E39mad
Well-known member
Jean Le Clack Clack Clack Cam seems a little slow in the 8am standings - hopefully all is well as has sailed an outstanding race so far.
Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss
- Thread starter RichardS
- Start date
Airscrew
Active member
Beginning to really like Boris in SeaExplorer / YCdMonaco.
It helps some of us that he speaks excellent English.
But his tweets and posts are both infomrative and humourous.
And he is doing his bit for science, and also education for kids through the Malizia Ocean Challenge.
It helps some of us that he speaks excellent English.
But his tweets and posts are both infomrative and humourous.
And he is doing his bit for science, and also education for kids through the Malizia Ocean Challenge.
dune16
Active member
After Alex went out I'd love to see Boris win it ?
Frogmogman
Well-known member
Boris Herrmann comes across as a very pleasant and engaging character. I'm delighted to see him doing so well, but confess that with the retirement of Alex and Sam, I've transferred my allegiance to Jean le Cam.
Herrmann has gone a long way to restoring some credibility to the name Boris, which has taken something of a battering recently thanks to the antics of a certain mop haired buffoon. I dare say supporters of the latter won't care for Boris Herrmann anyway, as he was the one who sailed Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic East to West last year.
Herrmann has gone a long way to restoring some credibility to the name Boris, which has taken something of a battering recently thanks to the antics of a certain mop haired buffoon. I dare say supporters of the latter won't care for Boris Herrmann anyway, as he was the one who sailed Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic East to West last year.
TLouth7
Active member
Presumably the nature of the weather patterns is that those who are behind fall off the back of the low first, but also pick up the next low first?
Pip Hare mentioned a while back that as part of her crash course in Southern ocean tactics she had been advised to go hell for leather on the front of a low to remain in the good winds for as long as possible, which sounds like a good plan. I can see that a boat which is optimised for high speed downwind sailing in a heavy sea state would be best positioned to take advantage of this pattern. Now who had one of those?
Keith 66
Well-known member
Look at Armel Tripons progress, he has been flying recently, he was a long way behind but is catching the leading group. And his boat is a downwind flyer.
LONG_KEELER
Well-known member
LONG_KEELER
Well-known member
Things are starting to bunch up which is just what we like.
Still waiting for Le Cam to bowl the next one out the back of his hand . I think the rest have tumbled the dummy stuff now.
Ravi
Active member
According to this PM's update, Boris has been hitting speeds of up to 32 knots today . Even if that is just surfing peaks, it is scary to contemplate.
AVG 19 kn, I think they said.
Frogmogman
Well-known member
It's no picnic
laika
Well-known member
Looks like tomorrow Jérémie Beyou might be clawing his way back up the rankings
doris
Well-known member
Somehow the girls seem to write much more eloquently than the boys. Isabel's last missive was very nice.
Frogmogman
Well-known member
I think Pip Hare’s have been particularly good. I thought her piece about the tack line on her code zero breaking was really excellent.
The prospect of trying to get such a massive sail to the deck unfurled, on your own, in 27kts of wind, and a bit of a sea, doesn’t bear thinking about. Her solution, after some reflection was a good one; her conclusion did make me think......
“It is often the way with racing a boat this size on your own that the first solution is not the obvious one and I have often said this is why I believe we are able to race men and women on equal terms in this incredible sport. Rushing in to wrestle that sail out of the sky was the wrong answer and had I been perhaps bigger, or more physically strong I may have been more inclined to try. But stepping back for a second gave me the right solution.”
ridgy
Well-known member
Am the only one to be surprised by his lack of pace? He's only just about to catch Ari Huusela who by his own admission is restricting his speed to 300 miles/day as he only wants to get round.
Even in good wind he seems unable to do much more than 400 miles a day. Maybe the boat was not fully repaired and he is nursing it but surprised that he would have set off again in that situation.
ridgy
Well-known member
Very interesting interview from the Seawolves man for those of you with a bit of money to spare and fancy yourselves on the startline...
LONG_KEELER
Well-known member
I enjoyed Charlie Dalin's bit .
How do you sail those things with just the mainsail ?
No quiet life at the front either ......
News - Charlie Dalin on this morning's call - Vendée Globe - En
Ravi
Active member
A few thoughts no the latest (Thursday 11 pm) race update ....
The four fastest boats in the leading pack over the last four hours, which are all very close together, were -:
- BESTAVEN (18.8 kn)
- LE CAM (18.32 kn)
- DUTREUX (17.61 kn)
- SEGUIN (17.53 kn)
Of these only Bestaven's is a foiling boat. Of course, he is the fastest of this little closely bunched group but Boris Hermann - who is only 30 mile NW of Seguin - is doing 14 kn in his foiler.
Significantly, the VMG of the other 3 are close to Bestaven's VMG as the 3 non-foilers are steering a course of 105-109° where Bestaven is steering 125°.
Although Bestavan's course selection and performance may be due to localised conditions, this all does suggest that MAYBE, in the Southern ocean conditions, (a) the speed advantages of foiling boats are somewhat limited and that (b) the CTS that a skipper in a foiler chooses to steer may be heavily influenced (and restricted) by the foils.
There has been some chatter on sailing forums about the foiling skipper's need to manage the additional pressure on the mast caused by the buoyancy/'resistance to the heel' from the foils. i.e. in gusts, instead of the boat broaching, the mast breaks!
It is difficult to work out exactly what is going on, in real time, with the limited data available but the one thing that is clear is that the foiling boats, (in the Southern ocean conditions), have not 'blown away' the old non-foilers and consigned them to the dustbin of history as some expected. Not yet, anyway.
It should be an interesting few days ahead. Whether it is for psychological or physical reasons, Dalin, Ruyant and, (especially), Burton seemed to have taken their foot off the gas. The chasing pack are consistently exceeding their speed by a 2-3 knots which equates to 50-75 miles a day.
Dalin kept his nerve and his Northern route to see off the challenge of the charging Burton who tried to outflank him in the storm. It will be interesting to see how Charlie reacts to the relentless chasing pack. For the next few days it is a straight race of maximising boat speed in fair conditions. And then, in a few days, Dalin is likely to hit increasingly light winds while the pack behind him close. So, far his judgement has been pretty much perfect and it will be interesting to see if the pressure gets to him or if he continues to sail a near immaculate race.
The four fastest boats in the leading pack over the last four hours, which are all very close together, were -:
- BESTAVEN (18.8 kn)
- LE CAM (18.32 kn)
- DUTREUX (17.61 kn)
- SEGUIN (17.53 kn)
Of these only Bestaven's is a foiling boat. Of course, he is the fastest of this little closely bunched group but Boris Hermann - who is only 30 mile NW of Seguin - is doing 14 kn in his foiler.
Significantly, the VMG of the other 3 are close to Bestaven's VMG as the 3 non-foilers are steering a course of 105-109° where Bestaven is steering 125°.
Although Bestavan's course selection and performance may be due to localised conditions, this all does suggest that MAYBE, in the Southern ocean conditions, (a) the speed advantages of foiling boats are somewhat limited and that (b) the CTS that a skipper in a foiler chooses to steer may be heavily influenced (and restricted) by the foils.
There has been some chatter on sailing forums about the foiling skipper's need to manage the additional pressure on the mast caused by the buoyancy/'resistance to the heel' from the foils. i.e. in gusts, instead of the boat broaching, the mast breaks!
It is difficult to work out exactly what is going on, in real time, with the limited data available but the one thing that is clear is that the foiling boats, (in the Southern ocean conditions), have not 'blown away' the old non-foilers and consigned them to the dustbin of history as some expected. Not yet, anyway.
It should be an interesting few days ahead. Whether it is for psychological or physical reasons, Dalin, Ruyant and, (especially), Burton seemed to have taken their foot off the gas. The chasing pack are consistently exceeding their speed by a 2-3 knots which equates to 50-75 miles a day.
Dalin kept his nerve and his Northern route to see off the challenge of the charging Burton who tried to outflank him in the storm. It will be interesting to see how Charlie reacts to the relentless chasing pack. For the next few days it is a straight race of maximising boat speed in fair conditions. And then, in a few days, Dalin is likely to hit increasingly light winds while the pack behind him close. So, far his judgement has been pretty much perfect and it will be interesting to see if the pressure gets to him or if he continues to sail a near immaculate race.
laika
Well-known member
Fabrice Amedeo's facebook page says he's deciding whether to continue "blind" now his backup computer has packed up but the 11am tracker seems to have him pointing at cape town.
Given the cost of a laptop compared with a vendee campaign I find it "surprising" that the only mechanism for getting weather data is a computer and a single backup but if that is the case I was wondering what sources of weather info (not necessarily with routing software) were allowed but all I could find was the general principle:
Anyone know what forms of weather info are available within the rules other than in electronic format? I'm guessing no-one bothers doing regular radio forecasts for the southern ocean that you can plot a pressure chart from...
Given the cost of a laptop compared with a vendee campaign I find it "surprising" that the only mechanism for getting weather data is a computer and a single backup but if that is the case I was wondering what sources of weather info (not necessarily with routing software) were allowed but all I could find was the general principle:
News - Without Assistance Means........ Without Assistance - Vendée Globe - En
Anyone know what forms of weather info are available within the rules other than in electronic format? I'm guessing no-one bothers doing regular radio forecasts for the southern ocean that you can plot a pressure chart from...
cmedsailor
Well-known member
Go Jeremie!!!
Frogmogman
Well-known member
One down, 26 more to go !!