Vendee globe

[Russell]

I don't think comfort enters into anything these guys do. Okay, I guess wearing a dry suit while going to the bow of a boat that acts much like a porpoise at 20 knots would count.

It seems like the lack of tethers is a mobility issue. Some of those guys are very nimble on the rather open decks. It would be hard to move as fast if you were tethered in. I still don't understand why they don't at least clip in while they are at the bow working.

I talked to a single handed racing sailor at the Annapolis boat shoe a few years ago and asked about a man over board situation. He told me they carried a remote for the auto pilot or there was some automated way that the boat would round up if he went over the side.

Good luck with that if the thing is planing in high winds and heavy seas. There is no way you could ever swim back to the boat even if it did round up, Steve.

Its called Auto Tether, they actually are not that expensive (and can cut the engine too if you happen to be motoring). They are pretty neat, but since I use a windvane its basicly useless to me so I havnt bothered investing in one. But these high tech sleds cant be steered by windvane and have several autopilots (backups for backups for backups).

And yeah, in the case of these guys, look at the size of those cockpits, a tether even in the cockpit would be a rather serious mobility issue. I still remember though a video of the last Vendee where Samantha Davis was "surfing" on her boat, as she was in the southern ocean surfing down large waves, she went on the fore deck and pretended her boat was a giant surf board (and they really are not far from that), standing in the middle of the foredeck untethered and balancing as she surfed down 20+ foot waves. I thought she was nuts, but really, who am I to question her? Any single person sailing in this race has the abilities of 50 of me combined, and I have done 10+ day solo nonstop ocean passages.

[MFC]

I just wish we could get some support from american competitors, I have always been suprised Larry Ellison hasnt stepped up to support an Oracle boat in the Vendee, just out of his own love for sailing and willingness to blow money on it. I guess his Sydney Hobart experience still keeps him from even sponsoring ocean sailing even if he only pledged to never participating in it again.

Sailing is just so ingrained in French culture. I picked up a french hitchhiker in California a couple of years ago and he was telling me things about Moitessier I'd never heard (despite having read quite few books both by and about him -- and the hitcher not being a sailor!!!). Is there an American sailor known to most americans? Hardly. Ted Turner might register on the brains of 20-30% of americans but not as a sailor. I agree it is kind of sad but it is hard to see it changing anytime soon.

[Russell]

I just wish we could get some support from american competitors, I have always been suprised Larry Ellison hasnt stepped up to support an Oracle boat in the Vendee, just out of his own love for sailing and willingness to blow money on it. I guess his Sydney Hobart experience still keeps him from even sponsoring ocean sailing even if he only pledged to never participating in it again.

Sailing is just so ingrained in French culture. I picked up a french hitchhiker in California a couple of years ago and he was telling me things about Moitessier I'd never heard (despite having read quite few books both by and about him -- and the hitcher not being a sailor!!!). Is there an American sailor known to most americans? Hardly. Ted Turner might register on the brains of 20-30% of americans but not as a sailor. I agree it is kind of sad but it is hard to see it changing anytime soon.

You are absolutely right. Competitive sailors in France are household names, a race like the Vendee gets serious airtime on TV there. Moitessier is a national hero that everyone knows (and honestly, more french people know our own American Joshua Slocum, even if its only via Moitessier, then Americans know who he is). I would be willing to bet someone could do one of those Letterman style random street interviews of people asking "Can you name an American sailor?" and most would probably go "duh" for awhile then say "Christopher Columbus"!

But thats why I wonder why someone like Ellison does not step up, he blows money on sailing for the sheer love of sailing, not because some boat tagged Oracle pays off in the long run for advertising. Though honestly, Oracle is a serious multinational company, they would actually benefit (in france) for the branding, though I guess they would then sponsor a french skipper. I think its been 3 or 4 vendees since the last American competed and I dont think one has ever finished the race. I doubt its due to lack of sailors wanting to do it, or able to do it, Sailing Anarchy (as much as I dislike that site) should start a letter writing campaign to Oracle encouraging it!

[pete faga]

six out in twelve days. auto pilot problem couldn't be fixed.

[Zeida]

In my opinion these Vendee Globe boats this year are not properly prepared to meet the challenges. Six out in 12 days! That's ridiculous... and every time, it's the boat or the equipment that fails, not the skipper. Something is very wrong somewhere. Maybe some of the super-top skippers have lots more sponsored $$$$ to get better boats, but it seems that a lot more of the sailors that labored so hard to put a campaign together -on a shoestring?- are now suffering the consequences of poor quality, cutting corners, you name it, but the mast coming off from Sam Davies' boat, when sailing conditions were normal, the keel falling off from Safran, autopilots failing, etc. and the list goes on... this is not normal.
I'm still watching, though!

[Zeida]

In my opinion these Vendee Globe boats this year are not properly prepared to meet the challenges. Six out in 12 days! That's ridiculous... and every time, it's the boat or the equipment that fails, not the skipper. Something is very wrong somewhere. Maybe some of the super-top skippers have lots more sponsored $$$$ to get better boats, but it seems that a lot more of the sailors that labored so hard to put a campaign together -on a shoestring?- are now suffering the consequences of poor quality, cutting corners, you name it, but the mast coming off from Sam Davies' boat, when sailing conditions were normal, the keel falling off from Safran, autopilots failing, etc. and the list goes on... this is not normal.
I'm still watching, though!

[Duncan]

In my opinion these Vendee Globe boats this year are not properly prepared to meet the challenges. Six out in 12 days! That's ridiculous... and every time, it's the boat or the equipment that fails, not the skipper. Something is very wrong somewhere. Maybe some of the super-top skippers have lots more sponsored $$$$ to get better boats, but it seems that a lot more of the sailors that labored so hard to put a campaign together -on a shoestring?- are now suffering the consequences of poor quality, cutting corners, you name it, but the mast coming off from Sam Davies' boat, when sailing conditions were normal, the keel falling off from Safran, autopilots failing, etc. and the list goes on... this is not normal.
I'm still watching, though!

I think they are racing by pushing to the limits.
I think you may be right about some of the failures and some of the budgets.
Nevertheless, I think most of the failures are based on the philosophy that "if you aren't breaking things, you aren't pushing hard enough"

[Russell]

I agree with Duncan. Its mostly that these boats are pushing the very edge of design within the Open 60 rule limits and of course trying to be as light as possible. I dont think budget is as much of an issue though, in a way, the higher budget boats are probably pushing the edge even more and perhaps more likely to experience failure. The low budget skippers tend to be racing on boats that have already competed in several vendee globes and are of more conservative design from a prior generation of Open 60s. These skippers all go into it knowing full well that the likelyhood of catastrophic failure is high, but also knowing that if they overbuild their boats to reduce the risk of such failure, they lose competitive edge. Ever since the kanting keel being the norm on these boats, the rate at which they fall off has become high, when you consider what is involved in making these keels work its pretty amazing that its not even higher. Rudder failure also seems insanely high these past couple races. And in the next couple races they will have finally found a way to make these things more reliable, but also by then someone will have come up with a new even more competitive style/design for such systems so the failure rate will remain high on less tested systems.

But people racing on this level are doing all of us sailors a service. As they go out and test these edge designs and over time get them reliable, it wont be long before we see things like kanting keels on our production boats that are reliable and seaworthy. And other systems like autopilots for instance, its hoped the makers of such products look at them and why they failed and it contributes to improvements, after all most of these boats get much of their electronics and such for free from the manufacturers via sponsorship, those manufacturers want their products to stand up to the toughest sailing in the world and make it through without breaking.

If these were solid, reliable, more traditional boats, then none of us would be following the race, might as well try following the World Cruising Rally as a competitive sport. The fact that they are racing sleds on the edge of design, that do tend to break, whos skippers have to do be able to not just sail them solo nonstop around the world, but do major repairs at sea of just about any possible thing that might break, is what makes it a great race. This isnt a team on a Volvo 70, where you might have a sailmaker, a rigger, a weather guru, a tactics guy, etc.. its one skipper who has to be the best at it all, repairing electronics, watermakers, composites, generators, sail repair, because its all going to break. You dont cheer just the winner in the Vendee, you cheer for everyone who manages to simply finish the race. You cheer that all of these skippers in every iteration, have always done every possible thing they can to keep in it. Broken main halyard and backup halyard? Gotta climb the rig as a single hander in the southern ocean in 20 foot seas to run a new halyard? You bet every single one of these skippers will do just that. That what makes this race so amazing and its why we are all tuned in. Yeah, people die in the Vendee, but as the years have gone on and rules have been tweaked, its become uncommon, safety gear has gotten so good (and the liferaft and other safety gear you buy today works so well and is so reliable as a direct result of people willing to take ridiculous boats offshore and have to actually use that gear because said boats are so ridiculous).

I will never understand why anyone gives a crap about something like Americas Cup, where they cancel races when the wind is blowing 20 knots, when there is the Vendee to follow.

[CD_Sailor]

I think they are racing by pushing to the limits ... failures are based on the philosophy that "if you aren't breaking things, you aren't pushing hard enough"

It may be useful to think of these activities as simply another type of on-the-water experience. If we go cruising in our decades-old plastic sailboats in order to experience another place, or another culture, or simply to get away for a few weeks or months, that's one approach. Then there are those individuals who go all out each Wednesday evening so they can to beat up on other local sailors later at the club bar. Next are those who really know how to drive a Finn or Star or J-24, or whaterver. They get off on that stuff. Next are the around-the-world chaps who are a separate class, for sure.

It should surprise no one that all these activities, although done on the water in things referred to as "boats," often have little in common. An example (may need to copy and paste):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/sport ... e_20121124

[pete faga]

Maybe 7.PRB hit a metal mooring buoy at night. Hull damage repair is questionable. Tough break for the 2004 winner and the hero in the 2008 vendee

[pete faga]

One of the boats/sleds just broke a 24 hr distance/speed record.498 miles AVERAGING over 20.8 KNOTS. What a ride especially when you are napping!

[Neil Gordon]

One of the boats/sleds just broke a 24 hr distance/speed record.498 miles AVERAGING over 20.8 KNOTS. What a ride especially when you are napping!

I'm comparing that with some of my Boston/Scituate transits, where it's more like 4.98 miles (per leg, e.g., Scituate to Minots Light) at 2.08 knots.

[pete faga]

Verbal Paprec 3 lost her keel last night with less than 2000 miles to go to the finish. Jean Pierre Dick was currently in 3 and gaining.It must be heartbreaking to be that near to the finish after 70 plus days. With half of the boats weight in the keel he will probably have to retire.

[Steve Laume]

"A fabricated keel has the life span of one Vendée Globe, period. If it makes the finish it is a design success, if it breaks it is a design failure, unfortunately we have seen far too many design failures with fabricated steel keels." Mike Golding.

How would that make you feel about taking one of those babies around the world? I find it pretty amazing that any of these boats make it. Most of them wouldn't, if not for the level of expertise and determination of the sailors.

Everything teeters on the edge in this race, Steve.

[pete faga]

First boat finishes Sunday under 80 days! 2nd place 100 miles behind. Both French no surprise there. They are the best.