Vendee Globe - the Real Race

[DeepFrz]

The lead is getting very exciting with the first four closing up like that. The second group are also getting close together which is another race in itself.

Now that Alex Thomson has his generators working he can communicate more and relax a bit. He looked very tired in the picture today. If he gets some sleep without hitting any fishing boats he may well be on the podium. He has won back over 400 miles.

[kjames]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

The lead is getting very exciting with the first four closing up like that. The second group are also getting close together which is another race in itself.

Now that Alex Thomson has his generators working he can communicate more and relax a bit. He looked very tired in the picture today. If he gets some sleep without hitting any fishing boats he may well be on the podium. He has won back over 400 miles.

Too true, very exciting. Looking at wind, seems to me Alex Thompson may want to follow the coast somewhat - agree?? If so, like you say, fishing boats and other debris in the water could make things interesting. Also, tracker give distance of leader to finish and distance of others to leader. I reckon Alex T much closer to the front pair than it seems.

[DeepFrz]

I think they calculate the distance for each boat to Les Sables d'Olonne and then calculate how far they are behind the leader. That is the only way the distance makes sense. If you take the ruler and measure from Alex to Francois it is over 800 nm, and yet he is rated at 529 nm behind.

The problem for Alex is that sooner or later he is going to have to cut east and that could hurt him. It looks like the first two boats will soon be into the trades. However the wind charts that we see have never been very accurate. Or maybe I should say I have never been able to figure them out.

[Polux]

In some extent they take also in consideration the position and course regarding more favorable winds. I use to follow other races and sometimes the one that is geographically closer to the finish is not the one that is leading.

[Polux]

Alex Thompson is doing great. Brilliant strategic option. I think that in about 24 hours he is going to change course to East and at that time he should be well ahead of Jean-Pierre Dick.

I don't understand Armel strategy. Sure he won about 16nm on François and probably it will gain still a few more but after that he just cannot follow François if he wants to win the race.

[DeepFrz]

Alex Thomson should now be in third place ahead of JPD. The last posting he was moving much faster and only a few miles behind.

I think that Armel wants to stay within striking distance of François.

As far as distance goes I don't think they use wind at all. The course is to long.

[Polux]

Regarding how the distance is measured in relation to the first you are certainly right. In what regards the relative position among racers on other races I they take into consideration VMG at least in what is obvious and consider winds. I think on this one they also make it even if in a very poor way.

They gave an explanation about it in French but it is contradictory: First they say that they measure it a straight line and then say that the the reason Stamm is ahead on the classification when there are other boats ahead on the map (at the time) is because the boats cannot go in a straight line and have to contour the high pressure center

La question du jour : comment fonctionnent le classement et la cartographie ? - Vendée Globe 2012-2013

[kjames]

Re discussion above, this update of interest: Alex’s daily update | Alex Thomson Racing

[Polux]

I think he had done a great move. I had said that already yesterday. If I am looking at it the right way he is going to turn East in 12 to 18 hours and I guess that he will not slow down munch, if any at all.

A pity the many miles he is behind because he is going to recover many but he is just too far away...well, we never know how many miles one can lose on the Doldrums.

[DeepFrz]

This answers the question we had about whether or not the team can help with the weather routing.

From Stewart Hosford's weekly blog: There has been a lot of discussion on his ‘radical’ route choice up the Brazilian coast but I think he genuinely took the option that the computer told him was going to get him North the fastest. A really important and central rule of the Vendee Globe is that we (the shore teams) are not allowed to help our sailors with their weather interpretations or routing decisions. In the office we have great fun looking at the weather and making bets about whether he goes left or right at various stages and to be honest this week when I looked at the weather I had not a clue what he was going to do. Thankfully he is pretty good at this navigation lark after 400,000 miles at sea!

From Alex Thomson's Daily update:

Power is still my primary concern, I got the batteries up to 70% yesterday but then as the wind built I was surfing up to 23 knots and so got the hydro out of the water. I am not totally desperate on fuel so better to use a little rather than risk another issue. One day I will get them up to 100%!

Amazing speeds.

[kjames]

It may be that Alex Thomson's gamble with his route choice has not paid off. Over 550km behind now. Still, it added a lot of interest. He is close to JPD (in terms of dist behind leader) so may be it was worth it afterall?? Macif rocketing ahead at 17k.

[DeepFrz]

Macif looks like a sprinter.

The International jury has just confirmed Bernard Stamm's DSQ which will take precedence over his retirement.

I'll defer comment on Alex Thomson's tactics until tomorrow. The updates to the tracking page are very slow and a lot can happen in that time. Also the wind maps just don't match what the sailors report. Even the sailors have commented on how inaccurate they are.

I am wondering if there is a technical problem aboard Banque Populaire.

[DeepFrz]

Sea Fever by John Masefield - Vendée Globe 2012-2013

I hadn't read this in a long time. Very moving.

[DeepFrz]

And here is a neat video from Javier Sanso on Acciona.

34 days in the south for Bubi (VIDEO) - Vendée Globe 2012-2013

[Polux]

The last big play on this race: The doldrums. They are at it now...and they are taking different options. It seems to me that the one from François Gabart is a better one. But I was wrong about Alex and Dick and I can be wrong now but this is a simpler move to judge, probably not much more than the 36 hours we have on the weather information.

Anyway, either Gabart or Armel are sailors from a younger generation than the others that had won the previous races: We will have a new generation winning.