Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

[Frogmogman]

I loved this part of Miranda Merron’s report yesterday.....

“In each week's food bag, I have found Fujifilm Polaroid photos taken at our local, Le Russel, in Carteret. My chart table is now populated by friends at the bar, which is rather nice, and today it's Friday. So tonight I will be at Le Russel on Campagne de France in the South Indian Ocean, which will not be the case back on land, if I have understood correctly, where the population is under an Occupation-style curfew.”

I love that she still gets to have a drink with friends at her local on a Friday evening, whilst barreling along in the Southern Ocean on her own. As the proprietor of a locked-down pub in France I was touched by her sympathy and understanding for those back home.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

So Charlie Dalin has hit something with his port foil - not much detail yet but slowed down. Feel sorry for him.

Yannick Bestaven likely to overtake in the next 12 hours as only 42 miles behind but is 6 knots faster

Now in second place .

Clearly going great on port tack but does anybody know if the port foil is still damaged ?

 

[Frogmogman]

Now in second place .

Clearly going great on port tack but does anybody know if the port foil is still damaged ?

AIUI it wasn't the foil itself that was damaged, but the "cale bas" which is one of the chocks, or packing pieces, that holds the foil in the correct position.

 

[matt1]

The boat belonged to his sponsor, PRB. In the article, Jean Jacques Laurent, CEO of PRB, explained that although the boat was worth an estimated €2 million, when you break it down you have

Foils - €700 000 (not covered by insurance)
Mast - €500 000 (not covered by insurance)
Sails - €300 000 (not covered by insurance)
then you have an excess of €70 000, leaving you with a €430000 payout on a €2 million boat.

Blimey! That’s essentially the same insurance terms I got on a 4 day singlehanded cruise (3% excess). Incredible. Of course we don’t know what the actual premium was though. I assumed insurance wasn’t even available for the Vendee

 

[laika]

So where do we reckon jeremie beyou will finish? Surely he couldn't catch tripon/attanassio/cremer? but there's still some time for retirement at the front. I'll go for "at least 15th" but maybe risk as high as 13th?

 

[zoidberg]

......but maybe risk as high as 13th?

I'll gamble on him finishing in the first 10.

 

[E39mad]

I'm not sure he'll catch Tripon who is currently 14th. As said it depends on retirements and getting back up the Atlantic but agree that currently somewhere around 13 to 15 place.

 

[matt1]

Does anybody have a sub to TheTimes ? Apparently Alex Thomson article this am "reflecting on the race" - anybody know what it says?

 

[Ravi]

The usual apologies if this is already something that everyone knows about but I have just stumbled across a sailing podcast which has blown me away, it is so brilliant.


I post it here because it has a discussion of the vendee globe, (after a very entertaining chat about the Sydney Hobart cancellation). The podcast interviews the irreverent and immensely knowledgeable Ryan Breymaier. The guy is a legend.

He has the inside stories from all the competitors about what is happening and he he is very candid about what is going on - warts and all.

I can't recommend the podcast enough.

https://episodes.buzzsprout.com/wc8nui8bqr6ordqea2myv1h1nyqh?

EDIT: Here is the web site of the actual podcast - https://barkarate.com/

 

[matt1]

Thanks for the link. Anyone not interested in bloky aussie banter about anal covid swabs can ignore at least the first 6 mins. There ya go, that's 6 mins of your life you can get back

 

[matt1]

12 mins in for the Vendee part and Ravi is right, Ryan is very interesting. Some interesting points raised about displacement and foils / rudders. I suspect there will be a lot of soul searching after this edition. Not least because big campaigns spent a lot of sponsors money on the chance of not hitting a UFO. I can imagine it will have put other sponsors off and ultimately isn't sustainable in the long term. The organisers need to address that (& the environmental concerns about wales). No idea how they can address it though

 

[doris]

The organisers need to address that (& the environmental concerns about wales). No idea how they can address it though

Maybe just require a couple of sheep to be kept on board!

 

[matt1]

Maybe just require a couple of sheep to be kept on board!

Well we are all worried about the Welsh ;-)

 

[Frogmogman]

Pip Hare is going brilliantly well. She is only 85 miles behind Arnaud Boissières in La Mie Câline, and has pulled out a lead of nearly 300 miles over Didac Costa, with whom she had been level pegging for so long. ?

At the start, had you offered her 17th place at the half way stage, out of 33 starters I suspect she'd have bitten your hand off.

 

[matt1]

Social distancing allowing, I'm deffo gonna welcome her back to the UK

 

[Frogmogman]

Social distancing allowing, I'm deffo gonna welcome her back to the UK

Social distancing allowing, I’m deffo going to welcome her back to les sables d’olonne

 

[matt1]

I was looking to find ways to get to Les Sable if Alex had won......Next time maybe

 

[Tomahawk]

12 mins in for the Vendee part and Ravi is right, Ryan is very interesting. Some interesting points raised about displacement and foils / rudders. I suspect there will be a lot of soul searching after this edition. Not least because big campaigns spent a lot of sponsors money on the chance of not hitting a UFO. I can imagine it will have put other sponsors off and ultimately isn't sustainable in the long term. The organisers need to address that (& the environmental concerns about wales). No idea how they can address it though

Seems to me some sort of sound system that broadcasts cetacean alarm or distress calls to encourage them to get away would be worth looking into. There are parts of the oceans where ships ar enow ordered into slow steaming to reduce whale strike.

 

[Wansworth]

Why should whales get out the way of yachts ploughing the sea up

 

[Chae_73]

Why should whales get out the way of yachts ploughing the sea up

To avoid getting hurt or killed, I would guess? Seems like a fairly compelling reason...