Vendee Globe 2020

[Rafael]

Another UFO.

That's now #7 I think?

6 since 24 November..LinkedOut?

So on average one every 36 hours.

My personal opinion, most likely caused by the strong Agulhas Current (with all the debris dragged from Mozambique channel and the african coast) + marine wildlife abundance (a very danger mined zone and not the only one of course)

 

[jack_sparrow]

Watching Le Cam booking along at 17+ in 6th place got me thinking (oh oh) about what a great opportunity this is for Escoffier, watching a master do his thing 24/7. You cannot buy that kind of training. All the little nuisances, rig checks, weather routing, sleep and meal patterns, ... 

....OR......

This watching.

Watching for UFO's JLC has strapped Kevin to the pulpit wearing a diving mask and snorkel. 

Kevin is not happy.  :lol:

 

[PIL66 - XL2]

The container collapse on the boxship ONE Apus is poised to become one of the largest recent incidents. The owners and managers of the ship are now reporting that the extent of the lost and damaged containers could exceed 1,900 boxes with possibly 40 transporting dangerous goods. Fully loaded the Apus has a capacity of 14,000 TEU.

Yesterday, NYK Shipmanagement reported on behalf of Chidori Ship Holding that the 138,611 DWT vessel had suffered container collapse mid-Pacific during a voyage from Yantian, China bound for Long Beach, California. The Apus, which is operated as part of the Ocean Network Express (ONE), was approximately 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii when it encountered a violent storm cell that produced gale-force winds and large swells. The vessel rolled heavily in the storm resulting in the container collapse.

They reported that the Apus had diverted from its course and today confirmed that as AIS data showed yesterday that the ship has reversed course heading in a westerly direction. The managers said that they were seeking “a suitable port to right unstable containers, assess any damages, and determine the exact numbers of containers lost.” The AIS data now indicates that the Apus is heading towards Yokohama due to arrive on December 7, while yesterday it indicated Kobe.

“Our focus remains on getting the ship to a safe port to ensure the ongoing safety of the crew, the vessel, and the cargo on board,” the companies said in their statement. They also reported that a notification was sent to the JRCC in Honolulu and Guam with maritime navigational warnings subsequently broadcast. They continue to promise that full investigation will be conducted into the incident.

The Apus is a new containership having been delivered in April of 2019 as the sixth in a series of seven ships being built for ONE at the Kure Shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation. Measuring 1,194 feet in length, she employs a hull form that minimizes the engine-room space to improve cargo-loading efficiency and the latest safety and navigational technology.

This incident is the second recent container collapse experienced aboard one of the vessels of the network. On October 30, a sister ship, the ONE Aquila also suffered a collapse during heavy weather in the Pacific. The company did not announce the number of containers lost or damaged, but that vessel diverted to Tacoma, Washington, where she spent nearly a week undergoing a survey and offloading damaged boxes before proceeding to Long Beach.

A loss or damage of nearly 2,000 containers would rank among the largest incidents the industry has experienced without the loss of a vessel. The World Shipping Council in its 2020 report on containers lost at sea said the yearly total was declining. In the most recent three-year period, they reported the average was 779 containers lost down by nearly half from the average of 1,390 lost in the three prior years.  Among the most significant incidents was 4,293 containers in 2013 when the MOL Comfort was lost and approximately 900 containers in 2011 when the Rena grounded.

Weather is considered to be one of the most frequent factors contributing to container damage or loss overboard during a voyage.

These figures absolutely horrify the fuck out of me..... Completely unacceptable in this day and age and considering what each empty box is worth let alone a full one, why is there no GPS locator assigned to each one so at least we know if they are floating or gone...... 
Is there a world body to answer to ....When in international waters who punishes the mega wealthy freight companies ..?
How do we collectively fix this ongoing...?   We talk about plastics and the like but this seems to be swept under the waves.
As an offshore sailor and owner, I'm scared shitless for my boat and crew ........ 

On another note ..... I'm know there was some issues for Kojiro on a couple occasions but with the best equipment i was expecting better speed...  Is he just inexperienced with a great budget out there doing his best (Good on him if so)....?   Anyone know more on him...? 

 

[blunderfull]

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CIT2ap2AaiC/?igshid=1tiuzlemnwwj7

400+ day for Pip.  Hoo yah!

 

[AnotherSailor]

JLC keeps doing incredibly well! Considering that he spent a good part of a day rescuing Kevin, then a day+ of interviews and other distractions while trying to catch a bit of sleep, he is just a few miles from 4th! 

Burton is killing it! Ruyant is slowly falling behind. 

 

[Knut Grotzki]

Looks like a serious challenge to the race to me.  How can you send people out solo in fragile boats into a flotsam soup?

They have not been sent out - they choose to do so. Not so much different from Formula 1, Idatarod or horse racing.

 

[Rafael]

Watching Le Cam booking along at 17+ in 6th place got me thinking (oh oh) about what a great opportunity this is for Escoffier, watching a master do his thing 24/7. You cannot buy that kind of training. All the little nuisances, rig checks, weather routing, sleep and meal patterns, ... 

Albeit his wide oceanic sailing experience, for sure Kevin is learning a lot this past week, his sudden sunken boat, the rescue and then the master's workshop until Kerguelen indeed

....OR......

This watching.

Watching for UFO's JLC has strapped Kevin to the pulpit wearing a diving mask and snorkel. 

Kevin is not happy.  :lol:

Not happy, but very very lucky (also the race until today with just accidents to tell, crossfingers), lucky even with the head under the freezing waters I bet grumpy king Jean solo master is pushing hard his boat for a fast landing :lol:

 

[jack_sparrow]

Burton is killing it! Ruyant is slowly falling behind.

Burton certainly is max VMG now and staying in the SW pressure as Charlie is running out of horsepower looking to gybe (which in real time he probably already has). 

Damian Seguin also staying in SW pressure and going in right direction is appearing as a smokey 

 

[socalrider]

....OR......

This watching.

Watching for UFO's JLC has strapped Kevin to the pulpit wearing a diving mask and snorkel. 

Kevin is not happy.  :lol:

The humorous posts positing growing tensions between two solo sailors stuck in close quarters together makes me think of one regatta when I was maybe 13 or 14, sailing Mistrals I think - some two person skiff.  My crew kept trying to tell me what to do, and wouldn't follow my instructions.  I grew increasingly irritated, and as we passed the clubhouse I distracted him for a second and gave him a little shove backwards into the drink by the docks, and continued on for the rest of the race happily by myself.  

Evidently this is not allowed, but it did generate a lot of laughter and fun conversations over the years from the adults who were watching from shore.   

 

[jack_sparrow]

Yup, Killer whales are attacking their foils.  First, they swim well ahead of them, then either stop or swim back at the foils and smash into them killing themselves but also breaking foils.  Kamikaze whales!

Good call.

They don't appear that stupid having the second-biggest brains among all ocean mammals.

Maybe you are thinking it's menopausel females just going mental and not suicidal?

 

[Rafael]

On 12/2/2020 at 7:12 AM, PIL66 - XL2 said:



Catastrophic result indeed, scary as hell and surrealistic..., but just like climbers, alpinists, car pilots, and high risk extreme athletes, they are hooked in forever and keep coming... 4 years later, he is out there again and with the highest 24hr average speed of this year's race (515Nm) 

The oceans are huge highways full of monster traffic and their attached rubbish, and no real clear answer or solution appears in the horizon except for more technology onboard, given the perpetual increasing world's population demand and markets...

 

[prime8]

Weather is considered to be one of the most frequent factors contributing to container damage or loss overboard during a voyage.

Uhh... do they mean shippers not being willing to pay the cost of preparing for such weather?

 

[Laurent]

4 hours ago, Jud - s/v Sputnik said:

Sorry if this has been posted already - President Macron calls up le Cam and Escoffier!  Brilliant.  Only in France - love it!

Posted before, but it does not hurt...

2 nuggets:

When Kevin explains the boat folding in half and spending 12 hours in the liferaft, the French president says in petto "oh la vache!!!" which is vernacular French; something like "holly cow!"

In English, when you want to wish good luck to someone who is going to do a show or an event, you tell him "break a leg!" , right? You wish the worst, so it does NOT happen.

In "street French", we say "je te dis merde!", or simply "merde!". We are wishing to someone some shit, so it does not happen...  Here the president concludes his exchange with Jean Le Cam by: "et merde pour la suite!" : "and shit for what's coming up!"

Welcome to France !

 

[SpartacusF]

How good is the forward spotting technology?  The OSCAR website seems to say it in development, and it works OK for spotting Brazilian fishing vessels, but a container or lounging sunfish barely awash?  What happens when it goes off - 20 knots is 10m/s, so reaction times need to be pdq, or does it direct the autopilot?  

 

[Matagi]

Merci!

In German it's "Hals- und Beinbruch". So please break a leg AND your neck.

And for sailors, it's "Mast- und Schotbruch", so break your mast and your sheet.

We return to the normal broadcast...

 

[littlechay]

Somebody was asking about ice danger... virtually none anymore. Going back to beginnings of Vendee, Whitbread etc.. it was certainly there as they routed along the great circle and would have taken a short cut across Antarctica if the boats had been equiped with wheels. However the boats were stronger and the speeds slower so a lot less energy involved. Back in the mid 2000's there was a lot of ice for a few years after a couple of big ice shelves broke up ... the icebergs are released onto the race track a year or three after the ice shelf calves... so look out for the next edition ( the ice limit will probably run from the River Plate to Cape Town.).

Off of ice and onto on possible explaination for the UFOs. In these latitudes further west I have seen huge pods of various members of the dolphin family; Orcas, Pilot Whales, Southern Right Whale dolphins and various smaller dolphins numbering thousands of animals covering a huge area. If you plowed into one of those at 25 knots a collison would be very very likely. Any one of those animals would be big enough break a foil or whatever. 

The pods are surprisingly hard to see, from sea level, in boisterous conditions. I vividly remember coming up one one these in thirty knots or so of wind doing about 8 - 10 knots, coming up to dusk. I was on deck and spotted them first a couple of hundred metres ahead ( a swell or two ); with me in the cockpit was a professional film-maker who dived for his camera to film it.. He picked the camera up and started to film and then just said "fuck it I'll never get anything decent in the can I'm just going to watch."

This time of year you have those pods around and the big whales are migrating south too but most will also be further south by now, I think. 

 

[jack_sparrow]

How good is the forward spotting technology?  The OSCAR website seems to say it in development, and it works OK for spotting Brazilian fishing vessels, but a container or lounging sunfish barely awash?  What happens when it goes off - 20 knots is 10m/s, so reaction times need to be pdq, or does it direct the autopilot?  

The answers you passed...this the last one just above. 

3 hours ago, stief said:

18 boats equipped, says VGsite, (3 with whale pingers), but doesn't list them

4 named (2 with testaments) by  SailWorld. All say it's still in development

1. Maxime Sorel, V&B Mayenne
2. Boris Hermann, Seaexplorer - Yacht Club de Monaco
3. Kévin Escoffier, PRB
4. Samantha Davies, Initiatives Cœur

5. Alex Thomson Hugo Boss

6. -> 18?

So 3 of the 5 so far on the list. 

 

[yl75]

On another note ..... I'm know there was some issues for Kojiro on a couple occasions but with the best equipment i was expecting better speed...  Is he just inexperienced with a great budget out there doing his best (Good on him if so)....?   Anyone know more on him...? 

Kojiro main cannot be full, one reef at the max.

 

[despacio avenue]

8 hours ago, stief said:

Conrad Humphreys and Bruno Dubois. 

We have lots of shapes in the waters off of Alaska, as is well known. As a sea kayaker, it can be a bit unsettling to had humpbacks breaching nearby, and curious orcas circling around. At one point, some sea kayakers were painting the bottom of their kayaks black and white to try to convince an orca that they were one and supposedly scare it off. I never had one take a chunk out of any of my hard-shells (though a bear tore one up on land) but it was sometimes disconcerting!

 

[SCARECROW]

Watching people get shocked about boats dropping out in the Vendee every 4 years is like watching the Australian press and public slowly remember there is a big difference between the Olympic and commonwealth games.