Vendee Globe 2020

[stief 3,520]

The VG site just posted an English recap that includes some of Beyou's comments. Laurent's is better reading IMHO.

Anyway, the article has other info, but too much to post here

https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/20230/the-fifth-dimension

[Wess 2,378]

1 hour ago, Laurent said:

There is a short interview of Jeremy Beyou on the French side of the official web site, but I see no translation in English on the "other" side of the website, so here is my translation. Points in italic are my own addition/interpretation.

"First news from Jérémie Beyou (Charal) - joined in visio conference this morning...

There are worse things in the world when you look at everything happening around us. That being said, when you are a sportman, you live only through the lense of your objective. For the past 4 years, my goal has been to try to win the Vendée Globe. I am 100% in it. I do not see anything else outside this goal. When everything falls apart so abruptly, like this, it is very violent.  That is why it took me so long to turn around. Most likely, I should have turned around right away, instead of going through the front with the boat in that state. Obviously, it created other collateral damages, but I could not believe it. The wake up call has been hard on me.

 

Earlier in the day, when the wind was not too strong, I tore apart from deck a pulley for my staysail sheet (I do not know if he is talking about the first pulley the sheet goes through from the clew of the jib, or one completely aft on deck, before it comes back to a winch.). It blew up the bulkhead for the traveler (once again, I do not know if he is talking about the main sheet traveler, or the track to adjust the pull angle on the jib sheet). It has torn apart the deck on the starboard side. While I was down below to inspect the damage, I hit something and the rudder was kicked up, halfway up. There is a hole in the leading edge of the rudder and the trailing edge is broken.

And stronger winds were coming in; so it was either I turn around right now, or I continue. We decided with the team that the rudder was going to hold on through the front and I put together a makeshift repair for the jib sheet. The front passed through. It went superfast. I went from 45 knots on one tack to 45 knots on the opposite tack. I jibed, and I trimed in the runner, but with all the carbon fiber shrapnel on deck, it cut through the runner and I lost the runner. I also broke my mast head wind indicator a few hours prior. The runner, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had to bear off and turn around.

Right now, there are still heavy seas, but I am sailing downwind with about 15 knots of wind and the sea is from behind, so it is OK. On the other tack, port tack, the rudder starts to be seriously damaged, I cannot go very fast. I think my ETA is on the 14th, in the morning. After that I don't know... The rudder can be changed. The traveler and the bulkhead, I have to admit I don't know if we can fix it. Quite frankly, I am waking up from 4 years of trying to win the Vendée Globe, and it is over. My dad is in the hospital; he had a stroke one week before the start. And I completely shunted that aside. Obviously, right now, all of that is blowing up in my face.

I am bringing back the boat. We will see after that. I do not know, I do not know about restarting..."

Gutted for him.  Jesus, that sucks.

 

[Corryvreckan 168]

30 minutes ago, Sailbydate said:

Nice analogy. The round-about would be the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, right? ;-)

If L'Arc du Triomphe was moving east at 10 kts while you try to judge your approach.

[minca3 191]

1 hour ago, ivansh said:

Why aren't we seeing any onboard videos of Le Cam? Or am I just looking in the wrong places?

no "clac clac" this time

but seriously: I guess because he didn't upload til now? Because low budget campaigns have been featured already, like Didac Costa

[minca3 191]

2 hours ago, OPAL said:

Really disappointing, reading that last part, i would be surprised if he goes back out. 

There are arguments for and against it.
For:

• similar to AT it will probably his last VG, you don't want to miss out on that
• Charal poured a lot of money into this, I think there are quite some expectations connected with that
• if he rejoins he could sail 1 of the fastest IMOCAs ever build without pressure and without the whole sleep deprivation crap (I guess most/all skippers hate that part)

Against:

• he wants to see his father/family and generally just realized that he wasted 4 years of his life with a dream that just went up in smoke
• his only interest was the victory,  he's done the VG enough times that he doesn't need a 4th time around

Ultimately I think it will boil down how much Charal will push him and how much desire he has to be out on the ocean

[Herman 1,218]

2 hours ago, ivansh said:

My problem is that, when adding weather routing points with right mouse, the actual point isn't where the cursor is, it seems to be a random distance away. I guess I'll just make waypoints.

Strange error, have not had that one. Lots of others though . It took me an hour to update server adresses for weather fax services from NOAA in a XML-file. But the software is free, so I don’t complain too much. Even gave a donation to keep the devs happy.

[OPAL 184]

Today

y’s highlights

[Schakel 124]

In case anyone  asked  what islands they are passing: it's the Azores.


And you can crash into them but they won't.
Except when you are very very tired.
Half hour before the next position report.
200 nM before the typhoon run begins.
Exciting and dangerous,

[Miffy 2,124]

Not Hugo Boss, Apivia, PRB or LinkedOut that people should be worried about - those boats are going to be clear west of the system and have the legs to downwind/reach away from the storm. It is everyone else behind Jean Le Cam ppl should be worried about. 

[stinky 98]

[pbenett 3]

L’Occitane has regained its pace. Let’s  see if it  gets back in the game. Lot of miles lost, but the race is long 

[Laurent 1,553]

1 hour ago, stief said:

The VG site just posted an English recap that includes some of Beyou's comments. Laurent's is better reading IMHO.

Thanks Stief, that's why I do it 

[XTR 9]

The avg wind speed for the last 4 hours reported on the ATR hub was 6.7kts with 2m waves at 2000, will be interesting to watch those numbers spool up over the next 24 hours while the pressure drops. 

Lots of info out there to play with this time around.

[TheDragon 439]

PRB continuing under the big island. HB not on Marine Traffic, so presumably gybed south.

 

[mezaire 28]

9 hours ago, SCARECROW said:

A gybe now would send them south - east not west they have the wind on the stbd quarter.  Pretty sure everyone is just looking for their preferred track around the velodrome.  The closer they go means stronger winds, the ability to run deeper, a short course but a bigger risk.

I meant once the wind turns NE/ENE, which is basically the direction they will want to go.

 

 

[stinky 98]

"Pleasure Craft"

lol

[stief 3,520]

3 minutes ago, TheDragon said:

HB not on Marine Traffic,

Nor vessel finder (though they do say newer position via $$$atellite )

[Chasm 596]

New sked, new luck.

Looks normal to me. No funny courses or turns. Even Sebastien Destremau is moving a pace again.

[Buck Turgidson 77]

HB isn’t close enough to land for the free AIS trackers.

[Schakel 124]

They are downwind cruising towards Theta.

Speed Alex 17 knots....

[crashtack 141]

Seems they're not very afraid of it, trying to get close and personal. NHC suggests max sustained winds are only 65mph, so I guess it can't be too bad

 

 

[splat 3]

 

To avoid wind shadow of large island in short term and set up a better angle for the slingshot west of the storm. The wind shadow is significant on the gribs.

[Schakel 124]

1 minute ago, ivansh said:

AT, Ruyant, Apivia, and PRB have all jibed for some reason. Trying to get closer to Theta? Don't really get it

 

Flat for the wind isn't fastest course.
Steering 45 degrees or even more gives better VMG,
Velocity Made good, Vector mathematics.

[Corryvreckan 168]

I think that was our last position update for the day.  It doesn't matter which time zone you're in, this is a rather dramatic juncture in the race for the updates to 'go dark' for seven hours.

[splat 3]

5 minutes ago, Schakel said:

Flat for the wind isn't fastest course.
Steering 45 degrees or even more gives better VMG,
Velocity Made good, Vector mathematics.

depends on how fast the storm(as forecasted)  moves eastwards... now port gybe soaking/bending towards storm-centre - timing of next gybe will be interesting with wind moving forward on starboard gybe as storm approaches...prudent sea-personship or speed?

[Rainbow Spirit 283]

I suppose it all depends on how fast Theta moves east as to who has taken the right route atm.

[oioi 66]

Looks like linkedout is sailing consistently hotter angles than apivia. I guess that's a mixture of foil and sail design. 

[Miffy 2,124]

Faster boats also buy themselves the benefit of time and distance before they have to commit - the leaders can literally sail towards the eye of the storm 200nm+ away; wait for the wind to veer then gybe 80 degrees and be free and clear of it. 

[Haji 296]

3 hours ago, Haji said:

I'll bet that the Three Musketeers (Apivia, Linked Out and PRB) have already jibed since the 1630 positions...to miss the island if nothing else...;-)  But more seriously because of the lift and to get more wind. Perhaps a bit later than them (however by now is likely) HB will take a hitch to port as well, also due to the lift and to get into more wind.  Obviously not too far though, only far enough to get enough wind to put the pedals down.  

But only guessing.

Told you so.

[stief 3,520]

Looks like they're setting up for that narrow band in the NW quadrant tomorrow, as expected. They'll be timing their jibes back according to their best info of the speed Theta is travelling.

 

[OPAL 184]

Theta is travelling East at 10kts.

[F18 Sailor 285]

Theta, from the VG English News: "Those who come in too close could be severely punished. Because this subtropical depression contains winds of 50 to 60 knots and waves of 6 meters".

That is not a place to be on an ultra light displacement foiling boat, or even an older generation IMOCA. The skippers are considering their approach and entry targets very carefully, and I suspect may be in near full survival mode surfing downwind in the NW quadrant. Crossing my fingers that no one breaks!!

[Virgulino Ferreira 299]

31 minutes ago, Schakel said:

In case anyone  asked  what islands they are passing: it's the Azores.

 

 

My hometown in the south of Brazil have a very strong historical and cultural connection with the Azores. We speak with a unique accent thanks to them. Older people, from traditional families, especially fisherman, can be incomprehensible even to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florianópolis#History

They have a significant relation with the US too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azores#Emigration

 

[Rafael 246]

APIVIA, LINKED, PRB live on Marinetraffic Azores

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:5996641

APIVIA, LINKED Smoking between 26 and 14 Knts (!!)

PRB looks like more problems, loosing miles drasticaly... 

What a bullShit VG tracker w/ poor number in updates and reports...

at least we have the BOSS's hub big brother porn... go ALEX! (60 days in front of you and job done!!)

[TheDragon 439]

23 minutes ago, Haji said:

Told you so.

So Corum is waiting too long to gybe south?

[Schakel 124]

25 minutes ago, Miffy said:

Faster boats also buy themselves the benefit of time and distance before they have to commit - the leaders can literally sail towards the eye of the storm 200nm+ away; wait for the wind to veer then gybe 80 degrees and be free and clear of it. 

That's the case with Ultimes. This field with or without foils is equally close.
Jean le Cam (No foils)was leading in the fore last report.
In a 40 + knots wind situation a foiler is a nightmare.
Or to say the least a very dedicated job to sail right.

 

6 minutes ago, samc99us said:

Theta, from the VG English News: "Those who come in too close could be severely punished. Because this subtropical depression contains winds of 50 to 60 knots and waves of 6 meters".

That is not a place to be on an ultra light displacement foiling boat, or even an older generation IMOCA. The skippers are considering their approach and entry targets very carefully, and I suspect may be in near full survival mode surfing downwind in the NW quadrant. Crossing my fingers that no one breaks!!

Might be world record situations as well. We know more tomorrow.
Waves 6 metres is hard to handle with foils to my point of view but I never exprienced that.
Aren't you send into the sky like a rocket with harsh landings. I did beach cat racing and we'd let go 3 meters plus waves and humped over it.
This is twice as high.

[Roleur 281]

3 minutes ago, Schakel said:

Might be world record situations as well. We know more tomorrow.

No way.  They won't get even close with this sea state.  

[Hitchhiker 774]

So another seven hours of darkness.  Pity as things are getting interesting.  Couple of observations here.  HB's track between 1700 and 2100 updates very close to armchair routing track as can be seen in the middle image, from the lower end point of blue dividers line and the updated position (mark0). Which kind of indicates that HB and others nearby will choose to skirt pretty close to the center of Theta maybe 39NM give or take change in Thetas speed.

[Miffy 2,124]

I doubt it - once it blows past 20-25 the new foilers stop benefiting from apparent wind gains and they’re gonna looking to sea state and minimize distance - you aim for the eye from distance, wait for the wind veer then gybe away then line up for the highway to get you thru to the equator. 

[trimfast 71]

17 minutes ago, Rafael said:

APIVIA, LINKED, PRB live on Marinetraffic Azores

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:5996641

APIVIA, LINKED Smoking between 26 and 14 Knts (!!)

PRB looks like more problems, loosing miles drasticaly... 

What a bullShit VG tracker w/ poor number in updates and reports...

at least we have the BOSS's hub big brother porn... go ALEX! (60 days in front of you and job done!!)

I just wish BOSS's hub had windspeed.

[r.finn 256]

Just now, trimfast said:

I just wish BOSS's hub had windspeed.

That would definitely give away detailed polar info, so probably keeping it private.

[Rafael 246]

13 minutes ago, TheDragon said:

So Corum is waiting too long to gybe south?

LIVE also on MarineTraffic (for a few more hours tonight)

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:6263237

Already gibed S, course 170...

[F18 Sailor 285]

21 minutes ago, Schakel said:

That's the case with Ultimes. This field with or without foils is equally close.
Jean le Cam (No foils)was leading in the fore last report.
In a 40 + knots wind situation a foiler is a nightmare.
Or to say the least a very dedicated job to sail right.

 

Might be world record situations as well. We know more tomorrow.
Waves 6 metres is hard to handle with foils to my point of view but I never exprienced that.
Aren't you send into the sky like a rocket with harsh landings. I did beach cat racing and we'd let go 3 meters plus waves and humped over it.
This is twice as high.

Definitely not world record conditions with seas above 2 meters. I was at the leading edge of the front that Comanche used to set the current world record, we had 30-35kts of breeze and 2 foot waves initially, building over at 48hr period to 6m + seas. Unlike Comanche, a Swan 46 can't keep pace with the front, so we were in less than pleasant conditions for quite some time (7 days or so).

[Rafael 246]

3 minutes ago, trimfast said:

I just wish BOSS's hub had windspeed.

And TWD, TWA, SOG, SOC, etc... wait till next VG edition in 2024 & we will have a 24hr live multiCamera bigBrother channel... (except when shitting in the carbon bunk)

[Chasm 596]

Once again a question of wave state and not to forget wave direction. Next update should give us more of an idea what they are trying to do.

[Raptorsailor 280]

Here we go... hopefully no retirements in the days to come. 

[minca3 191]

5 minutes ago, Raptorsailor said:

Here we go... hopefully no retirements in the days to come. 

amen to that

[minca3 191]

Don't understand a word, but I guess what Stephane Le Diraison is saying that something with his ballast tanks broke:
 

 

[popov 24]

2 minutes ago, minca3 said:

Don't understand a word, but I guess what Stephane Le Diraison is saying that something with his ballast tanks broke:

Its fuel tank ripped off and was leaking. He had to use pieces of a cushion (initially used for stretching) to fix and re glue everything.

[ctdriver 16]

2 minutes ago, popov said:

Its fuel tank ripped off and was leaking. He had to use pieces of a cushion (initially used for stretching) to fix and re glue everything.

That smell of diesel sloshing around will be with the boat for a long time... I'm nauseous thinking about it

[Corryvreckan 168]

1 minute ago, ctdriver said:

That smell of diesel sloshing around will be with the boat for a long time... I'm nauseous thinking about it

I was just glad he doesn't smoke (or more realistically that he didn't try to light the stove).

[Snowden 283]

5 minutes ago, Corryvreckan said:

I was just glad he doesn't smoke (or more realistically that he didn't try to light the stove).

you can't light diesel with a match, wet diesel even less so ;-)

[Corryvreckan 168]

1 minute ago, Snowden said:

you can't light diesel with a match, wet diesel even less so ;-)

 

Ah.. my mistake.  (I don't have a diesel engine myself, and I treat any fuel on board with a good bit of caution).

[mad 3,705]

On 11/11/2020 at 7:56 PM, TPG said:

Pretty funny to see a halyard lock dealer jumping on FB and defending their product over the IMOCA failures. 

link or clip for us non FB users??

[stief 3,520]

 

15 minutes ago, mad said:

link or clip for us non FB users??

Some links and trans clips re Karver's response around post 1599 a few pages back

[Haji 296]

2 hours ago, TheDragon said:

So Corum is waiting too long to gybe south?

I guess we'll find out in a few hours....

[Meat Wad 538]

I'm lovin it. 

[L0kiSc0t 13]

7 minutes ago, Haji said:

I guess we'll find out in a few hours....

Corum has gybed doing around 15kn - PRB, LinkedOut and Apivia highlighted to the West doing bigger numbers at least in this snapshot.

 

[Herman 1,218]

Sea state update: brace for impact 

Earlier I typed that the boats are arriving at Theta in the night from Friday to Saturday, but the Theta-party starts already Friday morning. My error. After fixing the weather fax I can overlay again the projected sea state too. Which is horrible behind Theta, as can be expected. The worst part is projected 8 meter significant waves, see the red arrow on the map where it is worst. See the orange isochrone lines on the map for 1 meter sig waves distances. The blue numbers indicate the sig wave heigths, the average height of the highest one-third of the waves. There are partially waves (black arrows) against wind too in the NW quadrant.

The tricky part is that you don't want to get caught in the up to 40 (GFS/EMWCF) kt steady winds, or 55  kt according to NOAA,  centre of the tropical cyclone. With wind gusts up to 50 kts (GFS/EMWCF) or 65 kt (NOAA). But if you are too slow, you end up in that 8 meter significant wave sea state building up behind the eye. So getting between the hammer and the anvil is key. This is the first time that I am trying to make up a route for a fleet through a TC, and it is just scaring me from behind a desktop. 

See the arrow for the projected 12:00 UTC position of Thompson, just behind the eye, in the first picture with GFS wind barbs and pressure. The second picture is a double overlay of the NOAA projected path of Theta and the sea state without the pressure isochrones or windbarbs.

The third picture show the EMWCF forecast for Friday 11:00 CET as overlay in OpenCPN with the NOAA sea state and the fleet in the north @ 22:30 CET today, to get an impression of the size of the thing. And the very small corridor between the projected eye and the wind building up sig waves behind it.

But where is the eye of the tiger?  EMWCF projects the centre of the eye 46 nm further to the NNE compared to GFS. See picture 4. Roll a dice where it will be actually, and set course accordingly..

Now off to bed, it is going to be an interesting day tomorrow.

 

 

[Herman 1,218]

1 hour ago, Chasm said:

Once again a question of wave state and not to forget wave direction. Next update should give us more of an idea what they are trying to do.

Speak and you will be heard ;-) See my post above.

[weightless 486]

[Rafael 246]

A bit of sun and fresh air outside in techno fashion mode...

Leading and enhancing the race & the audiences w/his revolutionary custom toy...

Alex da FCKN BOSS !!

 

[SCARECROW 550]

Those of you who have a little more to do with the sailors.  How much time would the guys in the better funded teams (Hugo Boss, Charal etc) who have known for the last 3 years that they had sponsors in place and were well enough funded to have "people" doing stuff for them have spent sitting in front of the computer for the last few years virtual racing themselves?

[Foiling Optimist 231]

Thanks Herman, that is exciting, and terrifying. This storm is so passive aggressive in its slow movement eastward. It reminds me of certain senior people in large institutions who similarly require deft navigation to work around.  

[Varan 1,694]

Between work and skiing (yes, skiing), I have not been able to keep up with this thread, sorry. But how about old man cam? Yes we Cam! How cool is that. And here is a day four summary.

Now to go back and read the past few pages... 

[Teaky 140]

15 minutes ago, SCARECROW said:

Those of you who have a little more to do with the sailors.  How much time would the guys in the better funded teams (Hugo Boss, Charal etc) who have known for the last 3 years that they had sponsors in place and were well enough funded to have "people" doing stuff for them have spent sitting in front of the computer for the last few years virtual racing themselves?

Probably zero.  But going forward it should be part of the sponsorship.

[terrafirma 977]

8 hours ago, Snowden said:

I think there is a bit of pixellation here. Thompson put himself in the red to catch up & get positioned over the last 48 hrs and is paying it back now. I don't think it tells you much about the relative effort/speed ratio of Boss vs Corum.

Yeah Alex has sailed less miles (24 Hours) than the other leading boats but has a lead so that suggests he has navigated/routed better than the others. 

[terrafirma 977]

48 minutes ago, Rafael said:

A bit of sun and fresh air outside in techno fashion mode...

Leading and enhancing the race & the audiences w/his revolutionary custom toy...

Alex da FCKN BOSS !!

 

How good is that to be able to catch up with Alex and the boat everyday. Kudos to the Boss team as their tracker and info is welcomed when you compare what comes out of the Vendee site

[Rafael 246]

Mr Dalin and his wasp flying machine pressing his teeth hitting 28.7 Knts (!!) in the dark... cozy lulaby

[Haji 296]

1 hour ago, Haji said:

I guess we'll find out in a few hours....

To be honest, I hope that HB didn't go any further south after the 20:30 reports, and jibed back west in front of JLC to consolidate/cross/merge with the 3 westerners.  

[Hitchhiker 774]

Good input @Herman as usual!

Here is my Tuppence worth.  I projected HB track based on the previous track update between 1700 and 2100.  His distance from the center of Theta has gone up by 5 nm.  But it is going to be a bumpy ride.  That said the slower boats look to get through the west side in pretty good order given the current speed of Theta.

Edit: 3hrs 16mins to go.  Not that anyone is keeping track!

[Rafael 246]

11 minutes ago, terrafirma said:

How good is that to be able to catch up with Alex and the boat everyday. Kudos to the Boss team as their tracker and info is welcomed when you compare what comes out of the Vendee site

AT and his HB team add so much to the race..., this year is his globe w/out a doubt... if his bad luck does not destroys his race again of course..(crossfingers)

The official race tracker is simply... french fried shit

[stief 3,520]

17 minutes ago, Rafael said:

The official race tracker is simply

I've had issues with the developer, but his work is NOT shit. Last time round he switched to the Windy animations, got permission from Remora to add projected routes, posted here and taken feedback. 

Yes . .  much more is possible. Try contacting him politely, and see if he'll implement your suggestions . He has in the past.

[Miffy 2,124]

Yah cry some more - that’ll get the VG organizers to email all the skippers to agree to a new update schedule. 

[Hitchhiker 774]

59 minutes ago, Rafael said:

AT and his HB team add so much to the race..., this year is his globe w/out a doubt... if his bad luck does not destroys his race again of course..(crossfingers)

The official race tracker is simply... french fried shit

Don’t jinx AT and HB this early into the race. AT can do that himself.

[terrafirma 977]

It's 2020 and the greatest Ocean race in the world and they dish up cave man data tracking.! Is this a French thing or a money thing? Or a dumb thing? 

[L0kiSc0t 13]

10 minutes ago, terrafirma said:

It's 2020 and the greatest Ocean race in the world and they dish up cave man data tracking.! Is this a French thing or a money thing? Or a dumb thing? 

it can't be such big periods between updates due to giving the skippers info - surely they have all that by AIS and I understand that AIS has to be permanently on right?

[Keith 850]

2 minutes ago, L0kiSc0t said:

it can't be such big periods between updates due to giving the skippers info - surely they have all that by AIS and I understand that AIS has to be permanently on right?

yes

[L0kiSc0t 13]

Sam still on AIS and doing 21.4knts. Corum, PRB, Apivia and LinkedOut all dropped off now

[Qingdaosog 1]

Alex's data has gone dark. Latest update at 0200 UTC -- All zero. . Either a malfunction or he is trying to mask his physical  activity during this 7 hours with no tracking data?

[Miffy 2,124]

19 minutes ago, L0kiSc0t said:

it can't be such big periods between updates due to giving the skippers info - surely they have all that by AIS and I understand that AIS has to be permanently on right?

AIS B range is like 10-15 nm tops. 

[L0kiSc0t 13]

13 minutes ago, Miffy said:

AIS B range is like 10-15 nm tops. 

So what's the story with AIS satellite detection? From a quick google it sounds less reliable.

[Buck Turgidson 77]

13 minutes ago, Miffy said:

AIS B range is like 10-15 nm tops. 

er.... mine isn't. and if you watch pips video from today neither is hers. 

[Miffy 2,124]

4 minutes ago, L0kiSc0t said:

So what's the story with AIS satellite detection? From a quick google it sounds less reliable.

It’s mainly for SAR/dead zone & works best with AIS A - AIS B just doesn’t have enough wattage the reliability is low. 

 

4 minutes ago, Buck Turgidson said:

er.... mine isn't. and if you watch pips video from today neither is hers. 

Okay? How tall is your VHF antenna? What’s your transporter model?

[Liquid 266]

2 hours ago, terrafirma said:

How good is that to be able to catch up with Alex and the boat everyday. Kudos to the Boss team as their tracker and info is welcomed when you compare what comes out of the Vendee site

The main event site is very thin on content.

Why not be a hub for the team's content and consolidate all the feeds there?

[crashtack 141]

seems like AT's lack of sleep is paying off... leads by 30nm

[Tunnel Rat 1,058]

Apivia has put in another gybe to the west to increase separation with Theta - seems like a smart move to me.  I hope everyone makes it through OK.

[Lat 18 10]

Theta is moving east. Maybe Alex and Jean know what they're doing.

[Chasm 596]

Apivia goes west early, also adding in some speed. Someone with the windy conversion should be able to tell if he follows a change in wind waves.
Looks like Alex wants to know it, most south of them. JLC 30nm back and ever so lightly drifting west, basically following Alex.

The middle of the fleet is in the hole, slow boating at 8ish knots.
Pips next video should be good, almost hunting foilers.  Ok, not really, 25-36nm to the group of 4 south of her. Looking at the ranking 7 non foilers in front and 6 behind her. Not bad!

[Rafael 246]

1 hour ago, stief said:

I've had issues with the developer, but his work is NOT shit. Last time round he switched to the Windy animations, got permission from Remora to add projected routes, posted here and taken feedback. 

Yes . .  much more is possible. Try contacting him politely, and see if he'll implement your suggestions . He has in the past.

I didn't mentioned the developer or interface, in fact Geovoile did/does a good work, as you mention (the windy fluid animations instead of the bloody arrows, etc.).

My critique is about the poor data shown... in the best solo oceanic historic race in this era 2020/21 (almost no data TWD, TWA, SOG, COG, etc... who fcking cares about km/h!!),

and the poor eternal updates (6 in 24 hours!)  At least HUGO BOSS's Hub updates 24 times daily (each hour)

[Miffy 2,124]

AT now also has the advantage of being able to cover anyone to the west regardless of how the storm moves in the coming days. 

Got a fast boat. Put it in the right place. Comfortable position to be.