Vendee 2020

[sailormed]

Ahead is a strong word. It is based on the remaining distance to the finish line. The foiler keep on going west while the others turned south, so they are closer to the finish line. Not really indicating something usefull.

[Knotical]

Yup, they also have a tricky on-the-nose weather to navigate for the next few days. Everyone has tacked now and it seems those who were behind may be at an advantage.

[Knotical]

Sorry about mentioning on-the-nose wind as I thought they would go further out to avoid the low wind patch.

[MicHughV]

with their speed...these boats generate their own apparent wind.....they likely all have a vector diagram dictating their best point of sail at any given wind speed and direction
plus...they have their "crew" back home, giving them updates on everything..it's very much a cat and mouse game..
but...the weather....as always....will be unpredictable...be in the wrong place a the wrong time...and ??...and crossing the doldrums ???
once these boats spread out a bit it will get interesting as boats might be sailing in entirely different wind conditions..

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

well...that didn't take long....1st boat has already turned around...

He is allowed to restart. His crew would be waiting to fix whatever the problem is. I imagine he will be back at it within 12 hours of landing.

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by sailormed

Ahead is a strong word. It is based on the remaining distance to the finish line. The foiler keep on going west while the others turned south, so they are closer to the finish line. Not really indicating something usefull.

Well technically the non-foilers are closer to southern Biscay, so that does put them ahead...

Will be fascinating to see what happens with the weather over the coming days tho! Shame there’s no way to overlay wind onto the tracker...

N

[ausnp84]

Some weather predicted for the coming days.

N

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...they have their "crew" back home, giving them updates on everything...

Are they allowed to receive any analysis or advice from shore crew? I thought they had to do all of that independently.

[MicHughV]

that's a good question....I know that the boats are packed to the brim with every possible sort of weather and satellite gadget. Sat phones make daily chats with family and shore side crew a norm. I'm not sure if they have personalized weather routers available to assist them or not. With a sat phone in hand you could call anyone you want, weather routers included.
Whether or not, the entrants sail in the spirit of the race or not, I do not know. I've read the race rules and it appears that outside weather routing is not permitted, but with a sat phone in hand, what's to stop an entrant from calling Joe the weather guy.
Certainly, the safety aspect of the race requires a lot of help from shore crews.

Maybe someone can chime in here...but it seems the answer to the above question is no.

[MicHughV]

I'm sitting here at my computer, and I have access to worldwide weather, what is to stop Joe Racer from calling me from his satphone ??

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I'm sitting here at my computer, and I have access to worldwide weather, what is to stop Joe Racer from calling me from his satphone ??

Ethics?

[Pelagic]

This is my favourite race and I hope some of our CF experts chime in as they did on the last one.
IS THIS GOING TO BE OUR "OFFICIAL" CF THREAD, or is there another one already going?.

For English language analysis on YouTube, which is the best channel??

I found this one

https://youtu.be/TMRQZO3kvEA

[Knotical]

Even if they have access to outside weather routing if they are not supposed to use it I don’t think they would. These are hard core sailors/racers and they take pride in their work, something that can add an asterisk after the fact will not be acceptable to them. Would a John Doe who helped Alex Thompson win the race be able to keep quiet after everything’s over? I doubt it.

[MicHughV]

I like this race as well. I did not see any other Vendee threads, so decided to start this one.
So far...so good...but we have 3 months to go.

Part of me wishes I was back out there with them, another part sez watch from the comfort of your favorite chair, bench, seat, etc....

There is not much prize money at stake here....it's all about pride and prestige. For the French, this is their Superbowl, they will certainly be the one's to beat. They are fantastic long distance sailors, so people like Alex are gonna havta work hard at it, but I like his odds, he was damn close last time.

Youtube has a plethora of racers posting as well as others. No shortage of real time video. Plus, there an unbelievable amount of armchair racers in this one as well.

It's gonna be a hoot....

[Pelagic]

"For the French, this is their Superbowl, they will certainly be the one's to beat. They are fantastic long distance sailors, " Quote

I wonder why the French are so good at this single handed endurance race?....
Is it the influence of Motessier in their National Psyche that drives them,
...... or a certain "Je ne sais Quoi" that these French sailors have when alone?