Yet more damaged Round the World Yachts.

[Mudisox]

Am I alone in thinking that seamanship and judgement is at fault in so many so called "Long distance designed yachts" seem to fail before the Atlantic or Biscay is left?
The pursuit of sponsorship rather than preparation and seaworthy construction compare badly with say the original Whitbread Racers.

 

[tcm]

maybe. But winning a rtw race means getting a hold of early weather systems PLUS in a recession there's fewer boats, lower budgets and more desperate competition, so thiv probably whammed it as hard as possible as early as possible. I would!

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Which RTW series are you referring to? If you mean the Clipper race on Discovery channel, it looked like a staightforward port / starboard incident. You cannot really think of this in the same terms as the Whitbread - its more of an adventure trip for non sailors. Quite obvious from the coverage that a proportion of the crews regard racing as something not to be taken seriously.

 

[flaming]

Am I alone in thinking that seamanship and judgement is at fault in so many so called "Long distance designed yachts" seem to fail before the Atlantic or Biscay is left?
The pursuit of sponsorship rather than preparation and seaworthy construction compare badly with say the original Whitbread Racers.

Assuming you're talking about the Volvo...

We have "hull damage" to team Sanya, which looks suspiciously like an impact, and not just laminate failure - which also seems likely as that boat already has a circumnavigation under its belt.

And we have a dismasting on Azzam, whilst beating into circa 40 knots. Ian Walker reports they jumped off a completely backless wave at night and the rig didn't survive the landing. They have self rescued and are already back in port getting ready to fit a new mast.

Not entirely sure how either incident qualifies for the lambasting of seamanship standards that your post gives?

 

[oldvarnish]

I once asked a well known designer about the durablity of some ocean racing yachts. He said that all that was required of them was that they got across the finish line in one piece, and preferably ahead of the others. If they fell apart after that, what did it matter?
I concluded that there was a very fine line between sailing such a boat to its 'full potential', and breaking it.

 

[bigwow]

I once asked a well known designer about the durablity of some ocean racing yachts. He said that all that was required of them was that they got across the finish line in one piece, and preferably ahead of the others. If they fell apart after that, what did it matter?
I concluded that there was a very fine line between sailing such a boat to its 'full potential', and breaking it.

A bit like F1 cars then.

 

[pyrojames]

Ben Lexan quote "if you can't break it, it's too heavy". Has to be as light as possible to be at the very competitive front these days.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Ben Lexan quote "if you can't break it, it's too heavy". Has to be as light as possible to be at the very competitive front these days.

Colin Chapman was notorious in his day for taking the same approach to Lotus F1 cars.

 

[Resolution]

A bit like F1 cars then.

OK so how many FI cars have retired this season due to mechanical breakages (as distinct from crashing into each other or off the circuit)????

 

[Resolution]

OK so how many FI cars have retired this season due to mechanical breakages (as distinct from crashing into each other or off the circuit)????

A quick check on the statistics show that this season there have been a total of 42 retirements for mechanical failures, an average of 2.5 per event (out of a field of usually 25 runners.) So say one in ten?

If you take the top ten drivers, the rate of failures is even lower: just seven so far. I think that's one in twenty five.

Stirling Moss would have given his right arm for that sort of reliability.


Sorry - end of geek now.

 

[duncan99210]

Yeah but isn't that due to a change on the rules a bit back restricting the number of engines that a car can use during the season, thus requiring the planned time to failure to be greater than the old one of just lasting the race?