dune16
Active member
Back on dry land
Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss
- Thread starter RichardS
- Start date
Ravi
Active member
Charlie Dalin has shut the door on his pursuers overnight.
During the night Dalin has done some great sailing to fight off the challenge from Burton who was chipping away at his lead. After losing miles to Burton in the early part of the night, Dalin changed course from 126° to 95° to get a better downwind angle in the Southwesterly and, with some fast sailing, emerged with his lead intact at the end of the night..
This great personal duel should continue for the next 3 to four days as a straight battle of boat speed in similar conditions.
Dalin will also be aware of Ruyant, who seems to be attached to a 200 mile long tow rope behind his boat.
It is not such great news for the peleton who are trying to keep ahead of lighter more Southerly winds from the high pressure moving behind them. Joschke and Pedote are already falling behind at the rear.
It is worse news for those even further behind who will find a huge area of dead wind blocking the narrow gap between the exclusion zone and the Aguellas current. At least they will get a sun tan.
For the 3 leaders, though, it should be an exhausting Southern Ocean downwind sleigh ride in F6-F8 conditions for days on end. It will be fascinating to watch.
During the night Dalin has done some great sailing to fight off the challenge from Burton who was chipping away at his lead. After losing miles to Burton in the early part of the night, Dalin changed course from 126° to 95° to get a better downwind angle in the Southwesterly and, with some fast sailing, emerged with his lead intact at the end of the night..
This great personal duel should continue for the next 3 to four days as a straight battle of boat speed in similar conditions.
Dalin will also be aware of Ruyant, who seems to be attached to a 200 mile long tow rope behind his boat.
It is not such great news for the peleton who are trying to keep ahead of lighter more Southerly winds from the high pressure moving behind them. Joschke and Pedote are already falling behind at the rear.
It is worse news for those even further behind who will find a huge area of dead wind blocking the narrow gap between the exclusion zone and the Aguellas current. At least they will get a sun tan.
For the 3 leaders, though, it should be an exhausting Southern Ocean downwind sleigh ride in F6-F8 conditions for days on end. It will be fascinating to watch.
Lightwave395
Well-known member
Nonsense, surely it would need an Anderson 22 ?
muppetdodger1
New member
I am wrong in thinking Jean le Cam is a serious contender here. He seems to be as fast if not faster than anybody at the moment, he's not that far behind and he will gain a time bonus surely from the rescue of Escoffier and the passing off of the same to the naval ship. Those two time bonus's will surely put him right in the mix if he can keep the wind good.
Seven Spades
Well-known member
He need to be much further south because where he is he is going to be sailing a much longer distance. Yes he is in with a shout as are all the top 8/9 I thihk that there are enough whales to go around and he only has 1 fin to worry about which must halve his chance of meeting a(n?) UFO.
LONG_KEELER
Well-known member
And the non turbo Damien Seguine going well .
Le Cam and co are probably partying every night so they could well take their eye off the ball.
Bathdave
Well-known member
Sebastian Demetruea on Merci has done a mast walk to fix his anemometer ...laid the boat on its side and climbed up the mainsail, he and his team reckoned it was safer than a conventional mast clim ..then slid down the main like a giant chute when done,
clealry Alex set a precedent though he didn’t do itby himself in the southern ocean
you have to admire the courage and innovation of these guys and girls
clealry Alex set a precedent though he didn’t do itby himself in the southern ocean
you have to admire the courage and innovation of these guys and girls
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Ravi
Active member
I think that you have a good point. As you point out his 400 mile deficit is misleading since the jury have yet to decide his bonus.
Even a 400 mile lead is not impossible at this stage of this race if the weather Gods smile on you. If the bunch ahead of you find themselves blocked by a 200m wide high pressure where the wind is 5 knots and you are sailing at 20 knots, you can make up the distance in a single day.
In terms of pure excitement, though, I find the Dalin vs Burton duel fascinating. I think that Burton has got inside Dalin's head and is making him sail in ways that he would not choose.
But you have reminded me to not forget Le Cam and co. because, as you say, they are still very much in this.
Ravi
Active member
Ah, but let us not forget that Dalin (and Ruyen) went even further North of where Le Cam is now! (And Le Cam is only about 100M North of Bestavin and Seguin. )
But, yes, you are right that the further South that you can sail the better in terms of distance. The fancier foiling boats don't like the big seas in the South as much as calmer waters to the North but that shouldn't affect Le Cam.
? ?
Ravi
Active member
In the Southern Ocean? With 25 knots of wind? Singlehanded?
Madness , absolutely madness! Also, brave, resourceful, ingenious, skilful, determined and lots of other admirable things. But still - utter madness!
Why couldn't he just have got the young lad from the marina to go up there while he watched from the bar, like everyone else does?
Seriously, though - utter respect to the young man for pulling off an audacious feat of great seamanship.
Ravi
Active member
At the minute, the two leaders must be hitting some seriously bad conditions. Their boat speeds have dropped from around 17 knots to around 10 knots!
The weather prediction apps don't differentiate between their conditions and those of Ruyen who is doing 18 knots behind Dalin and 100M to the North of Burton - but there is obviously some serious localised muck down there if it has nearly halved their boatspeeds of the leading 2.
The (seemingly imprecise) weather app forecasts a 150M band of higher wind ahead of them, so it could be that the forecast has slightly misjudged the location of the high wind zone .... or it could be about to get even nastier for them. Interestingly, Ruyen is on course to sail just North of the predicted high wind zone.
Good luck through the dark night to them. It can't be fun.
The weather prediction apps don't differentiate between their conditions and those of Ruyen who is doing 18 knots behind Dalin and 100M to the North of Burton - but there is obviously some serious localised muck down there if it has nearly halved their boatspeeds of the leading 2.
The (seemingly imprecise) weather app forecasts a 150M band of higher wind ahead of them, so it could be that the forecast has slightly misjudged the location of the high wind zone .... or it could be about to get even nastier for them. Interestingly, Ruyen is on course to sail just North of the predicted high wind zone.
Good luck through the dark night to them. It can't be fun.
Ravi
Active member
Hi can anyone with better than my rudimentary school french tell me if Le Cam is saying, in this video, that there are multiple large ships behind him?
(There was a fleet of (six) fishing boats sailing in a line around there on the Satellite tracker earlier today. Presumably trawling with nets. )
(There was a fleet of (six) fishing boats sailing in a line around there on the Satellite tracker earlier today. Presumably trawling with nets. )
westhinder
Well-known member
He is talking about the one large fishing vessel on the horizon and the fact that there is a large sea running as sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t. And he is wondering what type of fishing they’re doing, either very long nets or strings of pots, as they are laying buoys with AIS.
Ravi
Active member
Thanks. I noticed a line of fishing boats on the Marine App behind Le Cam/Bestain/Seguin . Behind each boat was a little sphere marked as 'unknown vessel'. It would seem that they they were trawling between the two tiers of racing boats. Hmmm. They probably didn't think the 'yachts' would be travelling at 20 knots.
E39mad
Well-known member
Wondering if Burton has an issue - has lost 70 miles on the leader overnight and his 2nd place.
Buck Turgidson
Well-known member
Saw something on another website but couldn't find anything on the Vendee site. He may have a problem. EDIT: Have had, he looks to be back up to speed now.
Ravi
Active member
If it was just the conditions, he must have taken one hell of a battering since he had previously been making decent progress in F7/8 and ,6m waves!
It may have been a breakage that he has sorted but the fact that Dalin also slowed for a while suggests that it was weather.
I wonder if it will make Burton rethink his high risk strategy.
EDIT. Meanwhile Ruyant remains exactly 200 miles behind the leader. Is he on a tow rope?
Ravi
Active member
If Burton hears Dalin's interview from this morning, it won't improve his morale.
Dalin -"I slept well last night."
Surely Charlie is too nice a chap to be playing mind games!
Dalin -"I slept well last night."
Surely Charlie is too nice a chap to be playing mind games!
MoodySabre
Well-known member
Sam has retired but will complete circumnavigation after repairs. Keep raising money.
Snowgoose-1
Well-known member
Good news.
Hope hugo boss do the same
Or is the yacht much worse condition than we know.