The Ocean Race 2023 leg 2: Cabo Verde to Capetown

[Matagi]

Exactly. There, I said it.

 

[Trocola]

Thanks.

AIS is settled then:

"The AIS shall remain powered on and transmitting at all times while Racing."

Communication:

"All satellite communication to and from the boat shall be made using the Inmarsat service. Alternative satellite systems may only be used in an emergency if the Inmarsat service is not available"

IMOCA class rules allow remote routing nowadays, and the router naturally has access to 24/7 positions of all the boats, so that would make it a bit complicated. Is remote routing allowed in this race? I guess not, otherwise why bother routing onboard, I have yet to find the definite answer on the rules.

I don't think imoca allows remote routing. For example in the route du rum the only classes allowed remote routage are the multis, for safety reasons.

 

[noaano]

I don't think imoca allows remote routing. For example in the route du rum the only classes allowed remote routage are the multis, for safety reasons.

They do it seems (for some races), but misunderstood what it means:

2020 Vendée Globe: what is off-shore routing?

_ Since 2019, the IMOCA class has authorised the implementation of remote routing for the skippers of the 2020 Vendée Globe. What does this new measurement rule consist of?

www.boatsnews.com

 

[JonRowe]

Do the class rules talk about accessing a web site that gathers AIS data via satellite? Is that forbidden?
Are there general internet access restrictions, or is any access allowed?

They used to control it and its relatively easy technically to automatically prohibit traffic to the services you specify, and then mandate you have someone from the office in all group chats.

Also although the tracker looks the same, it may not be, when Niall is presenting you see one that looks like the race tracker, but says "Race Office" edition or something in the top right (next to their Grafana-esq dashboards of all boats), which presumedly has live (as far as it goes) updates.

So the version on the boats could easily be the same UI with less information on the UI or less frequent updates.

 

[noaano]

Meanwhile Malizia dashboard shows 23.51 kts mean SPD over 24h.

If I calculate correctly, that would be 564.24nm. But the record is between two points via a direct line, yes?

 

[climenuts]

I'd hope that by remote routing they mean the computation can occur off the boat to give access to greater computation power. These teams are likely updating their competitors polars, running many iterations of all boats routings with different models, model adjustments, etc. to get spaghetti plots to look for divergence/key decision points. It's a lot of computation to have going on board but reasonable to initialize and review the finished product from the boat.

I'm betting the divergence between Herman's routing going South and the fleet heading East is due to a lot of uncertainty around the ridge and it not being worth investing the miles south unless a lane appears. Better to put miles towards Cape Town and/or the Ridge until the models agree on a path.

 

[noaano]

They used to control it and its relatively easy technically to automatically prohibit traffic to the services you specify, and then mandate you have someone from the office in all group chats.

In todays world, when the people use presumably their own devices and post to social media.... I say this is impossible to filter nor limit.

Everything is encrypted today, you cannot tell from outside whether someone is posting to their social media timeline or private messaging race tactics.

So the version on the boats could easily be the same UI with less information on the UI or less frequent updates.

Could well be. It just looked exactly like the public one. Hard to say.

 

[Herman]

Finally the jackpot with ASCAT. For the first time the right area and the right time (15:00 UTC). When comparing with the GFS forecast I used, the wind direction is +/- 10 degrees off. Also the actual wind speed is 5 to 10 kts lower than projected at the extrapolated / estimated boat postions @ 15 UTC.

Although Charlie mentioned in the blog posted above they were going south, the pack was still going east.

Instant edit; Holcim-PRB just gybed due south @ 21:00 UTC.


GFS

ASCAT

 

[JonRowe]

In todays world, when the people use presumably their own devices and post to social media.... I say this is impossible to filter nor limit.

Everything is encrypted today, you cannot tell from outside whether someone is posting to their social media timeline or private messaging race tactics.

This actually isn't quite true, you can tell if someone is posting to WhatsApp, or to YouTube, very easily, the domain names you visit are not encrypted over a standard connection, this is very easy to track (and why you should use a VPN on any untrusted network [which is basically every network], free networks often track this usage information to sell on).

So what you do when you control the connection (the Immarsat connections) is block VPNs, block any url except the race tracker, grib downloads (which I believe are provided by the race office again, no external ones allowed) and permitted social media, now if you don't trust the teams to not use social media to privately message people you, you use a relay system where they can't access social media either, and someone on their shore team posts for them (this is for example what the GGR does, the cometitors are not tweeting, its messages posted for them from messages sent to race control).

 

[dg_sailingfan]

HOLCIM-PRB has gone South @Herman per 22.00CET Tracker Update.

 

[PIL66 - XL2]

Could someone save me hours of reading and inform me why Biotherm is leaking so many miles per day to the other three in the last 3 or so days...? I assume there is a problem....?

 

[Herman]

Quick routing with 20:30 UTC boat positions and GFS run 13:00 UTC to test the Arctic exclusion zone. It finally worked, the trick is to set boat speed to 0 in the exclusion area and to enlarge it.

ETA: 4 boats in 15 minutes in Capetown Feb 12th lunchtime with 1800+ nm to sail. Projections start to look like a one design class instead of a box rule class . ETA for Guyot; they are bleeding badly, half a day later projected in. St. Helena HP my guess, see the 2 dotted bits in their track. Loosing that 2nd sail will not help either. And I have not even adjusted their polars for that.

 

[mathystuff]

Could someone save me hours of reading and inform me why Biotherm is leaking so many miles per day to the other three in the last 3 or so days...? I assume there is a problem....?

I can't remember anything in particular. They went a bit more east through that low wind area off brazil and got stuck there for longer. That's basically it, iirc.

 

[Fiji Bitter]

Could someone save me hours of reading...

Not just the reading, it's the hours of trying to decipher the Franglais that is the problem.
Anyway, someone said Paul M. was using Biotderma anti-itch cream. He should use Sudocrem of course, applied by the nurse they all have on board.

 

[vtsail]

Quick routing with 20:30 UTC boat positions and GFS run 13:00 UTC to test the Arctic exclusion zone. It finally worked, the trick is to set boat speed to 0 in the exclusion area and to enlarge it.

ETA: 4 boats in 15 minutes in Capetown Feb 12th lunchtime with 1800+ nm to sail. Projections start to look like a one design class instead of a box rule class . ETA for Guyot; they are bleeding badly, half a day later projected in. St. Helena HP my guess, see the 2 dotted bits in their track. Loosing that 2nd sail will not help either. And I have not even adjusted their polars for that.

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Herman - what initializing info are you using on your runs. PRB has a longer elapsed time but shows finishing in front of Malizia. Are there slightly different timestamps on the positions?

 

[jimmy_81]

Holcim-PRB have broken off from the drag race & heading south. Will the leading two follow?

 

[terrafirma]

Holcim-PRB have broken off from the drag race & heading south. Will the leading two follow?

Holcim heading straight for Gough Island.! Their speed is ok so perhaps just a co-incidence.?

 

[the_c]

Hello Good People ....

There is a completely free virtual sailing experience running in parallel with the Ocean Race, at SailNavSim

The current race status for Leg Two look likes this (image: below, white and yellow are virtual boats 3 hour updates for competitors, green and blue are real boats, 4 hour updates)

The "real" IMOCA Fleet are shown, the virtual fleet use a (perhaps dodgy) IMOCA polar as the base for sailing attributes and use "real" weather for, well weather conditions ...

The virtual fleet (that went west) got a big lead initially, likely due to better performance in lighter winds with no foil drag (or just a shitty polar), but the foiling IMOCA are catching up fast in the Southern Ocean, as the wind has increased. My boat is the yellow one (annoyingly) in second.

We ran Leg one as well, and the first virtual boat came in 3rd or 4th if I remember correctly. We got a bit of a lead early because in making the course I didn't realize there was the "inshore section", but then were quickly caught by the real fleet.

The next race will start with the IMOCA fleet, and will be announced here, hopefully a week before the race - I'll update this thread (unless I am booed of the stage) when it is ready.

There is a learning curve to be sure - but this can help, one of the intrepid virtual sailors has this tool to help/auto-helm direct the boat to multiple waypoints.

We also chat on liberachat at #sailnavsim

thanks
c

 

[terrafirma]

The leading fleet diving South to avoid the massive windless hole ahead of Capetown. I think Biotherm and Guyot are out of the race from a winning perspective. If I had to guess on a winner I think it will come from 11th Hour or Holcim. Would love to see Malizia win though.

 

[Varan]

These are decent speeds for the past four hours. Leg three should be even better if the teams can manage their damages.