The GGR race, discussion and news

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by GILow

You’re overthinking things.

This is an open ocean race.

He is French.

End of story.

Nice.

Maybe he should have just waited and let this RTW Race be his first since he had all that going for him already

But really, this guy was way prepared for this race. (as was his boat)

[thomm225]

Mark Slats and Uku Randmaa are both pointing in the general direction of NW/NNW and barely moving. I wonder what's up with that? I'm not seeing any bad weather near there

https://goldengloberace.com/livetracker/

[mathiasben]

looks like they are becalmed.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by GILow

You’re overthinking things.

This is an open ocean race.

He is French.

End of story.

The French have more professional solo races that all other nations put together but there are also many good professional solo racers from other countries and almost all of them, if not all, would go faster than Jean Luc (JLVDH) for the simple reason they are still active competitive racers and Jean Luc retired 20 years ago and has now over 70 years of age.

That does not mean that I do not find Jean-Luc performance great if we consider that he has over 70 year's of age. It is the performance of the others that it is not good (in what concerns solo racing performance).

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Polux

The French have more professional solo races that all other nations put together but there are also many good professional solo racers from other countries and almost all of them, if not all, would go faster than Jean Luc (JLVDH) for the simple reason they are still active competitive racers and Jean Luc retired 20 years ago and has now over 70 years of age.

That does not mean that I do not find Jean-Luc performance great if we consider that he has over 70 year's of age. It is the performance of the others that it is not good (in what concerns solo racing performance).

There's bit more to it than that.

Jean Luc guessed right coming around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope then got just ahead of that bad weather.

It could be that his age and his experience (sailing and racing) also helped him get around Africa faster

Philippe Peche on his Rustler 35 was ahead of him for a while on the lower West side of Africa. You can see it on the tracker

[Polux]

Originally Posted by thomm225

There's bit more to it than that.

Jean Luc guessed right coming around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope then got just ahead of that bad weather.

It could be that his age and his experience (sailing and racing) also helped him get around Africa faster

Philippe Peche on his Rustler 35 was ahead of him for a while on the lower West side of Africa. You can see it on the tracker

Philippe Peche is also French and a professional sailor now semi-retired (57 years of age). He is not a solo sailor but a top professional crew and navigator.

His biggest accomplishments was the participation on two America's cup (as crew) and two Jules Verne world records (as crew too).

Anyway an ex-professional sailor miles away from the amateurs that are in the race. Jean-Luc is a ex-top solo sailor and even if over 70 that has allowed him to sail at the same pace as Philippe and even being faster and off course, miles away from all the amateurs even if some of them are 40 years younger.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Polux

Philippe Peche is also French and a professional sailor now semi-retired (57 years of age). He is not a solo sailor but a top professional crew and navigator.

His biggest accomplishments was the participation on two America's cup (as crew) and two Jules Verne world records (as crew too).

Anyway an ex-professional sailor miles away from the amateurs that are in the race. Jean-Luc is a ex-top solo sailor and even if over 70 that has allowed him to sail at the same pace as Philippe and even being faster and off course, miles away from all the amateurs even if some of them are 40 years younger.

Thanks for the info.

I was wondering if he (Jean Luc) was the only true racer among the group.

A sailor with lots of racing experience (in this case RTW Racing experience) will definitely have the advantage over a cruising sailor or racing crew sailor when on similar boats every time

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by mathiasben

looks like they are becalmed.

I'm now thinking maybe they were asleep and the wind died. Slats is now pointing almost back due West

[Snowpetrel]

Looks like VdH is due in around 1200-1800 LT in Hobart. I am planning to sail out and see if we can see him come in. Forcast looks good with light airs and an afternoon seabreeze.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by AiniA

I am a big fan of the Monitor but the one time we did get knocked down the main gears did become disengaged. Not hard to fix if you know how to do it. We had never done it so ended up hand steering for five days. When we got to port we practiced the manoeuvre a few times, but of course never needed to do it again (I think there is a universal law that explains that.)

I’ve also experienced that and have pondered it as a weakness of the Monitor design. While in general if the vane control rod to the top gear is properly adjusted and tightened it should not happen, it’s the least robust part of the whole mechanism. Ram the paddle over with enough force and I can see the gear meshing getting fubarred.

As for worn control lines its a matter of staying on top of them and ensuring the leads are fair. Individual blocks for everything and ensuring it’s all properly tensioned (tight but not too tight) eliminates 99% of chafe. That said if one broke at the paddle running a new one up inside the tube in storm conditions would be No Fun Indeed.

Plus to the Monitor: you can see everything. If something breaks, diagnosis takes about five seconds.

Anyone know what they use for control lines? Super duper low stretch and have never seen the likes of it, at least in terms of the cover pattern.

[hpeer]

On my Aries I just use normal double braid. Doesn’t last excessively long.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Looks like VdH is due in around 1200-1800 LT in Hobart. I am planning to sail out and see if we can see him come in. Forcast looks good with light airs and an afternoon seabreeze.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Looks like VdH is due in around 1200-1800 LT in Hobart. I am planning to sail out and see if we can see him come in. Forcast looks good with light airs and an afternoon seabreeze.

Good on ya, Ben,

I hope it worked out to your satisfaction.

Ann

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Good on ya, Ben,

I hope it worked out to your satisfaction.

Ann

Ahh, I should have said on Saturday... apparently he's now likely to get in Saturday morning at around 0600 LT, so I'll likely miss him getting in but hopefully might catch him sailing out.

[Jimroda06]

Over 1600 nm on Slats, and look at the weather patterns, Jean Luc is gonna be rounding the Horn when Slats gets to Tas.
If I did not know better I would say JL had weather routing help.
I do know better, GO JL.