Vendee Globe Starts Today, Facts, Video, Discussion

[Pelagic]

Thomas Ruyant in 8th place hit a UFO and has some serious damage.

This was in 40 knots of wind.

How ma y is that now damaged by UFOs

[JPA Cate]

Polux,

We don't have "chapeau" awards here, but I like the ones you've been offering these men! They make such huge efforts, and it just goes on and on!

Ann

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Thomas Ruyant in 8th place hit a UFO and has some serious damage.

This was in 40 knots of wind.

How many is that now damaged by UFOs

Yes, he had having bad luck on this race, one problem after another and now while he was managing to successfully escape a storm and find a way of contouring it, BAM, he hits something hard.

More work for him. I just hope he can stop the water ingress and continues racing, but doing it with 40k winds while trying to avoid a storm with 60 to 70 k winds, is going to be utterly dificult. It seems he has structural problems on the boat and if that is the case probably he has to retire....and let's see if the boat remains in one piece and he is able to bring it to NZ! Better weather to the North fortunately.

"At 1545 UTC on Sunday, the 60-foot monohull, Le Souffle du Nord pour Le Projet Imagine skippered by Thomas Ruyant, currently taking part in the eighth Vendée Globe, collided with a UFO. Thomas then discovered an ingress of water in the sail locker in the bow. The incident also caused damage to the starboard rudder, the bottom frame as well as some other structural damage in particular to the deck of the boat. The sailor from NE France is fine and has not asked for assistance."
News - Structural damage to Le Souffle du Nord pour Le Projet Imagine - Vendée Globe 2016-2017

I wonder what has he hit? Bottom frame damage? deck damage? Something big and hard.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Polux

......I wonder what has he hit? Bottom frame damage? deck damage? Something big and hard.

I also have to wonder if this UFO term is a diplomatic cover for storm damage?

Is racing at speeds thru heavy weather is the real cause of structural failures?

The sea is big and hard....I have seen first hand what they can do to steel ships.

[JPA Cate]

You're not kidding, Pelagic, how many rotting steel carcases have you seen on reefs?

Ann

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

I also have to wonder if this UFO term is a diplomatic cover for storm damage?

Is racing at speeds thru heavy weather is the real cause of structural failures?

The sea is big and hard....I have seen first hand what they can do to steel ships.

These boats as any boat can be pushed over the limits, however Ruyant was running away from the storm and sailing defensively. Most of all he had no reason to have invented an OVNI if the boat had sustained structural damage due to the storm alone.

Nobody to protect here, it was not a new boat and it was one that had already participated on the vendee twice, also on the Barcelona circumnavigation race and in many Transats.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Polux,

We don't have "chapeau" awards here, but I like the ones you've been offering these men! They make such huge efforts, and it just goes on and on!

Ann

I think Polux deserves a "chapeau" award for his stellar work updating us all on the goings-on in the Vendée fleet. I, for one, am riveted by the unfolding drama, both at the front of the fleet, and at the back.

A big THANK YOU from me, and I'm sure many others too.

Regards,
David

P.S. For those unfamiliar with the term "chapeau", it is a French word for hat, and used in this manner means tipping one's hat out of respect for what someone has done.

[barnakiel]

I think "steel hull rotting on the reefs" deserves another mention.

For is it a pure coincidence that steel hulls attract personalities that believe boats should be build to take reefs in their stride AND SO they do end up high and dry sooner or later?

Sailors in fragile carbon shells know well that both carbon and steel get ground when they meet the indifference of a coral or rock outcrop AND SO they will sail giving due berth to all (visible) obstacles.

In result, the carbon sailor will get in trouble less often than the steel macho does.

Except, empirical proof from that VOR carbon "navigator" who believed it was OK to sail over an obstacle that he could not see on his chart. Call it steel hull mentality squared.

Cheers,
b.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

I think Polux deserves a "chapeau" award for his stellar work updating us all on the goings-on in the Vendée fleet. I, for one, am riveted by the unfolding drama, both at the front of the fleet, and at the back.

A big THANK YOU from me, and I'm sure many others too.

Regards,
David

P.S. For those unfamiliar with the term "chapeau", it is a French word for hat, and used in this manner means tipping one's hat out of respect for what someone has done.

I have an agenda here. I follow these races for years and I always found the disinterest on English speaking sail forums quite distressing. I want to infect you all with the love for these solo races, just to have more company following them. It seems I am succeeding this time

Thanks for the nice words and have a look at this fabulous video, with Ruyant sailing away from the storm. On the video he says he is pissed not to be able to continue racing but to have to make a detour to escape bad weather, sailing with 50k wind. He was escaping the worst of the storm with 60 to 70k winds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnclL3EAya0

He did not knew the worst was yet to come, not the weather but the boat hitting something and being damaged. Really bad luck after bad luck for one of the best sailors of the new generation.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by Polux

I have an agenda here. I follow these races for years and I always found the disinterest on English speaking sail forums quite distressing. I want to infect you all with the love for these solo races, just to have more company following them. It seems I am succeeding this time

I like your agenda :-). It's more cultural than language related, I think. In America there are so many other things competing for attention that things like sailing get lost in the noise. Not a criticism, just an observation. Although I'm originally from South Africa, I've lived in America for many years and see all the good it has to offer, warts and all.

I've followed these races for years. I was living in Newport at the start of the 1990-1991 BOC Challenge, and personally knew two of the competitors, having sailed with both of them in the past. I was at the start of the 1981-1982 Whitbread race, and got to meet Sir Robin Knox Johnson before the race - as a teenage boy at the time this made a huge impression. This is an inscription in a book about the Whitbread race my mother gave to me for Christmas in 1980.



If it's in your blood, it's in your blood... it's definitely in your blood, Polux :-)

[Polux]

Thomas Ruyant boat is in much worse shape I thought. It risks breaking in half and all his efforts are concentrated on not losing the boat.


I saw that last night that he has barely moving. For diminishing all efforts on the boat he was heaving to, waiting the storm to pass for trying to sail the boat to New Zealand.

He is trying to reach the Port of Bluff, 260nm away and he is motoring, to not stress less the boat, that has probably a lot of water inside.

I really wish him a lot of luck with that. Most sailors would call a rescue instead of passing the night on the boat on those conditions, heaving to. He has a poor sponsor and that boat means a lot to him.

“The port hull has split open down to below the waterline,” declared Laurent Bourguès, technical director of Le Souffle du Nord. “The starboard shell is also delaminating. The structure of the hull is gradually deteriorating.

The danger is that the front section may break completely away from the stern section. Thomas has attempted to fill in the holes. The boat is holding out thanks merely to its longitudinal structure. The starboard rudder is still in place, but only just. Thomas has been working on that.

The idea is to get as quickly as possible to the southern tip of New Zealand in order to shelter, as the wind will be becoming much stronger tomorrow morning. Thomas has still not asked for assistance, but the Race Directors are keeping a close eye on the situation, should he asked to be taken off, which is quite possible.”

Thomas is getting ready for that possibility and has gradually got over the huge shock following the collision. “It was a bit like a car accident. The boat came to a sudden halt. It was an extremely violent shock. I felt extremely down about it yesterday, but I’m finding the motivation to bring my boat safely to port. That is my priority,” explained an undaunted Thomas.
The 180 partners and over 1000 supporters of Le Souffle du Nord pour Le Projet Imagine are offering their strongest support to Thomas Ruyant in this difficult time."

[Polux]

And the best thing we can do for him is talking about his "poor" sponsor, "Le Le Souffle du nord pour le project imagine", that is a very unusual type of sponsor and as interesting as Thomas Ruyant himself.

The imagine project is related with anonymous heroes and is trying to contribute for a better world trough the disclosure of movies that can have a positive effect on public opinion showing that among us there are anonymous heroes, that without personal interest, work for the good of all. Also a way to pay tribute to them. It is a project that started with a French reporter, Frédérique Bedos. On their own words:

"INSPIRE TO ACT
The Humble Heroes is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to inform by raising awareness about the emergency not to save the world but the beauty of the world! Because, a priori, the world will survive. But in what shape? Here is the real question.

A HUGE HUMAN ADVENTURE
The first pillar of the Humble Heroes/the organisation consists in producing movies with a strong impact and in making them available to many people by disseminating them to the world’s medias. To that end, we want to work side by side with them. Their firepower, their power to influence can have a key role in the perspective of a global contagion. With their farsighted view, our movies show the emergency to take up the issues, to take over our lives, our fates and to act from where we stand, with our competences and means.

THE IMAGINE COMMUNITY
Movies after movies, a huge community based on popular commitment is rising. It is about inventing together, following the examples of our famous “Humble Heroes”, which shows another way to be part of the world. This is our Imagine Community! Building this community is our second pillar. The change will come from us and this is great news! The feeling of powerlessness is over! It’s time to act!"

This is "Imagine" and not directly the boat sponsor that is ""Le Souffle du nord pour le project imagine", meaning that is about the people of North of France supporting a boat on the Vendee : "By sponsoring a boat in the next Vendée Globe, they want to spread a self-help messages around the world. "

So , who is really sponsoring the boat? A federation of people and enterprises that want to remain anonymous, that believe on the value of the project Imagine and want to make it more known in France and worldwide, they form a federation: 650 individual supporters and 120 enterprises.
https://fr.ulule.com/le-souffle-du-nord/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6_hu37_vV4

The project imagine:
https://vimeo.com/149860744
Some of the movies of the project Imagine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inMC58dhIY8

LES FILMS | LE PROJET IMAGINE

My humble contribution for this nice project is this post and personally I want one of those T shirts, that besides being beautiful mean something, in what regards personal commitment for a better world.
Tee Shirt "Supporter" - Le Souffle du Nord

[Polux]

I had a look at the forecast on the zone Ruyant is sailing to bring his boat to Port Bluff and I don't think he is going to make it, at least if he cannot go faster on his boat (he is only doing a bit more than 3k).

Even with a 6K speed, considered here,
https://gis.ee/vg/?boat=27
he is going to be hit by over 40k winds near the NZ south coast. I don't believe the boat can stand that. Unless he can make a speed around 9k (that I doubt he can) the boat is probably domed. I hope NZ rescue services to be on stand by to pick him up.

[Bleemus]

The video of Ruyants boat is quite sad. He will be lucky if he makes it before having to deploy a life raft.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Bleemus

The video of Ruyants boat is quite sad. He will be lucky if he makes it before having to deploy a life raft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpdS9k4sXak

Who would say that Le Can's words when he said that Thomas was going to cry, would be prophetic