Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

[john_morris_uk]

Scratching head.

The thread is about the Vendée Globe

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

I thought chocolate as survival rations went out with the arc? I seem to remember the rules in the RN were nothing to drink for the first 24 hours. Then as food uses fluids to be processed, the only ‘rations’ were a limited supply of boiled sweets.

 

[dom]

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?

I have 2x EPIRBs, several PLBs, and when offshore, an AIS beacon in every lifejacket.
Thought it would be fairly obvious what was going on if they all lit up.
Multiple EPIRB/PLB activations might even expedite tasking ?

 

[pyrojames]

I have 2x EPIRBs, several PLBs, and when offshore, an AIS beacon in every lifejacket.
Thought it would be fairly obvious what was going on if they all lit up.
Multiple EPIRB/PLB activations might even expedite tasking ?

And as they are all registered to the same vessel (I assume) there will be little doubt that there is a only a single casualty vessel.

 

[dom]

And as they are all registered to the same vessel (I assume) there will be little doubt that there is a only a single casualty vessel.

Indeed, EPIRBs yes, AIS's have vessel MMSI, and the PLBs registered to the person.

Race rules will specify additional requirements, inc. the Vendee Globe

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Offshore racing CAT0 requires 2 EPIRBs, a PLB for each person(406/121.5) and an AIS Mob for each person.

 

[zoidberg]

I thought chocolate as survival rations went out with the arc? I seem to remember the rules in the RN were nothing to drink for the first 24 hours. Then as food uses fluids to be processed, the only ‘rations’ were a limited supply of boiled sweets.

If it was down to the RN, we'd be limited to weevily biscuits and a flagon of Pusser's rum. I think I'd rather pack the Ferrero Rocher and Bollinger.....

 

[Roberto]

No he had not the time to take the grab bag: that equipment is sealed, and they tie lots of strings around in order not to break the seals (sic) -they risk having a penalty. He could cut the line holding the epirb, take the liferaft just before being swept in the water, where he activated the raft. He had the AIS MOB in his trousers.
Another puzzling problem, they kept having position updates from Cross Gris Nez (French MRCC handling satellite distress), but they were often contradictory, they mention even 12miles difference between two of them.

Infos taken from this podcast, one hour long (and in French) where the Committee Control tells how they lived the story minute by minute
Pos. Report #5 avec Pascal Bidégorry et Hubert Lemonnier

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...

 

[Roberto]

Meanwhile, Arkea Paprec hit something and damaged one foil, now keeping the boat heeled to limit water ingress and trying to repair.

Le Cam in stand-by for a possible second rescue?

 

[Star-Lord]

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?

What happens if your one single only epirb gets smashed up or lost or has a faulty battery? We also have AIS in life jackets and this feature is more useful imo for close quarter rescue. Also batteries will run out so having more than one seems logical.

 

[dgadee]

Meanwhile, Arkea Paprec hit something and damaged one foil, now keeping the boat heeled to limit water ingress and trying to repair.

Le Cam in stand-by for a possible second rescue?

It's a bit like sending Lewis Hamilton back to sort out a crash. Just as well I didn't put money on Le Cam.

 

[flaming]

Meanwhile, Arkea Paprec hit something and damaged one foil, now keeping the boat heeled to limit water ingress and trying to repair.

Le Cam in stand-by for a possible second rescue?

Would make a good story, but he's far from the closest boat. The Arkea damage is not good at all. Foil hasn't broken but it's damaged the foil box, which is a lot more serious. At best he's out of the race I think. He'll have a job to save the boat.

 

[Ravi]

Meanwhile, Arkea Paprec hit something and damaged one foil, now keeping the boat heeled to limit water ingress and trying to repair.

Le Cam in stand-by for a possible second rescue?

Reading the vendee.org press release (News - ARKEA PAPREC hits OFNI and damages starboard foil and casing - Vendée Globe - En)

it sounds serious with, as they point out, stormy conditions imminent.

It is sad for Simone, who has been making very impressive speeds recently.

 

[cherod]

and he can only tack in the direction away from land ( S Africa ) ,, seems abandonment and rescue are inevitable. fortunately there is another boat quite close to him and another not so far away and seems he will at least have time to prepare better than what Kevin had ,, but weather deteriorating .

 

[Ravi]

Scratching head.
Not much chance of theft .... where this boat sunk.

You need to watch some Aardman films to see the recidivist nature of penguins!

 

[cmedsailor]

My favour sailor (Alex) is unfortunately out of the game and for Jean Le Cam I can only say RESPECT and hope that when he completes Vandeeglobe race is among the first 5 boat.
But what about Jeremie Beyou? Am I the only person that really wishes that he doesn’t finish last? Simply to complete this race is of course a huge achievement, but I believe what he did, going back and starting again, needed a lot of courage and we now see him fighting hard to reach the rest of the fleet. So he deserves to finish in a better place than the last.

 

[ridgy]

Beyou is the catching the back of the fleet comfortably. His time of being last will be over within a few days.

 

[Ravi]

If it was down to the RN, we'd be limited to weevily biscuits and a flagon of Pusser's rum. I think I'd rather pack the Ferrero Rocher and Bollinger.....

Other dubious things that have sustained people adrift in their hour of need in the real world -

1. The old favourite -- Cigarettes / tobacco. (Don't forget the lighter as one Italian couple did!)
2. Reading material.
3. Playing cards.
4. Alcohol.
5. errr... Canibalism

On the first of these, there was a famous case where a delirious skipper leapt from the liferaft in the middle of the ocean to 'get some cigarettes' and was eaten by sharks who were following the boat.

I guess that the moral is, "to each his own"!

 

[Ravi]

Really?

Taking the vessel EPIRB into the liferaft raises the question of how the vessel can be tracked to prevent it becoming a hazard to shipping (or for recovery).

You could argue that you would only take to the liferaft if your boat was sinking but many experienced sailors have abandoned ship for it to be later found afloat - perhaps semi-submerged. So, history would suggest that it would be an imprecise judgement call.

You could also (understandably!) argue that increasing the probability of your rescue is more of a priority than the very slight chance of your semi-submerged vessel being a hazard.

I can see both sides of the argument but, (given an unlimited budget!), multiple EPIRBS definitely makes sense.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Reading the vendee.org press release (News - ARKEA PAPREC hits OFNI and damages starboard foil and casing - Vendée Globe - En)

it sounds serious with, as they point out, stormy conditions imminent.

It is sad for Simone, who has been making very impressive speeds recently.

Nice to get some pics of the damage from the link.

 

[Ravi]

Arkea Paprec -

According the the traffic app, there is a commercial vessel about 60M South of Simone.

[EDIT.]
On the 1400 update Simone is sailing slowly (10kn) NE in big winds (~30 kn) from the W.
(The commercial vessel to the South continues West without changing course.)

Hopefully, Simone may be able to stay just to the North of the worst of the new storm. (Of course, this means a port tack.) Judging by his boat speed and the pictures of the damage, nursing his boat home seems the likely objective.

Elsewhere in the race, Burton is up to second and has closed his distance to Dalinfrom 300M to 250M in the last 24 hours.
Both the front two will be getting a hammering from the new storm over the next day.