Vendee Globe and Alex Thomson / Hugo Boss

[GunfleetSand]

Now moving at 4-6knts
Small update here. Update direct from Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss repairs

 

[mainsail1]

Has anyone checked if he's posted a few questions on the PBO forum for advice ?

If he does I would advise that his time would be better spent getting his lawyers to ask for a rerun of this race

 

[Frogmogman]

Design team, or build team, or an un-noticed collision, or undetected damage from the TJV incident.... Or just the result of pushing the envelope? Seems pretty harsh to just slam the design team based on the tiny scraps of info we have right now.

To all those saying that he should have done more races... Remember that the plan was to do all the races before they hit a UFO on the TJV and had to rebuild the bottom of the boat. The boat has still done more offshore miles than most of the people posting on this thread...

And then remember that the boat that did all those races and more, and was the fully justified favourite had it's own pretty big structural failure less than 48 hours in when the main track parted company with the boat.

This is gutting for Alex, but I don't think that the game is up yet.

Totally agree with you, Flaming.

Slagging off the design team for this is akin to suggesting that F1 engineers and designers are all a bunch of incompetents every time a F1 car breaks.

Let's hope that Alex completes his repair successfully today, and can put his foot back on the gas.

 

[doris]

It's extraordinary the number of abject curmudgeonly four letter words on this forum who just want to wade in and criticize with very scant data.
Maybe its the lock down, lets hope so.

 

[cherod]

Now moving at 4-6knts
Small update here. Update direct from Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss repairs

That was yesterdays news , hope he isba bit further on than that by now

 

[cherod]

as of 11.00 pm looks like ( according to the plotter ) back on course but still moving slowly
Le Cam made up a few miles and Charal going well

 

[GunfleetSand]

The 4-6 knots is today’s news if the tracker is correct as I don’t sleep much and am following the race. 12am-1am GMT he was still drifting at -0.2knts. Good to see some progress but is he waiting for Araldite to dry before speeding up

 

[TLouth7]

New video on the hub shows the extent of the damage, it's pretty dramatic!

 

[mainsail1]

Having now seen the video of the extensive cracks in the bow beams, I am full of admiration for AT's positive attitude. However if anyone now thinks the strength of the design was adequate they must believe in fairies.

 

[cherod]

New video on the hub shows the extent of the damage, it's pretty dramatic!

link ??

 

[TLouth7]

link ??

Latest videos - The Hub

 

[cherod]

thank you found it

 

[Airscrew]

Holy moley. Those are some major cracks. The compression impacts must have been immense. Dont know when that was flimed, but That will take some time to fix.
At least AT is in a very positive mindset.

 

[flaming]

Having now seen the video of the extensive cracks in the bow beams, I am full of admiration for AT's positive attitude. However if anyone now thinks the strength of the design was adequate they must believe in fairies.

I've never seen structure like that in the front of a boat before. That's immense... The loads that it's designed for must be scary, so assuming there's no build fault, the loads that broke it... Wow.

 

[cherod]

that is just a " tiny " crack ? ,,, it is " significant " ( i think the word AT used ) but not too difficult a repair , ( assuming access is possible ) and as he said it will prob be stronger than before due to the type of repair , i can see now what was meant by the earlier cutting and bolting statement . he does seem quite upbeat about it so hopefully all will be well .

 

[TLouth7]

I guess it's carrying a big chunk of the forestay loads, plus the shock loads from the bow crashing down into waves. In a narrower, move V shaped forward hull those loads would be carried by the hull sides, and would probably be smaller.

At least the bulkhead and that main diagonal strut appear to be intact.

 

[savageseadog]

I've never seen structure like that in the front of a boat before. That's immense... The loads that it's designed for must be scary, so assuming there's no build fault, the loads that broke it... Wow.

Are those carbon fibre structures solid or cored in some way? I wouldn't blame anyone for the breakages but theory and CAD is one thing and being bashed about in the sea is another. I've always subscribed to the idea of empirical calculation of boat structures where experience is everything., however when on the leading edge experience isn't there of course.

 

[mainsail1]

Are those carbon fibre structures solid or cored in some way? I wouldn't blame anyone for the breakages but theory and CAD is one thing and being bashed about in the sea is another. I've always subscribed to the idea of empirical calculation of boat structures where experience is everything., however when on the leading edge experience isn't there of course.

Well they had quite a bit of experience to go on because other similar French boats had structural failures in the bow section earlier this year which were strengthened.

 

[flaming]

Well they had quite a bit of experience to go on because other similar French boats had structural failures in the bow section earlier this year which were strengthened.

I thought that these were in the hull rather than the longitudinals though...

 

[Frogmogman]

Love his attitude. Good man.