Vendee 2020

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I don't understand how Boris hit a fishing boat.....he has that forward looking camera, etc...though I must say, moving at 17-20 knots gives you little time to react...doubtful if that fishing boat had AIS ?, navigational lights ?.....could be a French boat, Spanish, Portuguese...who knows ??
No doubt Boris let rip with a string of curses...

So close, fuggit, bummer, to have something like this happen, when you are right on the doorstep, sail 24,000 miles without a problem, then this.....but he is making progress....albeit at half the speed...could have been anything though....any UFO....always a danger...but that area has a lot of fishing boat activity...

Seems like half the planet was rooting for him too....

He could have been on deck mid-gybe, down below stacking ballast, or concentrating on the computer. If the fishing boat had a trawl out it would be unmanoeuverable and quite possibly didn’t see him coming. Incredibly bad luck. At least no-one was hurt.

[Pelagic]

Incredibly tight RTW race and I just wonder if this will become a trend in future Vendees?

Amazing weather and route planning intelligence, pinpoint navigation, with the latest foiling yachts now all close to matching speeds.

For the winner, It still comes down to the sailor who makes the right predeparture choices on sail inventory, luck in avoiding UFOs and has the stamina and ability to make repairs.

But I think perhaps individual sailing instinct is slowly being replaced by predictive technology and the ability to use it as part of the winning formula

[MicHughV]

I just saw Boris's video of the event....apparently he was sleeping, but he said he checked all this alarms, radar, oscar, etc...and everything was fine before he took a nap...it was a steel trawler....must have been quite an impact...lots of things broken, in addition to a shroud, he is obviously very distraught...confident of making it in, but gutted....fuggit....I have nothin' to add here..

[MicHughV]

if Jean can keep up his speed, with his time handicap...hmmmm......he might could just pull it off....gonna be tight....wind is supposed to pick up...he'll be on the podium, but where ???

[Franziska]

Ouch, if he was sleeping and there will be a court case it will be nasty for him.

Was the collision in territorial waters?

I really really hope that this is not killing solo sailing.

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I just saw Boris's video of the event....apparently he was sleeping, but he said he checked all this alarms, radar, oscar, etc...and everything was fine before he took a nap...it was a steel trawler....must have been quite an impact...lots of things broken, in addition to a shroud, he is obviously very distraught...confident of making it in, but gutted....fuggit....I have nothin' to add here..

[Yellowtulip]

Originally Posted by Yellowtulip

He could have been on deck mid-gybe, down below stacking ballast, or concentrating on the computer. If the fishing boat had a trawl out it would be unmanoeuverable and quite possibly didn’t see him coming. Incredibly bad luck. At least no-one was hurt.

Boris Hermann has posted a video where he says he was asleep when he hit the trawler and that none of his alarms; Radar, AIS or Osca alerted him. He has lost one shroud, which he can jury-rig, a sail and his bowsprit so is continuing at much reduced speed.

[psk125]

Interesting how Yannick Bestaven on Maitre Coq is coming in at a better angle and looks like he's going to scoop Thomas Ruyant on LinkedOut. 16 kts vs 13 kts. We'll now in about 2 hours...
Plus, he's getting 10 hours and 15 minutes of redress for helping with the Kevin Escoffier rescue. Looks like he's going to win on time, even if he finishes fourth over the line.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by Yellowtulip

Boris Hermann has posted a video where he says he was asleep when he hit the trawler and that none of his alarms; Radar, AIS or Osca alerted him. He has lost one shroud, which he can jury-rig, a sail and his bowsprit so is continuing at much reduced speed.

To save others having to search for the video, here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv6W-wcO4sI

[MicHughV]

yep, final standings won't be known till tomorrow...nonetheless, impressive results....after 24,000-28,000 miles of racing.....only hours apart...

Only blight on this race, is the lack of the normal spectator crowd...

[fxykty]

Yup, to be confirmed officially, the VG site shows Bestaven as third across the line and 7.5 hours boat time behind, giving him first place by 1.5 hours!! He did very well over the last three days and that gave him the win. Dalin and Burton 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Pretty sure this will be the final podium as JLC still has 256 miles to go and his 16 hours won’t be enough for first, but he is going very fast.

Herrmann will probably get in next and it will be very close whether he will overtake Ruyant for fourth place with his time allowance.

Amazing race for such a close finish, probably due to weird conditions in S Atlantic and Southern Ocean that kept the leaders from extending over the second and third packs and kept the top 11 boats relatively close together.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Ouch, if he was sleeping and there will be a court case it will be nasty for him.

Was the collision in territorial waters?

I really really hope that this is not killing solo sailing.

What about the fishing boat ???

Do you think it will kill fishing

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Ouch, if he was sleeping and there will be a court case it will be nasty for him.

Was the collision in territorial waters?

I really really hope that this is not killing solo sailing.

Seems to be a really murky area.

Just think of these new “drone” boats with no one at all on watch.

He had the equivalent of one of those running to alert him from sleep and it failed him.

I was ready to see my favorite racer win this one, then this accident happened to him. What luck.

[Franziska]

That's a different matter.

If they where engaged in fishing, had their AIS running, and Boris ran into them while asleep, it's unfortunately a pretty clear case.

The fact that Boris says in the video that he was sleeping can not be argued away in court.
Social media will not be helpful to him in this case.
He did not keep a sharp lookout while doing about 20kn. Legally his alarms are unlikely to make a big difference.

If the fishingboat did not actively fish and had the AIS off, they may be partly responsible, but to a lesser extend.
Maybe they will not claim damages if the latter case. Still, as Boris was racing for an apparently not bad funded campaign, they might see him as a cash cow.

Good thing no-one got hurt and the fishing boat was seemingly to big to sustain real damage.

This, is not going to be good for solo sailing.

Originally Posted by DumnMad

What about the fishing boat ???

Do you think it will kill fishing [emoji3][emoji3]

[250224]

80:14:59:45

Congratulation!

[Jamme]