Vendee Globe Starts Today, Facts, Video, Discussion

[sailon46]

Originally Posted by Polux

Latino football? Football, that the Americans and British call soccer, is by far the more Universal of all sports and modern football was first ruled by the British that I believe are not latinos. They are also huge fans. It is called the World game because everybody plays it. It is gaining a bigger and bigger acceptance on the US where the championships are better and better and I see lots of enthusiastic public on the stadiums.

No, it is difficult to think in anything as world popular as football but I mean all other major sport events like F1, Paris Dakar, World athleticism championships, Le Mans, Indianapolis meaning the ones you see covered or noticed on the main not specialized TV channels at world level.

I am looking at a photo of the start at Sables de Olone and I see Macif turning back while Armel Le Cleach my hero is sailing on. I think that when the winds pick up after cape finistere then the Moustache of Dali as the French call the foils on the monohauls should make the difference from the old style competitors. Allez Armel et bon chance.
Ernie on the Mary jane

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by sailon46

I am looking at a photo of the start at Sables de Olone and I see Macif turning back while Armel Le Cleach my hero is sailing on. I think that when the winds pick up after cape finistere then the Moustache of Dali as the French call the foils on the monohauls should make the difference from the old style competitors. Allez Armel et bon chance.
Ernie on the Mary jane

"Mustache of Dali" is a good, fun, nickname for those foils!

[Polux]

This guy:

with 65 years of age is making a great race. He is 2nd between the amateurs.

"With a degree in mathematics from Harvard and in sciences from MIT (Massachussetts Institute of Technology) in Boston, his home town, Rich Wilson is a brilliant man, who has had numerous occupations: a maths teacher in Boston, defence analyst in Washington and consultant for a desalination plant in Saudi Arabia among others. In short, a brain. Rich Wilson is also a successful sailor, who became known back in 1980 when he won the Newport- Bermuda Race.....

At the age of 58, he was the oldest competitor in the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe. Aboard an older boat, launched ten years before the race, he fought hard to overcome the gales and some serious damage. He reached les Sables d’Olonne after 121 days of sailing, once again having shared his race experience with as many people as he could. If he is returning in 2016, it is to be faster, but also to develop his educational programmes. Convinced of the usefulness of sailing as a tool to convey positive values to youngsters, Rich Wilson will spread the word in the United States and around the world. He hopes too that by competing, he can contribute to publicising the solo round the world race in the States, in order to see more American competitors lining up in the future. "
Rich WILSON - Vendée Globe 2016-2017

[Polux]

Originally Posted by sailon46

I am looking at a photo of the start at Sables de Olone and I see Macif turning back while Armel Le Cleach my hero is sailing on. I think that when the winds pick up after cape finistere then the Moustache of Dali as the French call the foils on the monohauls should make the difference from the old style competitors. Allez Armel et bon chance.
Ernie on the Mary jane

Well, I like Armel and he deserves to win a Vendee but if i had to chose a hero I would chose Riou that is making is 4th Vendee Globe!!!! having already won one....the veteran (44 years old) is keeping close to the head of the race with the only boat among the leading ones with "old" foils.

If they have any problems with the new foils Riou will be the one with more chances to win. The question all are posing themselves is : Are the new foils able to do a circumnavigation without breaking? The forces involved are huge, on the foils and on the hull at the insertion point. Nobody knows and clearly Riou think they are not going to make it without problems. It will be interesting to see who is right

[Steadman Uhlich]

An excerpt of a very good overview article I found describing the boats, the sailors, and some of the notes about new IMOCA boats with foils.
_______________

SOURCE: Sailingscuttlebut.com

On Sunday November 6 at 1302hrs (local time; 1202UTC), the start gun will send 29 intrepid solo skippers and their IMOCA 60s off from France on the eighth edition of the Vendée Globe, the only non-stop solo round the world race without assistance.

In a modern age where the pursuit of instant gratification and always-on social interconnection prevails in even the most remote corners of the world, this 24,020 nautical miles contest from Les Sables d’Olonne to Les Sables d’Olonne via the three great capes for somewhere between 75 and 120 days, retains an enduring, magical appeal.

The purity and simplicity of the race remains unchanged since the first edition in 1989 when 13 pioneering soloists started. But it is testament to its incredible magnetism that the race which starts Sunday will be the most international yet, as for the first time the challenge is taken up by soloists from the Australasian and Asian continents.

Twenty French skippers and nine from Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and the USA will answer the start cannon Sunday. Ireland, New Zealand and Japan are represented for the first time. The performance and age spectrum of the skippers and their respective IMOCA 60 foot racing yachts has never been greater.

Set on January 27th 2013 by the youngest skipper ever to win the race, François Gabart at the age of 29, the benchmark of 78 days 2hrs 16m 40 secs is thought likely to fall. Since the last race four years ago, there has been a technological leap as innovative hydrofoiling daggerboards have been adopted on the IMOCAs of seven skippers.

These new foils generate substantial lift on the hull, literally allowing the 7.5 tonne boats to fly almost clear of the waves to sustain speeds averaging 2-4kts faster than their conventional modern generation counterparts. There are seven boats fitted with foils: six new boats (Banque Populaire VIII, Edmond de Rothschild, Hugo Boss, No Way Back, Safran, and StMichel-Virbac) and one older generation boat (Maitre Coq).

Even among seasoned race watchers the perennial question ‘Who will win the Vendée Globe?’ has many different answers. Including Thomson there are six highly experienced, top skippers equipped with foils:

• Armel Le Cléac’h has finished second in the last two Vendée Globes, only three hours behind winner Gabart in 2013, the conclusion of a mind bending match-race all the way around the world when the two near identical IMOCAs raced all the way as if joined by bungee elastic.
• Sébastien Josse led the epic 2008-9 race at different stages before he was forced to abandon with rudder damage. Edmond de Rothschild is the highly optimised, immaculately prepared new IMOCA aboard which he won last winter’s solo Transat Saint Barth’s-Lorient race before finishing second in this year’s New York- Vendée race. His experience racing the Edmond de Rothschild Multi 70 trimaran crewed and short-handed has fine-tuned his ability to race on the edge for long periods.
• Jean Pierre Dick on StMichel-Virbac is a multiple winner of big ocean races, such as the Transat Jacques Vabre and two Barcelona World Races around the world. He missed third in the last race when his keel failed 1500 miles from the finish, dropping to fourth.
• Jéremie Beyou has yet to finish the Vendée Globe despite starting twice. He is the only skipper to retro-fit foils, to his Maitre-Coq, the 2010 launched boat which finished second in 2013 as Banque Populaire.
• First timer Morgan Lagravière, 29, is an Olympic skiff sailor turned Figaro sailor turned Vendée Globe racer. He was selected by Safran as the best of the new, younger generation talent to fly their colours and he has a foiling, March 2015 launched design. His programme has been managed latterly by Roland Jourdain’s organisation.

The only skipper to have won the race before who will be on the start line this time, 2004-5 winner Vincent Riou on PRB, has stayed with a conventional, non-foil set up. But his March 2010 launched boat is considered the most optimised, furthest refined IMOCA which possesses a great all round potential.

While the foiling IMOCAs are at their best fast reaching in winds over 15kts, they are still felt to have a disadvantage in increased drag in lighter airs and less efficiency upwind. Riou is a firm believer that his choice will give him an at least even chance over the long game.

So too Yann Eliès has a well optimised IMOCA with more conventional boards. A three times winner of La Solitaire du Figaro, he returns to the Vendée Globe eight years after being rescued 800 miles south west of Australia. Eliès lay stricken and unable to move suffering from multiple leg fractures inside his yacht for two days before being taken to safety.

An unprecedented five sailors will be racing the Vendée Globe for their fourth time. Riou, Thomson, Dick and veterans Jean Le Cam and Bertrand de Broc. Two of the 14 first timers will start with realistic aspirations of emulating Gabart’s feat, winning the Vendée Globe at their first attempt, never having raced solo in the Southern Oceans.

These two are Lagravière, with his foiler Safran, and Paul Meilhat, whose SMA is none other than the boat used by Gabart to smash the Vendée Globe record in the last race. Meilhat’s attempt is the leading IMOCA programme for double Vendée Globe winner Michel Desjoyeaux’s Mer Agitée stable. Meilhat, 34, is also an ex-49er sailor who moved through the one design Figaro circuit, winning the 2014 Transat AG2R. His boat


There are set to be many races within the race as different generations of boats and compete against each other. A posse of skippers with 2006-7 designs are expected to have equally intense, hard fought battles and are all expected to form the middle and upper middle order of the fleet:

• Tanguy De Lamotte on Initiatives Couer which publicises a charity which provides life-saving heart surgery for children.
• Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée
• Arnaud Boissieres on La Mie Caline
• Jean Le Cam on Finistere Mer Vent
• Thomas Ruyant on Le Souffle Du Nord,\

The race has drawn an engaging cross section of adventurous skippers of all ages who set off with the only common theme being their shared dream of finishing the race, completing the circle:

• Twenty four year old Swiss soloist Alan Roura has a low budget campaign which bottomed out financially when he did not have enough money to put fuel in his team van.
• Kiwi-American Conrad Colman starts his third round the world race having only just secured a last minute sponsor for his 100% Natural Energy. He is looking to be the first skipper to finish the race using only naturally generated electrical energy.
• Sébastien Destremau will realise an almost fleeting ambition which only took him over when he was reporting for TV at the start of the last race.
• Irish businessman, adventurer and sailor Enda O’Coineen on Kilcullen Voyager Team Ireland is looking to fulfil a lifetime ambition but also to spearhead a lasting legacy for Ireland which also encompasses building a sail training vessel and, in the future, a sail training academy.
• Holland’s Pieter Heerema is a successful businessman looking to fulfil a sailing ambition, racing a latest generation foiler.
• Hungary’s Nandor Fa, 64, starts his third Vendée Globe twenty years after his first one, racing a boat he mostly designed and built himself.
• American Rich Wilson is driven to compete in his second Vendée Globe, the oldest skipper in the fleet, by the burning desire to share the educational values of the race. His Sites Alive program run from on board Great American 4 will reach over 1 million youngsters, including 3000 schools in China, an educational program approved by the French Education Department, and 50,000 students in Taiwan.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by Polux

Well, I like Armel and he deserves to win a Vendee but if i had to chose a hero I would chose Riou that is making is 4th Vendee Globe!!!! having already won one....the veteran (44 years old) is keeping close to the head of the race with the only boat among the leading ones with "old" foils.

If they have any problems with the new foils Riou will be the one with more chances to win. The question all are posing themselves is : Are the new foils able to do a circumnavigation without breaking? The forces involved are huge, on the foils and on the hull at the insertion point. Nobody knows and clearly Riou think they are not going to make it without problems. It will be interesting to see who is right

I always enjoy reading your comments on boat design.

I just posted a lengthy excerpt from an article which mentions which boats have the foils and some issues they have had (Hugo Boss).

It will be interesting to see if the sailors are foiled by their foils, or if they deliver the fastest times.

In the article, it says the foil boats can get 2-4 knots more speed over the conventional boats, but may have some disadvantages on some points of wind.

[Steadman Uhlich]

The Vendee Globe race has had many outstanding sailors competing to win.

Many of them are national heroes, admired by their sailing communities.

Here is a story about one such sailor, who broke records, and also became famous and admired for his response to a $5 broken part. Unfortunately, like many classical heroes, he met a tragic end, also due to a broken part of his boat.
________________________________

Mike Plant (American)
Vendee Globe Boat = DURACELL
VG race 1989

SOURCE Wikipedia
1989: Competed in the first Vendée Globe aboard Duracell, an Open 60 sloop built by Plant and designed by Roger Martin.

Although eliminated from the race after receiving help to rescue his boat after it ran aground in Perseverance Harbour at Campbell Island, New Zealand, Plant still set a record for the fastest American to sail single-handed around the world with a time of 135 days, bettering Dodge Morgan's time of 150 days set in 1985 aboard his 60-foot cutter, American Promise.

Plant's disqualification from the 1989 Vendée Globe transpired when a $5 part on Duracell's rigging was damaged in the Pacific Ocean.

Plant sailed 36 hours straight until he was able to anchor off Campbell Island, New Zealand. Once anchored, a storm caught him and began pushing Duracell toward a rocky shore’s certain destruction. On the island, four meteorologists saw the racer’s plight and motored out in their Zodiac.

To save his boat with its dragging anchor, Plant had to accept the tow, but he knew that the outside assistance would disqualify him. The meteorologists suggested to Mike that he simply continue the race. They vowed eternal silence. No one would know. "Except I would," Mike answered.

Plant radioed the race committee that he had accepted outside help and that he would continue the race, though disqualified.

He unofficially crossed the finish line in seventh place. Mike lost the race, but to the admiring French, he emerged a real hero.

His determination and honesty did not go unnoticed: 25,000 people lined the breakwater in Les Sables d’Olonne to give him a rousing hero’s welcome.

Mike was the only American in the race. Herb McCormick, editor of Cruising World, and the Boating Editor of the New York Times wrote: "The tens of thousands of French men and women who greeted him at the finish understood something that largely was missed in this country. By forging on, by completing what he’d set out to do, by showing the highest respect for his competitors in a wonderful act of sportsmanship, Mike was as much a winner as the sailors who’d officially crossed the finish line."

In 1992, Plant was preparing to compete in his second Vendée Globe and fourth single-handed circumnavigation aboard Coyote, a powerful Open 60 sloop, and was lost at sea while delivering Coyote from New York Harbor to Les Sables-d'Olonne, France for the starting line.

Coyote was found 32 days later, turtled, without the 8,400 lead bulb that should have been attached to the keel.[3]

At the time of his death, Plant was one of only five people to have completed three solo circumnavigations, joining Bertie Reed, Guy Bernardin, Jean-Luc Van Den Heede and Philippe Jeantot.[1]

On September 6, 2002, Plant was inducted into The Single-Handed Sailing Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.[1]
________________

Photos:
Mike Plant by Billy Black
Duracell by unknown

[Steadman Uhlich]

Seasickness can affect highly skilled sailors too!

From a news report of the first 24 hours of the race:

"Seasickness is an occupational hazard through the first hours of big races for the Japanese skipper Kojiro Shiraishi. He reported to his team that he was dealing this nausea and lack of energy as best he could but his mal de mer is not reflected in his performance with his Spirit of Yukoh, lying 17th. Spirit of Hungary's Nandor Fa spoke of his pleasure to be safely at sea but slightly disappointed not to have made better speeds through the first night of his third Vendée Globe. And Ireland's Enda O'Coineen highlighted the massive emotional chasm between leaving Sunday's huge crowds and Monday's sudden solitude, the first day of around three months alone. “The contrast - being alone - is extraordinary. It will take me a few days to adjust.”

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

...

Mike Plant (American)
Vendee Globe Boat = DURACELL
VG race 1989

SOURCE Wikipedia
1989: Competed in the first Vendée Globe aboard Duracell, an Open 60 sloop built by Plant and designed by Roger Martin.

Although eliminated from the race after receiving help to rescue his boat after it ran aground in Perseverance Harbour at Campbell Island, New Zealand, Plant still set a record for the fastest American to sail single-handed around the world with a time of 135 days, bettering Dodge Morgan's time of 150 days set in 1985 aboard his 60-foot cutter, American Promise.

Plant's disqualification from the 1989 Vendée Globe transpired when a $5 part on Duracell's rigging was damaged in the Pacific Ocean.

Plant sailed 36 hours straight until he was able to anchor off Campbell Island, New Zealand. Once anchored, a storm caught him and began pushing Duracell toward a rocky shore’s certain destruction. On the island, four meteorologists saw the racer’s plight and motored out in their Zodiac.

To save his boat with its dragging anchor, Plant had to accept the tow, but he knew that the outside assistance would disqualify him. The meteorologists suggested to Mike that he simply continue the race. They vowed eternal silence. No one would know. "Except I would," Mike answered.

Plant radioed the race committee that he had accepted outside help and that he would continue the race, though disqualified.

He unofficially crossed the finish line in seventh place. Mike lost the race, but to the admiring French, he emerged a real hero.

His determination and honesty did not go unnoticed: 25,000 people lined the breakwater in Les Sables d’Olonne to give him a rousing hero’s welcome.
....

I remember that very well and typically French. they are a knowledgeable public and always cheer enthusiastically not only the first but the ones that had problems and had managed to arrive. I remember also his tragic death when he was coming for another vendee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKBshiQrhcU

[Steadman Uhlich]

Look at this link to see where Alex Thomson is in relation to the other boats. This tracker shows him in the LEAD TODAY, despite his crippled boat that has a broken/missing foil on his starboard side (look for his black boat shape in the tracker). WOW!

Vendée Globe 2016-2017

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

Look at this link to see where Alex Thomson is in relation to the other boats. This tracker shows him in the LEAD TODAY, despite his crippled boat that has a broken/missing foil on his starboard side (look for his black boat shape in the tracker). WOW!

Vendée Globe 2016-2017

Yes, but do you know what the other sailors call Armel (and not in a negative way)? The "Chacal". And you now why? Because he is a master in strategy and never let it go.

He was been pushed by Alex, that is pushing too hard his boat. The two were making much more miles than all the others, taking unnecessary risks. So what was the right move? Letting pass Alex and following him hopping that Alex once on the lead does not take so many risks and allowing both a better chance of taking their boats to the finish.

He knows that with an intact boat, with both foils we can pass Alex when we wants to, if he pushes has hard as Alex and the conditions are right, but he don't want to push hard his boat, he wants to push it as little as he can, saving it, while staying close to Alex.

He will only attack after passing Cape Horn, on the way up to France. Unless Alex makes some error on routing and then he will take advantage. He is better than Alex in routing.

To win this race it is not only needed to have a great boat, to have big balls, it is also need to have a big brain. That is why Desjoyeaux , the only one that won this race twice was called by the others "the teacher".

Look at this video and you will see that Alex is pushing his boat much more than Alex, too much for being able to keep this rhythm till the end. Armel is going much more conservatively but he knows that with the others at a safe distance he can go slower and push less his boat, if he follows Alex Thompson instead of having him on the chase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aks2lK7-EKM

Off course this is only educated speculation and this race is unpredictable. Armel can be doing everything right, saving his boat and even so he can have the bad luck to hit something hard at speed and destroy his boat.

[Polux]

There are more footage from that French Navy helicopter even if it was not released. Here the helicopter filming Josse's boat, the third on the classification:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISGpfIxWb5g

and also nice images taken aboard Kito de Pavant boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y69yJ9crPJQ

[Polux]

And Armel passes to the lead again. It seems to contradict what i said some days ago about Armel being interested in slowing down the rhythm at high speed in formed seas, that could break the boat, letting Alex pass and following him, but that is not the case regarding this overtake.

Armel passed at slow speed, when they were changing tacks frequently. Lots of work and strategic play, but no risk to break the boat. On the last 24 hours the average speed was only about 15K.

Here, images of Armel passing Alex. Quite incredibly he had done that so close that Alex could see it and got that on video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw72mEKK0W8

If Alex comes in again charging over 20k, pushing the boat with lots of wind, I believe Armel will let him pass again and will follow him.

In the meantime the one that is winning due to a favorable weather with strong winds is Josse, the 3rd. On the last 3 days he won over the first more than 140nm. He is going to lose some miles on the next hours but after those he will probably continue winning a lot of miles over the two first. That's the time for him to take risks to catch the two first and that's what he is doing.

He chose a course that will put him on the way of a big depression. He plans to stay away from the worst of it while sailing in big winds and going faster than anybody else.

That's the plan but plans don't always go as intended neither the weather previsions turn out right and that's the case!!!!

Yesterday I posted this picture on my blog, with the courses they intended to follow to avoid a storm and particularly the Josse one, that was a bit risky (the image represents the prevision 44 hours after yesterday night and the doted line indicates were he would be at that time, with the same course and speed):

We can see that the storm is moving faster than previewed and 28 hours from now, he will be caught by 44k winds gusting 55 or 60K. That's the best incentive to sail real fast running away from a big storm
Look here, 28 hours from now, the doted blue line. https://gis.ee/vg/
I hope all turns well for him, he deserves it: Big balls!!!

Beyou and Paul (4th and 5th) had chosen to go North to avoid stormy weather and yesterday it looked like they would make it. Nope, they will be caught in about 5 hours by very strong winds and hopefully will be able to surf ahead of the worst of it. Another two with a big incentive to sail fast.
Look here 5 hours from now: https://gis.ee/vg/
Very interesting the race on the next two days.

We will have great videos from those guys on the storm, I hope.

[iSaint]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but why no Americans in the race?

[barnakiel]

JPD has not updated his ice zone data and had to sail back to exit the zone.

HA HA HA !!!!

Stories like this make the whole difference.

Finally some real weather is about to arrive. Fingers crossed for few failures and some fast sailing for all of them!

b.