Vendee 2020

[MicHughV]

converting the Vendee boat speeds to M/sec....give or take....20 knots is about 10M/sec....by the time the alarm goes of and you react to it....could easily be 30 seconds....so a whale on the surface at 300M away could be right in front of the boat by the time any evasive action is possible...at night, obviously the situation is compounded....whale could approach from the side too....who knows???
just sayin'.....the OSCAR helps....but it is no guarantee...

a whale is a big target....could just as easily have been a semi-floating 40 gallon drum or something similar...

regardless, there is no denying there is a lot of " stuff" floating out there...and it could come from anywhere....you could get lucky and miss it all....or not....???

[Franziska]

Carbon composite can be easily engineered to be much stronger than most other materials, especially if you combine it with other structural fibers such as aramide.

You can built to light/weak or to heavy/strong with any material.

Apart from that, I do wonder if the foils are not the risky part, they are fragile, pierce the hull/deck and can more easily hit something.
A boat without foils might have a better chance to slip over something.

Will be interesting how many foilers actually arrive in les Sables.

Jean LeCam is doing an amazing job in his non foiling boat.....

Originally Posted by DomPerignon

Oh I totally agree. With my limited expertise I think fiber carbons boat should be limited to calm waters. We got caught once in 25 to 30 foot waves 150 miles off Cape Hatteras and let me tell you I cannot imagine those lightweight boats flying out of the water and repeatedly slamming in a wall of water in front of them .
I guess they’re getting paid a lot of money to do it.

[MicHughV]

I tend to agree about the non foiling boats....the foils do add speed....but not all the time...my experience with the exotic materials is that while undoubtably strong...they are quite rigid...

hit something with the tip of your foil x the distance to the boat, you can generate quite a moment and/or twisting arm....and if it's a rigid connection.....that generates a lot of stress...

I'm sure that Jean Le Cam pondered all these things...

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...

I'm sure that Jean Le Cam pondered all these things...

Perhaps, but the reason he is competing in a 13 year old boat is that his sponsor’s budget goes no further. That in no way detracts, and even enhances, his skill and deserved reputation. Yes we Cam!

[sailormed]

Sodebo giant trimaran passed Jeremy Beyou on Charal this night. Jeremy had them on AIS but could get no VHF contact. Sodebo was doing 35 knots on the AIS.

[MicHughV]

35 knots is about 40 mph....that is zipping along.

My fishing boat cruises at that speed...lemme tell you it requires two hands to hold on....

I hear talk about Le Cam depositing Kevin on a ship near Kerguelen Island....that should prove to be interesting....interesting that the French have a warship in that area.....that is about as far from nowhere as you can get...

I still think he is in this thing with a chance for first place....foils or no foils...that would be sweet...truly sweet..... !!!

[sailormed]

"...interesting that the French have a warship in that area.....that is about as far from nowhere as you can get..."

That area is the french TAAF area comprising le Réunion island, Kerguelen.....oh forget... here is the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French...ntarctic_Lands

They constantly patrol these waters to keep chinese and other foreign fishing boats out of this (very big) area. The video of Hugo Boss and François Gabart in the 2016 vendee globe were made by the helicopter of that patrol boat.

[MicHughV]

It would be a lonely job, being stationed out there...that is for sure...

Tristan Da Cuna....another place....I understand about 300 people live there...and they love it...

Off course, everyone knows about Pitcairn Island....50 souls...

I think I would go stir crazy....I'd need my monthly Walmart fix...

[MicHughV]

I read where 50% of the Vendee fleet are not likely to make it to the finish line...

[Franziska]

On Île Amsterdam there are only 25 and they get relieved once a year...
Wet and cold place that is....

No place I'd plan to visit voluntarily any time soon... :-)

(Oh, and don't get me started, back in them 'ol days we used to live on an island with minus ten people, and it was more remote than the moon, well then.... :-) :-) :-).)

Originally Posted by MicHughV

It would be a lonely job, being stationed out there...that is for sure...

Tristan Da Cuna....another place....I understand about 300 people live there...and they love it...

Off course, everyone knows about Pitcairn Island....50 souls...

I think I would go stir crazy....I'd need my monthly Walmart fix...[emoji3]

[250224]

Originally Posted by Franziska

On Île Amsterdam ...
Wet and cold place that is....
No place I'd plan to visit voluntarily any time soon...

Well, at the moment it is significantly warmer there than here in Northern Europe

[MicHughV]

I went north of the Arctic Circle one time...in Norway....I wasn't really dressed for this place.....and I froze my buns off...

As cold as that was, I was in a colder place...Niagara Falls....happen to be there on one of those rare occasions, where the Falls had frozen over....again, not dressed for the occasion....15 seconds was about all I could stand outdoors..it was beyond cold, I can't recall the temp...-40 F or something.......I'm stunned that people actually live in that kind of cold....me....I like my 12 hours of sunshine....thank you very much...

People actually sail or fly to Antartica for fun....ya, seriously....and not just a few people...a lot of people...

I can remember past round-the-world races where sailors had to dodge icebergs......crazy !!!

Back to the Vendee, some experts seem to think the recent spate of UFO breakages, may in fact, come from water impact...I can certainly see that as a possibility.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Additionally:

The Windy Regadata plugin developer is now collaborating directly with Christian Dumard Marine Weather and Strategy (he is already a Windy & Regadata user) who is providing routing for some of the competitors in the Vendee Globe: https://www.facebook.com/marineweatherandstrategy/

So fingers crossed that routing data may be available to view in Windy soon. It may even be that vendeeglobe.org starts using this in official presentations too.

Routing has already been added to the Regadata plugin in Windy

(NB: sadly it has not been possible to add tracks for the Jules Verne Trophy as the teams did not wish to share the track data to a third party and prefer that you visit their website instead)

Instructions for use:

Click on a Boat: the Routing Track will be displayed.

Advance the Windy timeline: the Weather Forecast will change and the Boat will also advance along the suggested Routing Track.

Enjoy

And here is a Weather Analysis on the official vendeeglobe.org by Christian Dumard Marine Weather and Strategy using Windy and the Regadata plugin:

https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/...ristian-dumard

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...some experts seem to think the recent spate of UFO breakages, may in fact, come from water impact...I can certainly see that as a possibility.

Certainly that may be the case for the bow damage on Hugo Boss, he pushed hard during the first few days when they were punching into the first storm.

But the other damage, the photos and the description clearly suggest impact with an object:

Hugo Boss Rudder: Alex said fishing gear was clearly visible (waiting for photos)

Sam Davies: descibes going from 20kn to 0kn and feeling the impact on the keel and the boat subsequently nose diving

Her news: https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/...-20kts-to-zero

Sebastien Simon: photo shows impact damage to the leading edge of the foil

[MicHughV]

yes, I agree, that the photo above does not indicate damage from water. Sam Davies, said something hit the keel, plus the damage shown above at the foil, appears to indicate an impact from an "object".....whatever makes a Vendee boat go from 20 to 0 knots is obviously not a twig in the water...but what ??? Won't really know until the boat is hauled.

I can't think of too much fishing action that far south of the continent of Africa...whatever it was had to have come from elsewhere ??

I wonder if that boat was fitted with the all-seeing eye....??

Nonetheless, at the rate these Vendee boats are hitting UFO's seems to be a clear indication of a lot of " stuff" out there.

Even a fully crewed yacht is not likely to see something in the dark...

Some kind of forward looking sonar needs to be thought out here....not a masthead unit...but something in the bow of the boat....no wait, that would not work as the bow is out of the water half the time...it would have to positioned near the forward part of the keel...

Next few weeks will be telling...