Vendée Globe 2016-2017

More news from Conrad: it turns out that not only did he capsize yesterday, but it was caused by a fire in his electrics which killed the autopilot, leading to the crash gybe. With the boat ballasted for the other tack, it capsized and shipped a fair bit of water. He then faced the task of trying to furl away the genoa whilst steering with the tiller between his legs as the boat shot off downwind. Makes dropping the spinny on my boat look like childsplay!
 
Kelpie said:
More news from Conrad: it turns out that not only did he capsize yesterday, but it was caused by a fire in his electrics which killed the autopilot, leading to the crash gybe. With the boat ballasted for the other tack, it capsized and shipped a fair bit of water. He then faced the task of trying to furl away the genoa whilst steering with the tiller between his legs as the boat shot off downwind. Makes dropping the spinny on my boat look like childsplay!
Click to expand...

Some amazing footage of his flattening on the V.G. website ........... great recovery from Conrad, as he's back racing
 
Concerned for Alex now. His route is bizarre and that started a few days ago as I mentioned earlier. I am wondering what he is up to. I am convinced something happened on his boat. The gap shouldn't be that big in between him and Armel...
 
Falling like flys!

Romain Attanasio just pulled out after hitting a UFO and damaging both rudders.

Josse pretty much ripped his port foil out from what I've read, and his team are worried about structural integrity.
 
Stotty said:
.....
Romain Attanasio just pulled out after hitting a UFO and damaging both rudders.
.....
Click to expand...

That's sad news , though earlier the Vendée Globe site said : " He has taken the decision to head for Cape Town to attempt to carry out repairs without any external help."

His partner/manager said "He will be doing his utmost to repair his boat and continue his adventure. I hope he will be encouraged by as many people as possible."

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/16861/romain-attanasio-has-hit-a-ufo-and-is-heading-for-cape-town
 
Last edited:
Andrew E said:
Something has happened to 3rd place Sébastien Josse. The translation mentions damage to his boats foil. Dropped down to 6 knots.

UPDATE: His boat surfed down a wave at 35 knots and the port foil took the full impact at the bottom of the wave. More info here - http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/...-sebastien-josse-putting-the-race-to-one-side
Click to expand...

Josse is in for a very grim 48 hours - he's handicapped and can't outrun the depression so he's going to get caught in 48-50knot winds with gusts +10-20knots and very big seas, and in pitch blackness, and the ice-exclusion line will prevent him going south to better conditions. Maybe he will decide to deliberately go south of the ice line, then track back up wind to re-enter the race to the west.
 
Ric said:
Josse is in for a very grim 48 hours - he's handicapped and can't outrun the depression so he's going to get caught in 48-50knot winds with gusts +10-20knots and very big seas, and in pitch blackness, and the ice-exclusion line will prevent him going south to better conditions. Maybe he will decide to deliberately go south of the ice line, then track back up wind to re-enter the race to the west.
Click to expand...

Heading into the ice for safety! Are they tough or what?
 
LePacha said:
Concerned for Alex now. His route is bizarre and that started a few days ago as I mentioned earlier. I am wondering what he is up to. I am convinced something happened on his boat. The gap shouldn't be that big in between him and Armel...
Click to expand...

It looks to me as though he has chosen to climb north. But that has required a slower port tack and a poorer angle to Armel, and I think he knows that will lose some ground.

He is gambling that when he can jibe onto starboard he will a) jibe earlier than Armel, b) have a better angle and a longer run on starboard, and c) have stronger winds to the north of Armel.

Better / different ideas anyone???
 
There is no point in match racing for the second half of the race. Armel is much faster on port than Alex is, over Armel, on starboard. Alex therefore needs to carry a starboard tack much longer than Armel needs to on port. Match racing - they are going to be on port and starboard for a similar length of time and Alex will surely but slowly lose miles. Armel only needs to cover Alex and he will win, on current showing.

There was talk of Alex carrying a spare foil - but to fit that (if it exists and is possible - but why carry it if you cannot fit it) will cost him hours. Cutting off the stump is unlikely to allow him to hold Armel.

If he continues to lose ground then his only options are to fit the 'possible' foil.
 
BigJoe said:
As per 08.00 hrs, Alex has just gybed, and is now on starboard................ interesting stuff
Click to expand...

Trivial comment - but the thought of gybing one of those boats, single handed, in those conditions.......well, what shall I say?

Big Joe, glad you enjoyed my story of Enda's earlier sailing days. He was a "standout" guy even then. :)
 
I've been wondering about Alex over the last few days. No news and no updates. His performance seems very erratic not just down to the broken foil, Big losses and small gains while Armel seems to be sailing a better, steadier course. They are both in the same weather systems so would have expected them to have similar performance.
 
Kito de Pavant has hit something. Big leak, ready to evacuate, waiting for the Marion Dufresne to pick him up...

Would be interesting to check with last VG figures... I think we have as much broken boats as last edition, but I seem to remember that most of them gave up in the Atlantic... I will try to get some numbers later on.
 
So VG2012:
20 boats starting, 11 arrived. List and timeline of sailors having to give up:
Day 1: Marc Guillemot (Safran) (keel issues)
Day 2: Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) (colliding with a trawler)
Day 4: Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée) (colliding with a trawler)
Day 5: Samantha Davies (Savéol) (dismasting)
Day 7: Jérémie Beyou (Maître Coq) broke his keel ram (probably caused by UFO)
Day 11: Zbigniew « Gutek » Gutkowski (Energa) (pilot not working)
Day 15: Vincent Riou (PRB) (colliding with a buoy)
Day 60: Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) (had to seek assistance - batteries?)
Day 85: Javier Sansó (ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered) (lost his keel and capsized)

Also completely forgot: day 73: Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3)- lost his keel - didn't give up, managed to finish, but was not racing anymore basically.

The 2009 edition saw apparently 30 boats on the start line, and only 11 making it.

As I thought, in the 2012 edition, most of the boats giving up did it in the Atlantic in the first few days.
 
Last edited:
News on Kito from the Vendee site...

At 0800 UTC this morning (Tuesday), the Vendée Globe Race Directors were alerted by Kito de Pavant’s technical team about serious damage aboard his boat Bastide Otio. Kito de Pavant, who was sailing at 16 knots under mainsail with two reefs in very heavy seas, informed his shore team that the boat had experienced a very big shock to the keel, hitting an unidentified floating object, which has led to a significant ingress of water aboard the boat.

Contacted by telephone, Kito de Pavant declared, “I hit something hard with the keel. It was a violent shock and the boat came to a standstill. The rear bearings of the keel were ripped off and the keel is hanging under the boat kept in place simply by the keel ram, which is in the process of cutting through the hull... The keel housing has been destroyed and there is a huge ingress of water there, but for the moment, it is limited to the engine compartment. I currently have forty knots of wind and 5-6m high waves. The boat is stopped. I brought down the mainsail so that she is heeling less. The situation has been stabilised for the moment. I have my survival kit alongside me. Someone is going to have to come and get me. I am trying to contact the Marion Dufresne to ask them to come here.”

Serious stuff!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top