VENDÉE GLOBE round the world race

[sinbad7]

Ah,I see...I have to forget it as I am not in the virtual race.

Any way to save the Tracks of the various boats in .kml or gpx format?

Do you know if the main Tracking page layout and features could be made available to other regattas/races? And if so,could it be modified to fit their particular requirements?

Tore

[rgleason]

Maitai, hwecken and Tore, well I got back to it and ended up at about 841 and have now worked my way back up to 307. I'm realizing there is a long way to go in this race and I'm going to have to find some way to keep things on track..
I was wondering if there is a way of searching for a name or racer or boat and adding them to those shown. I tried to find Maitai and hwecken in this very long list and even had some difficulty finding myself with the O flag.
Best of luck racing Rick

PS. Don't know why the boat tacked, I have no clue. I don't believe I instructed it to tack, but by the time I got back to this race it had tacked back and was headed for Spain rather than Ireland! --Still Learning.

[rgleason]

Now I seem to be at 255 but that's a lot of boats to catch.

I finally found Maitai and check him for visibilty in qtVLM under Boat / Races Setting / Select the right race and it downloads the list. Then you can sort by Name or Number or Flag. I found Maitai under the VSM flag. In the on line version I was finally able to locate Maitai and check him. (Sometime some sorts on various items like name, boat, number, entry number would be a great help). I did find the buttons for selecting the Top 10 and the Nearest 10 very useful. It appears many of us are basically on the same track with minor variations and the leaders are bunched up and pretty far distant! My novice status shows.

I found another O Team Member Kirke. Kirke is currently 48. Way to go! and Maitai is right nearby at 53 and I am guessing he has the big plan in mind. The leaders seem to be right nearby too, there's a Frank right on top of Kirke who is 25.

Since we are all sailing boats with the same polar, I am guessing that its going to take a long time to be able to catch up to these guys. Anyway I am learning some things.

By the way to show other boats must go to Boats / Races Setttings and pick the Vendee du Globe Race, then you can select boats from the list (sort by various columns), then under options you have to select Show Selection Radio button.

[rgleason]

3:00am We have a choice, go west to stay in the wind with a longer course, or stick tiighter to Africa with less wind.

[maitai]

Yes exactly. We have to cross the ridge sooner or later. The question is where. I decided to go a bit West last night not sure it was such a good idea this morning

We'll see...

[Irish rambler]

From virtual to reality, just as a quirky aside. Did you know that some of the Vendee globe racers were prepared at the WW2 'U' boat base at L'Orient,France ?
These massive bases were used to service and supply the wolf packs of 'U' boats which ravaged the allied shipping in the Atlantic during the last war, some parts of the base are still in use today by local industry.

[Andrew Troup]

I wonder if the world has gone crazy.

The only post on this thread's first page which mentions the actual Vendee Globe race, the one where people get wet and keels break off, is post one.

Since then, a tiny minority have mentioned it, generally in passing.

It has become easier and in many ways more attractive to simulate reality than to create it. The computer technology which landed men on the moon would be nowhere near adequate to handle a worthwhile simulation.

We cannot clone dinosaurs, but we can create plausible plausible and photorealistic movie representations.
Movies have come a whole lot further since Godzilla than reality has.

We still cannot create robots or cyborgs which could pass for human from a distance at a cocktail party, let alone do so in any useful context. We can't even talk to our computers in any natural way. Fifty years ago those modest aims seemed almost a done deal.

We cannot get the better of a few fanatics in Afghanistan armed with Hiluxes and assault rifles invented in 1947, but boy can we highfive after obliterating them on a video game.

If things carry on this way, maybe eventually the fanciful scenario of Capricorn One could happen in real life: once we know enough about Mars, it would be much more cost effective to pretend to set up a colony there than it would be to really do so.

[maitai]

Bad news: Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) has hit a fishing boat and is very probably going to resign this race... At least he is safe...

[rgleason]

Perhaps this thread could have a clearer title. Which Greek Philosopher said that we are only seeing shadows on the wall? I suppose that is true until the keel breaks off...

In the Virtual Loop de Mer Race (VLM), it appears the fleet is splitting and some good sailors are headed west towards better more consistent winds on a longer trek. The route optimization shows this as a route about 7 hours longer, according to our current gribs. This is where the guys with intuition about weather can make out.

I'm trying to get past that hole as quickly and directly as possible and stay east, but there is one other "pivot" point further south where I can abandon this course, with penalties of course.

[rgleason]

Well will you look at this... Maxsea has published their proposed route for the Vendee, and it shows a course that goes west I think. Isn't that the Lobe of Africa in this link?
Alternative route feature launch – Vendée Globe Race | MaxSea Navigation Software Blog

[rgleason]

The hole lands against Africa and is about 2.5 knots of wind. Those leaders who are taking the east route are about 33 miles ahead and if the grib forcasts are reasonably close they'll make it through ok, the winds are 9 knots and rising to 12 south of that. The question is am I going to get caught 33 miles behind them. It looks like I'll stay in 9 knots wind, but things change and its a risk...

[rgleason]

I'm not going to be able to spend this much time all the way around the world, how the devil do you get anything else done?

[messias]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

I wonder if the world has gone crazy.
Since then, a tiny minority have mentioned it, generally in passing.

It has become easier and in many ways more attractive to simulate reality than to create it.

Quite right Andrew!
But with the actual costs of even thinking in such an enterprise, the rest of the world is bound to do it "virtually". 4 and 5 millions for putting up a hull, mast, sails and a "couple of gadgets", is a little tiny bit off of my budget (By arround 4 or 5 million). So... online !

By the way, although I like this and other races VERY much, I find that in the end they just end-up as hostages of the big economic groups withs millions in the budget and depending on companies (very large ones), just to keep things afloat... Aren´t there anymore races like in the old days? I mean, races done with your own boat, where you don´t have a huge cheese logo or insurance company colors? Just the John Doe sailor...

Are there?

By the way... I´m in 21.971´st place... (and rising)

[rgleason]

Yup, this is nuts, but interesting and not at all wet or cold. Plus its getting winter here.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by maitai

Bad news: Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) has hit a fishing boat and is very probably going to resign this race... At least he is safe...

Does it say he did or they did?

There is an image on the site - looks pretty damaged but more like someone run into him.

b.