Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

[Roberto]

Wouldn't a personal AIS have been more use that the a personal EPIRB? It would have made locating him much easier once in the right area guided by the EPIRB.

TS

It was an AIS MOB he had, he tells that in one of the videos. He said since his crewing days on other boats (Jules Verne and so on), he always keeps one in a pouch of his trousers. This time he had to wear the emergency suit very quickly so the beacon remained in the pouch, I guess he took it out during the hours spent inside the liferaft.

 

[glynd]

I strongly suggest that Ravi has not been in a life raft for any length of time, or in any poor sea state.

Hell, just doing it in a wave pool is hard enough

 

[NormanB]

If Alex is headng for SA... he is pointing in a very funny direction to get there at present.. 140 degrees..

His single rudder must be working as he is now pointing at the Cape.?

 

[westhinder]

It was an AIS MOB he had, he tells that in one of the videos. He said since his crewing days on other boats (Jules Verne and so on), he always keeps one in a pouch of his trousers. This time he had to wear the emergency suit very quickly so the beacon remained in the pouch, I guess he took it out during the hours spent inside the liferaft.

That’s right, and he also says he did grab the boat’s EPIRB when he jumped overboard. JLC says he finally spotted his emergency strobe, so I take it that will have been on top of the canopy.
I have been waiting for a combined PLB and AiIS MOB in one device, surely that can’t be too difficult to put together to have the best of both worlds.

 

[Frogmogman]

My friend who sometimes sails with Pip Hare, and was part of her team at les sables d’olonne, said this to me about le Cam this afternoon.

“He really is amazing; has sailed a superb race so far and now pulled off this. Multiple tacks in those boats in those conditions is desperately difficult, I have sailed enough on Medallia to wonder how he did it at all, he’s a phenomenon”.

 

[kof]

I once had a "disagreement" with a yachtmaster instructor who was adamant that the boats EBIRB stays either with or close to the boat. I politely disagreed and said that it would be strapped permanently to my chest as liferaft and ebirb are likely to get separated. They would have to prise the thing off my chest. In this case he was lucky there were so many other boats around but even at that is was a lot of guesswork from the shore team. The AIS mob , while good does has some shortcomings.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

It is the outrigger compression bar - "transmission d'efforts"

rudder not outrigger.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I once had a "disagreement" with a yachtmaster instructor who was adamant that the boats EBIRB stays either with or close to the boat. I politely disagreed and said that it would be strapped permanently to my chest as liferaft and ebirb are likely to get separated. They would have to prise the thing off my chest. In this case he was lucky there were so many other boats around but even at that is was a lot of guesswork from the shore team. The AIS mob , while good does has some shortcomings.

I'm still not clear that the PLB(AIS Mob) did anything in this case. It certainly didn't play any part in JLC finding Kev the second time. That was the MK1 eyeball after going to a revised datum sent from the race admin.

 

[zoidberg]

For lots of years, I've carried a 'green' ACR Personal Strobe on a cord in my sailing jacket. The thing has been used twice, to good effect. I'll change that now to a new type, slung around my neck.

 

[cherod]

My friend who sometimes sails with Pip Hare, and was part of her team at les sables d’olonne, said this to me about le Cam this afternoon.

“He really is amazing; has sailed a superb race so far and now pulled off this. Multiple tacks in those boats in those conditions is desperately difficult, I have sailed enough on Medallia to wonder how he did it at all, he’s a phenomenon”.

he did mention the multiple tacking and indicate that that was not easy .

 

[Martin_J]

I wonder if the grab bag was grabbable and with him in the liferaft... Grabbing it is not something one practices every day but in a Cat 0 race there has to be two satellite phones and two handheld VHFs in it... Handheld VHFs would have had DSC on them so with a personal AIS beacon (as per the rules) and a couple of handheld VHFs that could also have sent DSC distress alerts, there was more of a chance of something being received than with one piece of kit..

We do check the contents of our grab bags regularly but keeping them with you on the spur of the moment when leaving ship is another thing entirely. We'll have to go through that imaginary process next time we check the grab bags...

 

[Martin_J]

Multiple tacks at night in boats with enclosed cockpits can't be easy either..

 

[zoidberg]

We do check the contents of our grab bags regularly but keeping them with you on the spur of the moment when leaving ship is another thing entirely. We'll have to go through that imaginary process next time we check the grab bags...

Recalling 'lessons' from accounts of life in liferafts.... Fastnet 79, Sydney-Hobart..... I'd have an old personal tether at the top of the grab-bag, to keep the bag where it oughter be, and ensure I took my own into the 'raft with me. for much the same reason.

If conditions are such that you'd have wanted to clip on in the boat, then even more so in a liferaft.

There is a case for having TWO grab-bags..... one for the bottles of French champagne a la Raphaël Dinelli ! An excellent example to us all....

 

[Ravi]

Hell, just doing it in a wave pool is hard enough

Shhh... don't mention the LR subject unless you want the usual suspects on here to challenge you to a dickswinging contest!

 

[Ravi]

I wonder if the grab bag was grabbable and with him in the liferaft... Grabbing it is not something one practices every day but in a Cat 0 race there has to be two satellite phones and two handheld VHFs in it... Handheld VHFs would have had DSC on them so with a personal AIS beacon (as per the rules) and a couple of handheld VHFs that could also have sent DSC distress alerts, there was more of a chance of something being received than with one piece of kit..

We do check the contents of our grab bags regularly but keeping them with you on the spur of the moment when leaving ship is another thing entirely. We'll have to go through that imaginary process next time we check the grab bags...

If the boat allows it, a really good place is hanging just inside the companionway. You could try using a dry bag with a clip handle. - quick and easy to unclip one handed from inside or out and reclip to yourself. The downsides is that it is vulnerable if you cruise somewhere where theft is a problem. The really major downside is that the best sort of chocolate bars can melt in the heat - but I worked out a great system of regularly replenishing them with fresh bars!

 

[Ravi]

That’s right, and he also says he did grab the boat’s EPIRB when he jumped overboard. JLC says he finally spotted his emergency strobe, so I take it that will have been on top of the canopy.
I have been waiting for a combined PLB and AiIS MOB in one device, surely that can’t be too difficult to put together to have the best of both worlds.

From what I gathered from the rather distorted interview, Escoffier was trying to fit the boat's EPIRB onto a transom mount before stepping down. His reasoning for this, (from what i could hear), was that in another race they had discovered that the overhead "carbon" in the cabin affected the signal. I am pretty sure that is what he was saying.

He also said that he abandoned the idea of fitting the EPIRB when he was knocked off his feet by water coming over the boat and lost his grip on it.

 

[Star-Lord]

I once had a "disagreement" with a yachtmaster instructor who was adamant that the boats EBIRB stays either with or close to the boat. I politely disagreed and said that it would be strapped permanently to my chest as liferaft and ebirb are likely to get separated. They would have to prise the thing off my chest. In this case he was lucky there were so many other boats around but even at that is was a lot of guesswork from the shore team. The AIS mob , while good does has some shortcomings.

Obviously thet boat epirb should stay with the boat... For very many reasons. When you get in the liferaft you take your liferaft epirb and personal epirbs (liferaft epirb is bigger than personal ones with a bigger battery) My boat epirb is hydrostatic so will only go off when underwater. If you only have one epirb I will suggest that you are not seriously prepared.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

That’s right, and he also says he did grab the boat’s EPIRB when he jumped overboard. JLC says he finally spotted his emergency strobe, so I take it that will have been on top of the canopy.
I have been waiting for a combined PLB and AiIS MOB in one device, surely that can’t be too difficult to put together to have the best of both worlds.

Waiting to save up for one a presume.
$$$

 

[Sandy]

If the boat allows it, a really good place is hanging just inside the companionway. You could try using a dry bag with a clip handle. - quick and easy to unclip one handed from inside or out and reclip to yourself. The downsides is that it is vulnerable if you cruise somewhere where theft is a problem. The really major downside is that the best sort of chocolate bars can melt in the heat - but I worked out a great system of regularly replenishing them with fresh bars!

Scratching head.

The thread is about the Vendée Globe

Not much chance of theft or chocolate bars melting where this boat sunk.

 

[Sandy]

Obviously thet boat epirb should stay with the boat... For very many reasons. When you get in the liferaft you take your liferaft epirb and personal epirbs (liferaft epirb is bigger than personal ones with a bigger battery) My boat epirb is hydrostatic so will only go off when underwater. If you only have one epirb I will suggest that you are not seriously prepared.

Really?

Can you explain your thinking for multiple EPRIBS and how Falmouth, in the UK's case, would deal with multiple activations from the same position?