Rescue of Hugo Boss Oct 31 Due to Sinking

[Steadman Uhlich]

Came across this today.

The new Hugo Boss race boat, an IMOCA 60, Alex Thompson is double handing in a Transatlantic race now, started to have structural failure, and was starting to sink, requiring helo rescue.

Coast Guard Rescue for HUGO BOSS >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

[Polux]

Yes I am following that race, a fantastic one. Posted on my blog about that (lots of movies).

What happened is that the sailed right to a storm and then some days later, another storm. There is a capsized trimaran, another hit a container and broke, lot's of Open 60's of the new generation with problems due to the new foils, several coming back, another hit something and has keel problems.

Probably the problems with the new Hugo boss have also to two in the new foils and new untried forces exercised for them on the boat structure. That's the first true race where they are used and obviously there is much work ahead to make them reliable.

| Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 : Le Havre - Itajai | October 2015 | Take to the seas and act for the planet
Transat Jacques Vabre

There is a fantastic race between the three first open 60's. These three stormed through the storm LOL and left way behind all 50 ft trimarans that even if faster with good conditions were unable to follow them.... and a lot of interesting fights on the other racing classes (all top racing boats).

Some fantastic movies on the site taken aboard the boatsd. It is rare to see this guys frightened, well this guys do not look very happy after they went through a wave with 60k wind:

Jour 6 - Le Souffle du Nord (Imoca)- Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 - vidéo Dailymotion

these guys are a bit wet:

Jour 2 - Bureau Vallée (IMOCA) - Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 - vidéo Dailymotion

and the older guy is one of my favorites:
Jour6- V and B (M. Sorel, S. Manuard) -Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 - vidéo Dailymotion

They are in 2th on the 40class boats. Nothing special if the older guy was not a Na, the one that designed that boat and other wining racers and several production ones.
Jour6- V and B (M. Sorel, S. Manuard) -Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 - vidéo Dailymotion

TipTopToo, minitransat 6.50 et autres voiliers de croisi?res modernes

That's a guy that surely don't now only about theory. I like him also a lot as a NA. He designed some fantastic boats like the Seascape 27:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMilkp1HL-8

[steamgoat]

It seems that Hugo Boss was rolled by a rogue wave while hove to,brand new boat, lots of $$$$$$. They are attempting a recovery.Sounds like they all got a pretty good beating between Biscay and the Azores.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by steamgoat

It seems that Hugo Boss was rolled by a rogue wave while hove to,brand new boat, lots of $$$$$$. They are attempting a recovery.Sounds like they all got a pretty good beating between Biscay and the Azores.

"The skippers had made a second repair and were hove to (this is where the yacht is stationary and comfortably sits head to wind). The reason for slowing the racing yacht was to prevent any unnecessary damage. Whilst waiting for the weather to clear a rogue wave caught HUGO BOSS causing the yacht to turn upside down. Alex and Guillermo managed to close the hatches and secure the situation whilst inverted. Alex immediately hit the keel button, bringing the IMOCA back upright. They then alerted the rescue services and technical team of an emergency situation. The yacht had taken onboard a substantial amount of water and the rig had sustained damage requiring the skippers to leave the yacht.
Alex Thomson explains ‘It was an incredibly unusual event and we need to understand why it happened. It was a rogue wave, but we should not have inverted the way that we did. I am now going to go with the technical team and ensure a successful recovery of our new racing yacht.’"
Hugo Boss was hit by rogue wave | Transat Jacques Vabre 2015 : Le Havre - Itajai | October 2015 | Take to the seas and act for the planet

Alex was surprised and in fact I do not know of any modern Open 60 that has been capsized by a wave and on the southern Ocean they are much bigger than these ones. I believe that it has to do with a lot of the stability of those boats to be a dynamic one. When you stop the boat (hove to) you lose all that. Kind of the difference on stability when a bicycle is at speed or stopped.

[roverhi]

The problem with heaving to or lying ahull is it leaves you vulnerable to rogue waves. When dragging warps or a drogue, the boat is not subject to broadside impact of a breaking wave that can roll a boat. When the boat is sailing, the crew can react to a wave so the boat doesn't take it broadside.

Dynamic stability or otherwise has nothing to do with the gyroscopic effect of a bicycle's wheels.

With the fine bows and fat butts of these boats, question how they need to be handled in survival situations. If they run before the storm dragging a drogue, will have to be very careful that the boat doesn't accelerate too fast down the face of the wave, bury the bow, broach and roll. Like Moitessier in Joshua, they may need to be sailed down the waves surfing at an angle. Exciting sailing that will require extreme concentration and skill by the helmsman.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by roverhi

The problem with heaving to or lying ahull is it leaves you vulnerable to rogue waves. When dragging warps or a drogue, the boat is not subject to broadside impact of a breaking wave that can roll a boat. When the boat is sailing, the crew can react to a wave so the boat doesn't take it broadside.
....
With the fine bows and fat butts of these boats, question how they need to be handled in survival situations. If they run before the storm dragging a drogue, will have to be very careful that the boat doesn't accelerate too fast down the face of the wave, bury the bow, broach and roll. Like Moitessier in Joshua, they may need to be sailed down the waves surfing at an angle. Exciting sailing that will require extreme concentration and skill by the helmsman.

These boats are sailed on autopilot most of the time even on storms and not only these but any light modern fast boat will not work well with a drogue. IMOCA boats have a very justified reputation of being very seaworthy boats but have to be sailed according to their characteristics.

On really bad weather with 60k I had seen photos of those boats sailing without any sail and doing 10k.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i6u39y_w7E

The Hugo Boss capsized not while he was sailing but when he was heaving to, while trying to protect a boat with a damaged structure from violent shocks. Alex had sailed his boat on much demanding seas and conditions then the ones where the boat was capsized, namely on high latitudes in storms on the big ocean desert South of India and Australia. That's why he says that he don't understand what has happened.