Vendee: December

Bill Cochrane · Post by **Bill Cochrane** » Dec 6th, '08, 09:55

For each gate (demarcated by two virtual marks) you have to leave some point between the marks to starboard (thus you have to be north of the line between the marks at some point).

Rules are here; the ice gate directions in english are on p. 38 of the pdf. Note that gates can (and have) been moved by the race committee to account for current ice conditions.

Judith · Post by **Judith** » Dec 8th, '08, 20:15

I know this is incredibly picky BUT. . .does 'passing north of gate' mean going, at some point, COMPLETELY north of the line (which is fairly thick, graphics-wise)? Or is it sufficient to simply touch that line, like tagging a base in baseball?? Anybody know?

Judith

Sea Owl · Post by **Sea Owl** » Dec 8th, '08, 21:16

Judith;

The boat roatates around the mast. If you zoom to the max, you can see that the mast is the apparent 'real' location of the boat.

Likewise, if you are near a buoy, the center of the buoy (with a small plus) at its center, I believe marks the 'must be north of' latitude.

I know when I crossed, I was just north of the buoy, and never north of the 'whole line' as I passed the buoy, and am doing fine....

Just checked, and you are well north now anyway....

Good winds!

Russ

Judith · Post by **Judith** » Dec 8th, '08, 21:35

Thanks, Russ! With that, me and Avecita are changing course immediately!

Cheers,
Judith

Warren S · Post by **Warren S** » Dec 9th, '08, 05:47

The thing about sleeping. Kills me every time.

BillNH · Post by **BillNH** » Dec 9th, '08, 06:28

I think that's the biggest challenge of the race... figuring out a course and sail combo before I go to bed that won't leave me nearly dead in the water when I wake up!

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Dec 9th, '08, 10:59

BillNH wrote:I think that's the biggest challenge of the race... figuring out a course and sail combo before I go to bed that won't leave me nearly dead in the water when I wake up!

It's difficult if you're sailing through shifts in wind direction and strength. To optimize you might need to change course and/or sails, which is hard to do while sleeping. (Buying the gizmos is cheating!)

The worst are the 12 hour wind changes, which are often dramatic and not always as forecast. Best is to set your alarm for 5am, make the needed adjustments and go back to bed. The afternoon change is less of a problem.

BillNH · Post by **BillNH** » Dec 9th, '08, 11:48

Neil Gordon wrote:
BillNH wrote:I think that's the biggest challenge of the race... figuring out a course and sail combo before I go to bed that won't leave me nearly dead in the water when I wake up!
It's difficult if you're sailing through shifts in wind direction and strength. To optimize you might need to change course and/or sails, which is hard to do while sleeping. (Buying the gizmos is cheating!)

The worst are the 12 hour wind changes, which are often dramatic and not always as forecast. Best is to set your alarm for 5am, make the needed adjustments and go back to bed. The afternoon change is less of a problem.

Go back to bed???

My alarm goes off at 5am everyday during the week, and I'm usually working with students before 7am...

Just glad I'm not on the left coast, where the wind changes would come at 2am!

Judith · Post by **Judith** » Dec 9th, '08, 12:00

BillNH wrote:I think that's the biggest challenge of the race... figuring out a course and sail combo before I go to bed that won't leave me nearly dead in the water when I wake up!

One could think of it as another realistic touch: no doubt the real Vendee sailors have to contend with this too.

Although they most definitely have a better, real-time feed of wind data. . .

John Vigor · Post by **John Vigor** » Dec 9th, '08, 15:32

BillNH wrote:Just glad I'm not on the left coast, where the wind changes would come at 2am!

Are you saying that the wind directions are actually changed every 12 hours on the dot? As a left-coaster, and a newcomer to the race, I've been wondering how that works. I had imagined the changes in wind strength and direction were random.

But that would explain why I wake up every morning to find the boat stopped in the water while 14,000 boats have passed me.

Any other tips for me? I'm 2,000 miles behind the main Cape Dory bunch and never likely to catch up without a miracle.

Cheers,

John V.

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Dec 9th, '08, 16:48

John Vigor wrote:Are you saying that the wind directions are actually changed every 12 hours on the dot?

Unlike real wind, virtual wind changes at 5 AM and 5 PM, Eastern Standard Time, each day. Yes, it changes on the dot. Some of the databases don't update quite in real time so while you're in 17 knots, the boat right on your rail might display in the 12 hours ago wind, whatever that was. It all catches up in a little bit.

You get to know when the rest of the Cape Dory fleet wakes up by what time in the morning they change course.

John Vigor · Post by **John Vigor** » Dec 9th, '08, 20:06

Thanks, Neil, nice to know I'll have to get up at 2 a.m. every day until April.

Incidentally, do you knw any way I can trace a boat whose progress I was following? I accidentally erased him and he doesn't appear on my screen any more. I particularly wanted to gloat because he went west into the heart of the calms, while I bravely stood south and lost many places. Now he must be in trouble and I am steaming along quite nicely.

I never got his boat name down exactly. It started with Mango. It was Mangorevrach or something similar and he must be in the 140,000s, give or take 10,000.

One more thing: Is the 12-hour weather forecast just a warning of what changes will be made in 12 hours' time? In other words, can you rely on the present winds for a full 12 hours?

Cheers,

John V.

Judith · Post by **Judith** » Dec 9th, '08, 21:20

In a word, "no". Or "maybe". It seems to me the 12-hour forecasts are about as reliable as your local weatherman: fairly accurate overall with occasional surprises. I haven't really tracked the changes from hour to hour but am under the impression things sometimes change slightly during the the 12-hour interval. But. . .I may be imagining this part in order to make myself feel better.

In the REAL Vendee Globe, Warren tells me that Bernard Stamm just moved ahead of Sam Davies--who started with the main group, what, a week or more ahead of Stamm? Soooo, I'm betting you'll be hanging around in the general CD vicinity quite soon.

Judith

Judith · Post by **Judith** » Dec 9th, '08, 21:24

John Vigor wrote:It started with Mango. It was Mangorevrach or something similar

Ahhh, a fellow Russian, eh? Sorta like 'Rogiv'?

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Dec 9th, '08, 21:46

>>One more thing: Is the 12-hour weather forecast just a warning of what changes will be made in 12 hours' time? In other words, can you rely on the present winds for a full 12 hours? <<

The 12, 24 and 36 hour forecasts are meteorology, which is the Greek word for "maybe yes, maybe no." So it works like this:

At 5 and 5, they put up the actual winds (as measured whenever). Those winds remain unchanged for the full 12 hours.

Also at 5 and 5, there's a new 12, 24 and 36 hour forecast.

So at 4 (AM or PM, Eastern time), the actual winds are 11 hours old and so it the 12 hour, etc., forecast. An hour later, it's all updated.

The Cape Dory Board

Vendee: December

Ice Gate Rules

North of Ice Gate?

Line....

Re: Line....

I turned 6 hours late :-(

Sleeping

Those wind changes

Re: Those wind changes

Early rising

12 hour forecasts

Re: Early rising

12 hour winds