Vendée Globe 2016-2017

Andrew E said:
Not much mention of this on the forums or in the media...

Anyway the race kicks off on Sunday at 1.02pm local time. I will be following Enda O'Coineen on Kilcullen Voyager and Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss.

Good luck to all involved. :cool:
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Now there's a blast from the past!

Long ago, just after the extinction of the dinosaurs, I spent a summer as an instructor at Plymouth Sailing School. Enda was one of my fellow instructors. A delightful young man (in those days - no doubt a delightful older man now) I particularly remember an occasion when my students (French, I seem to remember) contrived to tip me out of the boat. Enda sailed close alongside me, lent over and scooped me up from the water with one arm, whilst steering with the other. Very neat!

I don't normally take a lot of interest in these events, but I think I shall follow Enda as well, for old times sake. Adh Mor, Enda! :D
 
Something occurred to me when watching the videos that I'm sure one of the big brains of the forum can answer for me. In addition to solar and hydro, the boats seem to be running their engines quite often to top up batteries. It seems to me that this is quite an inefficient way to generate power. If they used a genny to top up the batteries, wouldn't that use a lot less fuel per KWh than running the engine?
 
Supine Being said:
Something occurred to me when watching the videos that I'm sure one of the big brains of the forum can answer for me. In addition to solar and hydro, the boats seem to be running their engines quite often to top up batteries. It seems to me that this is quite an inefficient way to generate power. If they used a genny to top up the batteries, wouldn't that use a lot less fuel per KWh than running the engine?
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Their auxiliary engines are tiny and have huge alternators and smart chargers - little different to a generator.
 
It would be interesting to know what is going on between Paul Meilhat and Jeremy Beyou. Beyou's weather software has crashed so he has no routing data at all. Oddly, Meilhat is shadowing him, about 8m behind.

Presumably Meilhat is passing weather routing to Beyou over VHF...
 
Ric said:
Their auxiliary engines are tiny and have huge alternators and smart chargers - little different to a generator.
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That would make sense, but that doesn't seem to be the case in some of the films that I've seen. Have a look at this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_AxPVRVyTQ By the way, I love this guy Sebastien Destremau by the way. His English accent is mad, and he does exactly the same film in French and English. I mean exactly, which makes me giggle for some reason.
 
Ric said:
It would be interesting to know what is going on between Paul Meilhat and Jeremy Beyou. Beyou's weather software has crashed so he has no routing data at all. Oddly, Meilhat is shadowing him, about 8m behind.

Presumably Meilhat is passing weather routing to Beyou over VHF...
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I think he's using a handheld Iridium phone to get the weather.
 
Serin said:
Now there's a blast from the past!

Long ago, just after the extinction of the dinosaurs, I spent a summer as an instructor at Plymouth Sailing School. Enda was one of my fellow instructors. A delightful young man (in those days - no doubt a delightful older man now) I particularly remember an occasion when my students (French, I seem to remember) contrived to tip me out of the boat. Enda sailed close alongside me, lent over and scooped me up from the water with one arm, whilst steering with the other. Very neat!

I don't normally take a lot of interest in these events, but I think I shall follow Enda as well, for old times sake. Adh Mor, Enda! :D
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Fantastic post................ thanks for sharing that with us
 
Supine Being said:
That would make sense, but that doesn't seem to be the case in some of the films that I've seen. Have a look at this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_AxPVRVyTQ By the way, I love this guy Sebastien Destremau by the way. His English accent is mad, and he does exactly the same film in French and English. I mean exactly, which makes me giggle for some reason.
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The IMOCA rules specify a Diesel engine of 37hp minimum, which is small for a 60 footer, I guess. It must be capable of pushing the boat at 5 knots. Larger alternators can be added. Generators can also be installed.
 
Looking at the forecast, I think the leaders will gybe sometime tomorrow and then be on Starboard until they're past Australia. That should help Alex!
 
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