The GGR race, discussion and news

[GILow]

I note that Suzie’s Yellow Brick is receiving messages which is a good sign. This suggests to me that her boat is still floating and dry enough below decks.

[SailRedemption]

Susie get t dismasted but is OK as of a little while ago.

Edit: just got her last two tweets she banged her head but is doing OK.

[GILow]

Very relieved. Can imagine that the boat motion will be awful. I hope the rig is clear of the boat.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by GILow

Very bad news. Suzie has activated her EPIRB.

Bumma.. Hope she's okay personally and gets picked up soon..

[Connemara]

Latest from GGR:

For those who care about Susie UPDATE: Spoke to Susie again. advised her MRCC CHILE have a ship 400 miles SW now making way best speed to her, ETA about two days. Boat was PITCHPOLED stern over bow. She has cut hands a few paces, bruising and pounding headache after concussion. Now talking to MSOS UK the GGR 24hr telemedicine doctor for advice and check up. Weather is moderating a little. Boat huge mess down below. Not in danger for now.
Susie was enjoying the sailing very well in 35/40kts when the safety tube of the Monitor wind vane failed. She dropped the reefed main then set the Jordan Series drogue as could not hand steer in building winds. Went below. Sometime later was gearing up to come on deck to check things when pitchpoled stern over bow. The mast and all poles lost. Windvane damaged by backstay. The drogue Bridle is still fitted but the drogue gone.
Our thoughts are with you.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Latest from GGR:

For those who care about Susie UPDATE: Spoke to Susie again. advised her MRCC CHILE have a ship 400 miles SW now making way best speed to her, ETA about two days. Boat was PITCHPOLED stern over bow. She has cut hands a few paces, bruising and pounding headache after concussion. Now talking to MSOS UK the GGR 24hr telemedicine doctor for advice and check up. Weather is moderating a little. Boat huge mess down below. Not in danger for now.
Susie was enjoying the sailing very well in 35/40kts when the safety tube of the Monitor wind vane failed. She dropped the reefed main then set the Jordan Series drogue as could not hand steer in building winds. Went below. Sometime later was gearing up to come on deck to check things when pitchpoled stern over bow. The mast and all poles lost. Windvane damaged by backstay. The drogue Bridle is still fitted but the drogue gone.
Our thoughts are with you.

Prayers for Suzie. She seems very tough and doing fantastically well in the circumstances. That was ghastly weather.
Cut hands I assume from cutting the rigging free.

[Jim Cate]

sorry to hear of yet another disaster in the GGR, and hope that she is picked up safely and soon.

One interesting question arises: did the JSD come off, thus allowing the pitchpole to occur, or did it get ripped off during the tumble? An important difference for other users to consider.

Jim

[DumnMad]

I don't think JSD is designed for the Southern Ocean

[Bleemus]

JSD deployed and she pitch poles stern over bow? They may have to amend all their advertisements.

[El Pinguino]

Her position is very close to where we had our bit of fun just shy of three years ago... we were in the same latitude and about 8* further west... jogging along at about 5 knots under the big storm jib..very confused sea ... one minute sitting on top of the world next minute plunging at about a 45* angle to the wave face we were on into the abyss....

Fortunately for us she didn't invert but did get to an interesting angle ( only reason the mast wasn't in the water was there was no water for the mast to be in) and we did lose the aux rudder...

I do not think that if you are down below at a time like that you would know if you suffered a pure pitchpole or a side-e-ways whoops-a-daisy...... it all happens rather fast.

If you look at the weather where she was at the time ( pic below) you can see she would have had a very confused sea.... NW sea over S'ly swell or something like that....

You are not looking at a luverly regular westerly swell with the occasional big one in the mix ( which I think many imagine it is like ) and drogue or running fast makes no difference... when the seas choose to combine forces and gang up on you then you are about to start living in interesting times....

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Her position is very close to where we had our bit of fun just shy of three years ago... we were in the same latitude and about 8* further west... jogging along at about 5 knots under the big storm jib..very confused sea ... one minute sitting on top of the world next minute plunging at about a 45* angle to the wave face we were on into the abyss....

Fortunately for us she didn't invert but did get to an interesting angle ( only reason the mast wasn't in the water was there was no water for the mast to be in) and we did lose the aux rudder...

I do not think that if you are down below at a time like that you would know if you suffered a pure pitchpole or a side-e-ways whoops-a-daisy...... it all happens rather fast.

If you look at the weather where she was at the time ( pic below) you can see she would have had a very confused sea.... NW sea over S'ly swell or something like that....

You are not looking at a luverly regular westerly swell with the occasional big one in the mix ( which I think many imagine it is like ) and drogue or running fast makes no difference... when the seas choose to combine forces and gang up on you then you are about to start living in interesting times....

Aint that the truth..

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Susie was enjoying the sailing very well in 35/40kts when the safety tube of the Monitor wind vane failed.

Isn’t that was the safety tube is designed to do if the water paddle is struck by an object in the water? Or are we to presume it was a spontaneous component failure?

[Don C L]

Sure hope she is doing ok right now, and help arrives soon. I wonder what the force is on the JSD when it is hit with the acceleration of that much weight being thrown by a steep, fast, breaking wave? I doubt they had that in mind when it was designed. Perhaps the drogue survived but the shackle broke? Maybe the drogue was undersized for that boat? In any case hope she is holding up well.

[SailRedemption]

My guess is that the JSD was just tired. I don't think they are made for repeated and constant use which these sailors are subjecting them to. They are literally sailing the roughest oceans for extended periods of time and they aren't waiting for weather or steering away from storms. I bet the connection to the bridal finally got worn and broke. The JSD do have to be serviced after so many uses because the stitching and cones get worn, no?

It does suck for Susie, I was hoping a glorious finish for her. She's the only person I knew in the race. We have been following each other on Instagram for a few years now. Hoping she is able to pack up her logs and whatnot when she gets picked up so she can write about it later.

[Fi2010]

Being tossed around in the Southern Ocean can emotionally and physically tax any experienced sailor. Susie is handling herself well considering her circumstance.

It might be too early to pass judgement on the JSD or any other piece of equipment. For instance, how much weight was added to the JSD or what was the condition of the rode. Sometimes you can do everything right, but the Ocean still wins.

The safety tube on the monitor wind vane is designed to give way in an overload situation to prevent catastrophic failure to the unit. Good idea if your boat is knocked down or you run over something. Although the company includes extra replacement parts, repairing any equipment in heavy seas can be a challenge. Add the rigging loss and subsequent injury and the equation changes. Glad to know help is on the way.