a weather front and becoming more isolated.

Also, I believe that Le Cleac'h wasn't pushing as hard, early on, where now he senses a weakness in Alex's boat, and is now pushing harder
 
It is pretty clear you need foils to win this race. Alex only has one left.
If Armel keeps his foils unbroken and avoids any other catastrophe I am afraid Alex is going to be placed no better than second. Very bad luck.
I guess the answer was foils that could be easily replaced if damaged.
 
mainsail1 said:
It is pretty clear you need foils to win this race. Alex only has one left.
If Armel keeps his foils unbroken and avoids any other catastrophe I am afraid Alex is going to be placed no better than second. Very bad luck.
I guess the answer was foils that could be easily replaced if damaged.
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They are only half way round, lots of time for things to happen.

I am sure there will be lots of head scratching by engineers trying to solve the long term problems with foils. Personally I feel that with the addition of foils in sailing this has fundamentally changed sailing into flying. There needs to be two classes on the Vendee now, flying vessels and sailing vessels.

Ultimately it would be comical if all the flying vessels had to retire and a sailing vessel won. :D
 
mainsail1 said:
I guess the answer was foils that could be easily replaced if damaged.
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It doesn't seem likely, at least, not with today's technology. I think Sebastien Josse mentioned that his damaged foil weighs a couple of hundred kilos, so you won't want too many of those aboard. Plus they're taking some serious stress when they're being pounded out there, so it would be difficult to attach them adequately when making running repairs.

Then again, there's some clever people out there.
 
BigJoe said:
The danger now is........... if The Boss gets separated any further, he then faces the possibility of missing a weather front and becoming more isolated.

Also, I believe that Le Cleac'h wasn't pushing as hard, early on, where now he senses a weakness in Alex's boat, and is now pushing harder
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24 hours from now ALC will hit the center of the low and run out of wind. Tommo will get some miles back. I expect them to be within 60 miles in 48 hours.
 
Looking at the routing now is very interesting. Armel seems to be set up to stay South, where Alex is looking like he's going to go much closer to NZ. Looking 48 hours in advance on the excellent GIS tracker, I wonder if Alex sees an opportunity to sail around the top of the hole? Which would also keep him on Starboard for the next 3 days at least, whereas Armel seems to be trying to punch through the hole and get onto port on the other side.
 
flaming said:
Looking at the routing now is very interesting. Armel seems to be set up to stay South, where Alex is looking like he's going to go much closer to NZ. Looking 48 hours in advance on the excellent GIS tracker, I wonder if Alex sees an opportunity to sail around the top of the hole? Which would also keep him on Starboard for the next 3 days at least, whereas Armel seems to be trying to punch through the hole and get onto port on the other side.
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+1

I assume they have as good, but probably better forecasting facilities.
I hope he can maintain starboard. The forces on those foils must be immense, never mind hitting something.
 
Spyro said:
he seems in great spirits considering the conditions. he did have a problem yesterday when he ran downwind for a bit. He talks about it here
https://www.facebook.com/AlexThomsonRacing/videos/1615221985158514/
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My already massive respect for these guys has grown even more, with the stories of the issues on the boats that they have to deal with, on top of just dealing with the conditions

Then Alex manages to perform to camera like a pro broadcaster

I have been struck by how fresh he looks !
 
I know it will be cold and winter when these guys arrive back but it would be really nice to see a good turnout to welcome Alex back to Gosport - he's bought me massive entertainment and smiles watching his updates - least I could do is show up and welcome him home :-)
 
matt1 said:
I know it will be cold and winter when these guys arrive back but it would be really nice to see a good turnout to welcome Alex back to Gosport - he's bought me massive entertainment and smiles watching his updates - least I could do is show up and welcome him home :-)
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Good idea! Flotilla from the Nab tower to Portsmouth harbour!
 
Tidy jury rig, Kojiro -
15420865_10157880713770187_2775964821485742257_n.jpg
 
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