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https://twitter.com/VendeeGlobeENG/status/1338591396345896961?s=19 Huge drama! Race leader has hit something and one of his foils is damaged, hugely disappointing for Charlie. Boris Hermann has also had to make repairs to his mainsail.
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Dec 14, 2020 22:11
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Loving Africa Chaps posted:https://twitter.com/VendeeGlobeENG/status/1338591396345896961?s=19 Wow! Yeah they're not even quite halfway so breakages are still going to be a major element. Dalin got his start as a boat nerd naval architect/designer before he became the actual racing guy apparently. They have tried to design Apivia to compromise between performance and reliability/sturdiness. Ruyant is looking good considering he kept up all this time with a broken foil. So are all the rest of the decent sized pack going back to 9th place or so! Looks like L'Occitane en Provence has now given way some miles back to the leaders. They were on an incredible tear for a long time so their luck (not just skill) couldn't continue indefinitely, APIVIA came out of the high pressure light air they were in and Occitane's must have run short on wind for a bit. Still, it seems like since coming back from repairs in the beginning they must have had the fastest sustained run out of the fleet.  Cannon_Fodder posted:
Ok, fine. Something a little more suited to your palate perhaps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e5VspzF5TQ Also, I wish I could find it but one of the French sailors, maybe Yannick Bestaven, had a video earlier where he was talking about the life of a Vendee sailor and how yeah if you have your pot of food in hand and some pitching wave makes you spill it all over the deck you just scoop that poo poo up with your hands and eat it. Zwabu fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Dec 14, 2020 |
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Dec 14, 2020 22:35
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I'm editing the OP to include this Forbes article which is a good summary of the Vendee: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tmullen/2020/11/09/the-insanity-and-elegance-of-the-vende-globe-sailing-race/?sh=4a98143f554e Sam Davies after repair of her keel is resuming the circumnavigation as a nonparticipant in the race, I think she will still be on the tracker and submit videos etc: 
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Dec 15, 2020 02:24
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 Linked Out now in the lead! Linked Out, Maitre Coq and Apivia in positions 1, 2 and 3 respectively all within 10 nautical miles of each other and probably visual with each other. Apivia clearly slow with the 5 knot speed indicated, probably to assess damage and possibly effect repair, sawing off part of his foil as Linked Out did earlier etc. So I expect Apivia to give up more ground in the near future but if he can get straightened out as well as Linked Out he'll still be in decent shape.
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Dec 15, 2020 06:02
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9TzbAEURNM 5 boats within visual of each other, almost halfway around the world!
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Dec 16, 2020 00:40
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUGnHKFBD6Y Louis Burton (Bureau Vallee 2) pays a visit to the nearby Boris Hermann (Seaexplorer) via drone. Some things have happened. Ruyant/Linked Out discovered a whole lot of water in his forward compartment, couldn't see the source and had to stop his boat for a while to pump out the water and find the cause. Turns out it was a couple of hatch doors that water pressure had forced open and he was able to secure them again. Recall that Ruyant had to abandon the race because of a huge fracture in the bow of his boat in the previous race, and limped to port with a boat that look like it was held together by bungee cords. Louis Burton (Bureau Vallee 2) had some damage at the top of his mast that he had to stop or slow down for a bit to climb and fix. Sebastien Destremau has had some serious failures and breakage including his auto steering and loss of function of both his rudders, all this with heavy low pressure weather system heading down on him. Apparently he now has rudder and autopilot function after repairs but no idea whether this will be sturdy enough to make it around. Auto steering is crucial for any solo long distance sailor, the huge majority of the time they will not be directly at the helm. Otherwise they could not sleep or do the many other tasks required. Destremau is at the rear of the fleet and his is one of the most low budget operations, he added some kind of roofing at the start of the race that was literally made of cardboard and has since largely collapsed. Destremau had issues starting his engine in the 2016 Vendee (the boats cannot proceed under power, but the engines can run to charge the batteries to run electronics etc. if solar and hydrogenerator are insufficient) and jury rigged a starting mechanism using the energy from his jib sheet, one of the sail control lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGocCZ4rLqw (Destremau did manage to finish the 2016 race.) So Bestaven (Maitre Coq) is in the lead with APIVIA and Linked Out rounding out the trio of leaders, then the large pack behind, L'Occitane and then the spread out group at the rear. The two front groups and L'Occitane have now all passed Cape Leeuwin.
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Dec 18, 2020 20:49
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It's admirable he's trying to continue but no autopilot on top of multiple other system failures has surely got to mean he retires. That's going to be so dangerous when he's at his most exhausted later on.
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Dec 18, 2020 22:02
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Loving Africa Chaps posted:It's admirable he's trying to continue but no autopilot on top of multiple other system failures has surely got to mean he retires. That's going to be so dangerous when he's at his most exhausted later on. Destremau's repair on his rudder and autosteer were makeshift at best and aren't holding well, so he's looking to make it to Australia and retire from the race. He plans to repair fully and perhaps continue around but not in the race as Sam Davies is doing. Destremau is an odd bird. I'm assuming he's one of the rich guy vanity campaigns of which there aren't too many this time (I think Ari, the Finnish guy, might be one?). He's an eccentric guy who's always in one of the slowest boats. He has already completed a Vendee, in 2016, and is no threat to win or place so as he has nothing to prove to anyone I suppose he just enjoys being alone in the middle of the ocean on a boat. No autosteer is a total voyage breaker for any solo long distance sailor. There are too many things to do, including sleep, to have to steer 24/7. You can do crude self steering schemes involving lashing your helm with bungee cords etc., you can tweak such a system so that for long periods of time there's a sort of feedback mechanism that keeps the boat relatively straight on a course until there are major changes in wind, but I doubt anything like that could be suitable for the distance and conditions involved here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyl8r0K1Vfw Here is Boris Hermann, who's gone into some light air in anticipation of catching better wind in the near future, waxing a bit philosophical about the race in a rare quiet moment and giving a little tour of his boat.
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Dec 23, 2020 22:42
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God, I love this race.
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Dec 23, 2020 22:55
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Seguin/APICIL is checked out by a surprise visitor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCMaYhOiqLw Without a doubt some of the collision incidents causing damage and ending the race for competitors are due to collision with marine life, specifically whales, although an ocean going sunfish is probably large enough to cause serious damage. There was even footage of one such incident in the last race (I think perhaps Kito Pavant's boat) that was captured by onboard cameras. The sailors and their organizations don't like to publicize such incidents, it doesn't fit in well with the green save the oceans ethos of the whole event. It is an issue. Whales probably did not evolve in an era where they had to dodge something traveling at 20 knots that wasn't other marine life. Several of the boats in this year's Vendee are equipped with a system called OSCAR which uses cameras and perhaps also forward looking infra red? I believe only in one case was the system connected to the auto steer mechanism. It hasn't prevented damage so far and only sees objects visible on the surface. I believe active sonar would have a prohibitive cost in weight and energy expenditure at this point.
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Dec 25, 2020 00:35
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Southern Ocean Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXs6EVq2jWU Dalin/APIVIA has regained the lead, but 1st and 2nd have been within 10nm of the lead over the last day, it was literally less than 2nm yesterday. Isabelle Joschke/MACSF is now in sixth place! L'Occitane en Provence (Armel Tripon) has gained a lot on the lead pack, he was 1800nm back at one point now about 1100nm, incredible race. Charal (Jeremie Beyou) has blazed through the rear guard and is now blazing through the middle group. Incredible stuff.
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Dec 26, 2020 05:29
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 The leaders approach Point Nemo, the point in the ocean furthest from all land, on their way to the most famous and forbidding of capes, Cape Horn. Bestaven/Maitre Coq continue to lead and sail an almost flawless (and lucky!) race, with APIVIA/Dalin in second and with the literally single handed Damien Seguin in APICIL has been trading 3d place back and forth with Ruyant/Linked Out. (Remember that Bestaven is one of the boats that was diverted for rescue efforts when PRB sank and thus he has several hours worth of restitution so his lead is even more forbidding than the 85 nautical miles would suggest.) Armel Tripon/L'Occitane en Provence continues to sail an amazing race with many 400nm or better days. He is currently less than 900nm from the lead, and he HAD been behind as much as 1800nm! I really wonder if he hadn't been seriously delayed by damage early on whether he'd be just running away with this thing by now. Here's an animation of how his race has looked: https://twitter.com/CapVG20/status/1343904864078848000?s=20 (You can scroll the scroll bar on the Vendee Tracking Map to see the history of the current race along with the racers' data at any given point.) The boats mostly have different designs within the IMOCA 60 parameters, along with the important distinction between some having hydrofoils and others not. L'Occitane en Provence has foils that are more "bent" and less "rounded" compared with other competitors like Hugo Boss. But the biggest distinction is the more rounded design of the front of L'Occitane en Provence, its so called "scow bow:  The IMOCA rules limit how rounded the boat designs can be (not sure why this limitation exists) but it's possible that this design feature allows L'Occitane en Provence to get through rough sea conditions more smoothly and not dig into waves as badly as her pointier opponents. There's probably not enough race left for Tripon to catch the leaders and win, but one wonders. He continues to make progress towards the lead group. Isabelle Joschke/MACSF also is sailing a very impressive race, with very little drama and fanfare she's improved her position from 8-10 to 5th now, a little over 300nm off the lead. You can see on the map that the leaders are heading into some heavy conditions and the daily highlight digest shows this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCbfukVCbo8 Boris Hermann talks about how chronic sleep deprivation leads to brain fog/fatigue where one is slow to make decisions. The racers generally sleep no more than a couple of hours at a time, sometimes half hour naps depending on the conditions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyf4k_vpWBg
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Dec 30, 2020 01:53
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Okay, a lot has happened. I've neglected the thread for a while because I've spent the last week watching carefully to see whether my country would continue to exist, but I'm back!  Almost the entire fleet has passed the final Great Cape, the legendary Cape Horn, and are on the home stretch heading North back up to France. Maitre Coq had a commanding lead for a number of days and really looked poised to run away with the race especially considering they have several hours restitution credit for participating in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier. I thought for sure if there was no major breakages on the home stretch they would win easily. BUT As far as I can tell, simply through making a bad navigational choice, hugging up too close to the coast after clearing Cape Horn, Bestaven/Maitre Coq wound up in light wind and got passed by a number of the leading pack. Sometimes when you have a significant lead over your rivals it's more prudent to stay closer to them so that you are in the same weather systems. If you gamble trying to get MORE ahead by trying to catch a different weather system ahead of the pack, you can get stuck if your weather projections were wrong, and the pack can eat into your lead or overtake you. This appears to be what has happened to Maitre Coq. In the meantime, Dalin/APIVIA have resumed the lead, and there is an unprecedented lead pack of about 7 boats within 100 nautical miles or so of the lead. Louis Burton in Bureau Vallee 2 is the bad penny that keeps turning up, now currently in second place again after being in second for a while then falling back having to make repairs up his mast earlier. Boris Herrmann has been sailing an excellent race and has been in and out of third recently, he should technically be in 3d considering the restitution credit he has from the rescue as well. Pip Hare/Medallia had a major crack on her rudder and had to repair it at sea. This was made possible by the fact that she'd carried a spare on board, and had practiced the method before the race while at the dock in Les Sables d'Olonne. She is back underway racing. Pip replacing her rudder in the Southern Ocean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi8KwOF6U44 Pip training in this maneuver earlier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_kjoL8DFi8 One of the great shames of the race is that Isabelle Joschke/MACSF who had been sailing an excellent race with little drama, and had been flirting with the lead pack, suffered damage to her keel and has had to retire from the race. The keel has a hydraulic lever mechanism that changes its angle depending on how heeled over the boat is, and there was damage to it. Initially the attempt was to simply lock it into place in a straight down position, which would impair the performance but still be seaworthy, but there was water ingress and MACSF was forced to retire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q3Q02Hz33Q Clarisse Cremer/Banque Populaire X tries to repair her damaged J2 sail up the mast and gets covered in repair compound for her troubles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG3ps4EzH7o The structural damage to Destremau/Merci which he has been addressing with a series of patches and jury rigs are finally too much and he is diverting to New Zealand to retire from the race. He did manage to finish the last Vendee despite a number of issues, so I'm not sure what he has left to prove to himself or anyone else, but God bless you, crazy sailor man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-U3c-POKZs
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Jan 17, 2021 20:50
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It is so unbelievably close! Is sea explorer technically in the lead given it was part of the rescue effort earlier in the race?
Loving Africa Chaps fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Jan 17, 2021 |
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Jan 17, 2021 20:55
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Loving Africa Chaps posted:It is so unbelievably close! Is sea explorer technically in the lead given it was part of the rescue effort earlier in the race? Yes I believe Sea Explorer has several hours restitution credit given that they diverted to help with the rescue effort when PRB/Escoffier sank. So if you average that out as 12 knots or so Boris should be flirting with the lead. Maitre Coq also has restitution credit though, so this in part makes up for the miles they have lost to his bad navigation gamble.
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Jan 17, 2021 21:07
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https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/tracking-map Now we are down the final stretch, with the first racers expected to finish within hours. The tracking map, linked above, will begin updating every 30 minutes instead of every 2 hours once sailors are within the 200nm zone of the finish. (edited for correction) Charlie Dalin and APIVIA are in the physical lead with Boris Herrmann and SeaExplorer in second. Herrmann's six hours of restitution time for diverting to participate in the rescue of Kevin Escoffier puts him in decent position to win, but APIVIA has enough of a lead that it's a very close thing. Herrmann had closed a bit but Dalin has sailed an excellent final leg and has extended a tiny bit towards the end. After two and a half months circling the globe, several racers will finish within hours of each other. They are all no doubt extremely sleep deprived going into this final stretch, and entering a region with exclusion zones (for fishing and commerce) and actual boat traffic and fishing nets to be avoided. 
Zwabu fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Jan 27, 2021 |
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Jan 27, 2021 14:28
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 The first group have arrived at the finish! APIVIA is first across the line, but due to restitution awarded for rescue participation, Yannick Bestaven and Maitre Coq have claimed first place honors! Of those who have finished so far: https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking 1 Bonification Yannick BESTAVEN Maître CoQ IV Yes Arrival date: 28/01/2021 03:19:46 Race time: 80d 03h 44m 46s 2 Charlie DALIN APIVIA Yes Arrival date: 27/01/2021 19:35:47 Race time: 80d 06h 15m 47s 3 Louis BURTON BUREAU VALLEE 2 Yes Arrival date: 27/01/2021 23:45:12 Race time: 80d 10h 25m 12s 4 Bonification Boris HERRMANN SEAEXPLORER - YACHT CLUB DE MONACO Yes Arrival date: 28/01/2021 10:19:45 Race time: 80d 14h 59m 45s 5 Thomas RUYANT LinkedOut Yes Arrival date: 28/01/2021 04:42:01 Race time: 80d 15h 22m 01s 6 Damien SEGUIN GROUPE APICIL No Arrival date: 28/01/2021 11:18:20 Race time: 80d 21h 58m 20s 7 Giancarlo PEDOTE PRYSMIAN GROUP Yes Arrival date: 28/01/2021 12:02:20 Race time: 80d 22h 42m 20s with Jean Le Cam/Yes We Cam! about to arrive. Boris Herrmann had an all but certain top 3/podium finish derailed when he collided with a fishing boat (named, if you can believe it, Hermanos Busto) 90 nautical miles from the finish, and had to limp in to the finish at very low speed.  APIVIA at the finish   Serious damage to SeaExplorer  The one handed Damien Seguin leans into a Captain Hook look for the finish An accounting of the various issues that Louis Burton (3d place) had to deal with in the course of his race (translated from his interview, from another forum: quote:We all know about the main halyard issues and the stop behing Macquarie Island. https://www.piphare.com/blog/the-new-rudder-is-in-and-were-back-in-the-game Pip Hare posted:I have always said one of the things that attracts me to solo sailing as a sport is that it allows me to become the best version of myself. When alone in the middle of an ocean there is no easy option. You must face every problem head on and find the solution from within. This race challenges every aspect of what it means to be a human being; on every level we are forced to perform and do extraordinary things. You can see this across the whole fleet, as each skipper deals with their own problems after 60 days of racing, all of us fighting to stay in the game. I am proud to be one of this number. I am proud to be a solo sailor competing in the Vendee Globe.
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Jan 28, 2021 18:13
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Wow, 4 boats within 12 hours of each other after sailing round the God drat world.
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Jan 28, 2021 19:20
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