What is Alex up to?

The western boats are currently farther from the finish, but crucially should have the better weather for about a 48 hour period from Saturday morning. They'll also have a better angle - be less downwind - in the trades. Cleverer people than me think it's going to be close between the West and the South when they converge.
As to why Alex went west...

 
Ripped the tack out of the genoa on the first day, so has had to role the dice and head west. He's hoping that it will pay off later, but looking at the way the weather is developing, I think he'll struggle with that.

On the other hand, Sam Davies went south and is in the top 5 and looking good.
 
Today and tomorrow do not look good..
Then going light when it turns behind him.. ?
These days it is all about weather forecasting..

Any pics of HB on foils in the race?
 
Tomahawk said:
Today and tomorrow do not look good..
Then going light when it turns behind him.. ?
These days it is all about weather forecasting..

Any pics of HB on foils in the race?
Click to expand...

West is indeed looking less good now...

Long way to go though.
 
From Facebook this morning:

Alex Thomson Racing is currently managing a developing incident which occurred during the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre race.

We ask that members of the public refrain from attempting to contact the team during this period. A further update will follow shortly.
 
Just now on Facebook
This morning (Sunday 3rd November 2019) at around 9:37am UK time, while Alex Thomson and Neal McDonald were sailing at around 25 knots onboard HUGO BOSS, they hit something in the water. At this stage, it is not clear what they hit.
Following the incident, Alex and Neal stopped the boat and carried out an inspection to assess the damage sustained. It became apparent that the keel is now only attached by the hydraulic ram.
Due to the damage sustained to the boat, the decision has been made that Alex and Neal will not continue on in the race. The Alex Thomson Racing team is now working to assist the skippers to bring the boat to the nearest port.
Both Alex and Neal are currently safe inside the boat and did not sustain any major injuries.
A further update will follow.
Click to expand...
 
Would it be viable or practical to have a forward looking sonar to try and pick up floating objects (or whales even) before the boat hits them?
What sort of range typically will a forward looking sonar have?
If the boat is doing 25 or 30 knots, I guess there would not be much time to change course before you clobber the UFO ahead.
 
Bajansailor said:
Would it be viable or practical to have a forward looking sonar to try and pick up floating objects (or whales even) before the boat hits them?
What sort of range typically will a forward looking sonar have?
If the boat is doing 25 or 30 knots, I guess there would not be much time to change course before you clobber the UFO ahead.
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I think that a sonar transducer mounted on a surface piercing foil would be badly affected by noise, at those speeds. Perhaps a submariner would like to comment?
 
Bajansailor said:
Would it be viable or practical to have a forward looking sonar to try and pick up floating objects (or whales even) before the boat hits them?
What sort of range typically will a forward looking sonar have?
If the boat is doing 25 or 30 knots, I guess there would not be much time to change course before you clobber the UFO ahead.
Click to expand...

Hello Martin,
during this TJV, a number of IMOCAs have volunteered to test a new system, based upon cameras (visual and IR) up the mast and an Artificial Intelligence computing unit inside the boat.

https://www.oscar-system.com/

Steep price at 16-23k€ depending on configuration.
I have not heard yet reports from the skippers.

regards,
roberto
 
Thank you Roberto for that link - it does look very impressive - if it works as claimed.
And 16-23k€ would be small change in the grand scheme of things probably re the annual budget for campaigning an IMOCA 60.
In the video they show how the boat can avoid another boat up ahead - ok, one would expect it should be able to do that with basic radar.
They even mention a semi-submerged container - if it can pick up one of these in time to change course without hitting it, then that will be impressive.
But what about a whale, or a large tree trunk? I am sure that a container can be 'seen' much better by this device than flesh or wood.
As it is, it doesn't bode well for Alex if he is out of the race across the Atlantic simply because he hit something - and there is just so much rubbish out there.
And there is a good chance of surviving an impact if it is at 5 or 6 knots, but 25 knots......... oh dear.
 
Alex seems fated sithnhitting stuff. He lost the last Vendee on account of hitting something and loosing one of his foils. But IIRC nearly 1/3 of the fleet was retired after hitting things. How dangerous is it becomnig on account of floating stuff?
 
Tomahawk said:
Alex seems fated sithnhitting stuff. He lost the last Vendee on account of hitting something and loosing one of his foils. But IIRC nearly 1/3 of the fleet was retired after hitting things. How dangerous is it becomnig on account of floating stuff?
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There may have to be a re think in design .

The bow section I suppose could be strengthened but the weak point is always going to be the keel.

Also, the rig would probably come down on impact.
 
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I don’t know how anyone could make the keel resistant to hitting a container when doing 30 knots.

One of the boats in the Vendee hit a container head on by the bow.... The impact shattered the bow section. The skipper was lucky to manage to limp to a safe port.
 
It wouldn't help with whales or trees, but I've long been of the opinion that shipping companies should be responsible for lost containers, with daily fines until they're accounted for. I can't believe that it would be that difficult to design a container that would flood if immersed and require anything carried to have, at worst, neutral buoyancy.

Yes, it would add to costs, but that may not be such a bad thing if it means that containers stop being practically throwaway items, and it may reduce the amount of junk being shipped around the world.
 
Stemar said:
It wouldn't help with whales or trees, but I've long been of the opinion that shipping companies should be responsible for lost containers, with daily fines until they're accounted for. I can't believe that it would be that difficult to design a container that would flood if immersed and require anything carried to have, at worst, neutral buoyancy.

Yes, it would add to costs, but that may not be such a bad thing if it means that containers stop being practically throwaway items, and it may reduce the amount of junk being shipped around the world.
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I have to declare an interest, as they say.

I’m responsible for a fleet of container ships. I can honestly say that so far, in the thirty two years that I have been responsible for, inter alia, container ships, no ship under my control has lost a single container, full or empty.

I have had stowaways stepping out of containers, I have had containers catching fire with contents bearing no relation to what they are said to contain, I have had containers so overweight that they have broken cranes, but I haven’t had one go OB.

If we lose a container over the side, we have lost an asset which we either own or lease - either way we have to pay for it. If it has cargo in it we have to pay for that too, or rather our P&I Club do and they will have a sense of humour failure if we make a habit of it.

There are, very roughly, three sorts of container:

A dry box - most of them - isn’t made to be air tight or water tight; it’s made to be weather tight. This means that it will fill with water and sink unless it contains cargo (proverbially, consumer electronic equipment packed in expanded polystyrene) which will float.

A tank container- if empty this will float; it will sink if full. However these are expensive and people try to avoid relocating them empty.

A refrigerated container- a reefer box - this will sink like a stone if full (food is heavy!) and float for months on the insulation if empty.

Now please tell us how to make a dry box full of expanded polystyrene, an empty tank container or an empty reefer box sink quickly...?
 
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