Vendee Globe 2016?

[huey 2]

Is this up here already ?

 

[huey 2]

But this really puts things into perspective Hope you never need one especially in the Southern Ocean

the australian Met office is saying the belt of winds in the southern ocean, have moved up closer to australian waters

so it will keep the skippers further north nicely modelled by JEAN

 

[staysail]

With the forecast for heavy winds at the start, I can't imagine trying to single-hand an IMOCA 60 to the starting line with thousands of spectator boats around. I have to figure I'd wuss out, tool around under double-reefed main alone, get across the line and away from the drunken masses, and then set a headsail and think about shaking out a reef. It's gonna be chaos if the forecast holds. I just hope no one (and no boats) get hurt pre-start.

Forecast changing a lot every 6 hours! This morning's windguru below.

 

[Potter]

Alec Wilkinson and Dee are doing English commentary for the dock off and the Start. So will be starting at 0700 local time for the first boat off the dock.

I am told it will be streamed on the VG website.

 

[oioi]

Thomson remains something of an unknown threat to the top French hierarchy. Le Cléac'h considers him a rival capable of winning: Alex is the one whose boat we know least about, Le Cléac'h said today, We haven't raced very often against him. He scares us a bit, because the other favourites all know each other from Port-la-Forêt. We know their strengths and weaknesses. We saw at the start of the NY-Vendée that his boat has a huge potential. For me, he's there amongst the favourites.

http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Vendee-Globe--The-jackal-and-the-British-lion/149348

Should Thomson train with the rest? You would think that by testing he should be able to develop his boat speed and bench mark it, but on the other hand he doesnt give away strengths and weaknesses to the rest. If his boat is genuinely faster there is little to be gained by showing that to your competitors

 

[staysail]

Is this up here already ?

That foredeck looks like a hazardous place to work!

 

[Haji]

Great footage of HB. Yum. The new boats are stunning.

I will say this: even though I've finished a Vendee, I'd have to think long & hard before I'd tackle it on one of these beasts. Yikes.

 

[GnarlyItWas]

Thomson remains something of an unknown threat to the top French hierarchy. Le Cléac'h considers him a rival capable of winning: Alex is the one whose boat we know least about, Le Cléac'h said today, We haven't raced very often against him. He scares us a bit, because the other favourites all know each other from Port-la-Forêt. We know their strengths and weaknesses. We saw at the start of the NY-Vendée that his boat has a huge potential. For me, he's there amongst the favourites.

http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Vendee-Globe--The-jackal-and-the-British-lion/149348

Should Thomson train with the rest? You would think that by testing he should be able to develop his boat speed and bench mark it, but on the other hand he doesnt give away strengths and weaknesses to the rest. If his boat is genuinely faster there is little to be gained by showing that to your competitors

I am not sure he could if he wanted to....... It seems to me that in France the sport is popular enough that the sponsors can let their skippers train and focus on the races, they will get enough exposure if they do well in the race ( or break ). Thompson feels different, I almost feel that his job for Boss is to do sponsor tours, stunts and corporate events and build amazing looking boats, I don't think his sponsors want him hidden away training.

 

[GBH]

all that matters to the sponsors is news, any news, so a good disaster is better than a reasonable race result. And on past form you'd have to reckon thats the likely outcome. IF the boat has real pace then it might overcome the lack of training compared to the French professionals but he's old generation and the new guys are just smarter and better trained for the mission.

 

[jonas a]

all that matters to the sponsors is news, any news, so a good disaster is better than a reasonable race result. And on past form you'd have to reckon thats the likely outcome. IF the boat has real pace then it might overcome the lack of training compared to the French professionals but he's old generation and the new guys are just smarter and better trained for the mission.

Seems like all the skippers of the top boats are close to 40 or above, apart from Morgan. But sure, "old generation" might just indicate the way you approach training

 

[bbl]

Thomson remains something of an unknown threat to the top French hierarchy. Le Cléac'h considers him a rival capable of winning: Alex is the one whose boat we know least about, Le Cléac'h said today, We haven't raced very often against him. He scares us a bit, because the other favourites all know each other from Port-la-Forêt. We know their strengths and weaknesses. We saw at the start of the NY-Vendée that his boat has a huge potential. For me, he's there amongst the favourites.

http://www.sail-world.com/Canada/Vendee-Globe--The-jackal-and-the-British-lion/149348

Should Thomson train with the rest? You would think that by testing he should be able to develop his boat speed and bench mark it, but on the other hand he doesnt give away strengths and weaknesses to the rest. If his boat is genuinely faster there is little to be gained by showing that to your competitors

I am not sure he could if he wanted to....... It seems to me that in France the sport is popular enough that the sponsors can let their skippers train and focus on the races, they will get enough exposure if they do well in the race ( or break ). Thompson feels different, I almost feel that his job for Boss is to do sponsor tours, stunts and corporate events and build amazing looking boats, I don't think his sponsors want him hidden away training.

To answer oioi's question:

Here's one scenario when I believe that developing your boat speed by competing is not best:

* You have a secret that makes you significantly faster, and

* This secret is easily discovered and possible to duplicate by the others if they find it, and

* Competing significantly increases the risk of the others finding your secret

There's another case I can think of for not showing a major weakness, especially if it will not be easily discovered during the first parts of the race. For example trailing competitors that know your weakness can try to choose routes to force your hand: either go into your weak areas or give up your "covering" of them.

In most cases though, I think you'd be better off competing.

 

[oioi]

How did François Gabart hide his sail development? He trained with the rest at Port-la-Foret but managed to set of with a sail plan advantage.

 

[LeoV]

Great footage of HB. Yum. The new boats are stunning.

I will say this: even though I've finished a Vendee, I'd have to think long & hard before I'd tackle it on one of these beasts. Yikes.

Oh yeah, i think Heerema got a bit greedy as a novice in such a boat. Lets see if he gets a hernia...

 

[southerncross]

Not sparring with the rest is a calculated risk. Maybe Thompson isn't the only one with an extra weapon is his quiver. Who knows. Best laid plans of mice and men and all. As mentioned earlier, the human component may be the most vulnerable.

 

[Sailbydate]

That's quite a crowd. The atmosphere in the village must be electric.

 

[nkb]

That's quite a crowd. The atmosphere in the village must be electric.

The queue to get down onto that dock is about 300m long and about 45 minutes to an hour wait from morning til night. Thankfully the race village is also fun to walk though, loads of interactive stuff for all ages including TWO IMOCA (in different places) to see on land. One is the old Aviva and the other was Aquitaine Innovations.

 

[3to1]

Thomson's boat; maybe overall, the most striking boat I've ever seen. the foredeck shape is functional beauty in how it minimizes water weight on the bow, and isn't it the narrowest, beam wise, of the foilers? possibly the fastest all-rounder because hull power has been moderated a bit? just a guess, but the boat appears to be a weapon (they all do), now it's up to the guy sailing it.

 

[southerncross]

Is anyone who is there going to post any pictures of the boats?

 

[Lost in Translation]

I really like Alex's boat too. It is the most multi-hull of the boats and that seems smart given the direction of high speed semi-foiling with wave piercing and windage reducing bow.

I wish he had his new foils still. From what I have seen of the old ones in the video he has released, he gets too much lift on occasion and falls off the foils. I wonder if he foils higher than the others as the video gave that impression?? Looks quick overall, the numbers he has quoted on speeds are impressive, and would love to see what his newer boards would do before they broke.

Clean, who is in your top 3 or whatever given what you are seeing?

 

[Just A Skosh]

Anyone know if there are strain gauges put on any of these boats? Seems like it would be a fairly low-weight way to keep tabs on important bits, and would provide a bunch of data for future designs.