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I worked on a project for Akzo. It was 3.5 times over budget and years late. I think the new ceo might be particularly sensitive to cost overruns

Still only 4 teams Are there some waiting in the wings I would hate to see this race disappear

Back to the race Who are the missing teams?

I have a transom hung rudder which is lifted out of the water when not sailing so no need to anti foul. What to coat it with? I guess I need to protect the wood. My default would be to slap on some domestic gloss paint but this is probably not the answer. The boat is 23ft - hunter sonatta - the rudder is about 6ft tall with 4ft in the water. It is currently varnished above the water line with some form of paint/ coating below the water line. It needs repair as the coating is damaged and there is water ingress into the wood. I have started to strip it back but curious as to what replace it with. I am going to prep my spare rudder which is already stripped back to bare wood and nice and dry. I will then finish stripping the other rudder back to wood to let it dry out. The suggested solution needs to be a quick process as i go racing in 3 weeks. Thanks

I was disappointed in the way seb Josse pulled the pin. I don't know how significant the damage was but he seemed to pull the plug as soon as he felt he was not going to be competitive. Alex thomson carried on with similar damage? Vincent riou showed what a legend he is. Mike

Listening to radio 4 in the car on the way to work this morning. Live interview with conrad colman. He sounded very together. He thinks his eta is Friday afternoon. Not sure how you maintain energy levels on 700 calories per day.

Suppose there would have been another multihull capable of sailing 25% faster in all wind conditions than IdecSport. I think that if it would have started 6 hours after Idec, it would have finished no more than 6 hours earlier, making at most 12 hours faster circumnavigation. In real life it could not have predicted the weather all around the globe in advance, and would not have picked that starting time. Had it started at the same time, it would have been more than 1.5 days in ahead at Cap Horn, and lost almost all of that advantage to Idec during the Atlantic. It would have finished in the same weather as Idec only a few hours ahead at most, because there was a huge light wind area almost across the whole NorthAtlantic a day before.That is the effect of weather patterns. The biggest improvements in individual legs if sailed at the same time would have been down the Atlantic or from NewZealand to Cap Horn, both more than a day. However it would not be logically possible to sail both legs at the same time than Idec, while also sailing at faster average speeds. What is necessary to break the record would be any of these: - Both a faster boat and equally lucky weather (less than 5% probability) or - significantly (> 33%) faster boat and almost as lucky weather (max 25 % probability) - same boat performance and better luck with weather (less than 0.5 % probability) Sailing a shorter distance down south without hitting anything might be possible in some weather conditions, but only if technology advances to detect Ice and sealife. That would increase the probabilities for suitable weather required to break the record. At this point only a faster boat will not be enough, unless it would be more than 50% faster in all wind conditions, and I don't think that is possible any time soon. Also having a faster top speed due to fully foiling would not have made any significant difference for the new IDEC record time. It would only have caused sailing in to less wind in the southern ocean between low pressure systems and having the same speed as Idec had in a better place. A better boat needs also to be faster in lighter wind conditions. That would allow hopping from current low to the previous one even then the current one doesn't slow down like happened south of NZ for Idec allowing it to do just that. 33% improvement is required for that kind of hopping. I would love to see your analysis to support your probability numbers. They are presented in a factual manner so I am assuming there is hard data to support them?

Good effort and shows well after the previous two early dnf's. My feeling is that poor boat prep before the start let him down.

2? BP to Louis and Gitana to Boris. Any others? Safran I wouldn't really expect to be sold. Virbac probably would be sold eventually, although it seems to clearly be the slowest of the foilers. I think Hugo boss potentially reduces the value of these foilers. It points to the opportunity for a new design to go further along the hb route and away from the max full bow of bp8 etc al. Anyone going for a new build may have a significant advantage over these boats.

Looks like both are going really hard. Impressive to think that both of them could break the 24hr record at the end of the race. there has to be performance degradation at the end of a round the world trip. Great race!

Bit tricky to hove to without a mast.

In light conditions will AT be quicker than ALC on port? At low speeds the foils are just drag

Still going very slowly. Not good

If it was me and the boat was breaking up under me I would head for the nearest landfall and sail it straight onto the beach and worry about getting of the beach later... I think it's called "do a vestas"

What he is saying below. Quite impressive... I am so sad for him. He did a great race. " I lowered the mainsail. I turned on the engine. I remained a few hours hove to. The damage at the front of the boat is deteriorating, the hull is opening up, the frames are coming unglued from everywhere. I am heading to the South of New Zealand. I should be there in 2 days. I am not sure it is going to hold until then. The good thing is that I am within helicopter range. It is comforting. I just need to push one button for someone to get me. The living quarters are not damaged. With the watertight doors, I can stay protected. The hit was ultra-violent. I still shivers, just thinking about it... and talking about it. I was sailing at 17-18 knots. And everything stopped. I think I hit a container. That's what torn apart the bottom of the hull. The front of the hull exploded. The hull buckled. Luckily I did not lose the mast. It was very, very violent. I was sleeping in my bean bag. Thank god, I had my head deep into the bean bag. I ended up against the mast bulkhead. I found items against the mast bulkhead that were packed up at the rear of the boat; it flew forward over 10 meters... A bit stressful. The good thing is that I am not too far from shore. But actually, that is also what could have caused it. I saw several cargos. I think I am on a maritime route between New Zealand and Australia. Knowing the sea conditions, there must be a few containers in the water. I think that's what I hit, considering the violence of the shock... Here we are... End of Vendee Globe... Finished... Half around the world.... I am so sad it ends up this way... I had my lot of hardship... For sure I had a truck load of them... But this one... this one... Fuck! I really wish this one to nobody... " Thanks for the translation. Let's hope the boat holds together long enough to get him ashore.