Vendée Globe?

shemandr · Nov 8, 2020

Thanks for the head's up. I noted there are more places in Africa which get TV coverage than in the US. So I guess it's either the Web site or utube to follow it. Anyone have any other ideas?
Despite being hardly able to convert from 24 hr time format to 12hr, I happeded into waatching the Start. Burton was over. They can't go back. No one called him on it. He has to take a 5 hr penalty before Lisbon. Not sure how you do that.
Noted masts on most of the boats are set pretty well aft.

Scott B · Nov 9, 2020

shemandr said:
Burton was over. They can't go back. No one called him on it. He has to take a 5 hr penalty before Lisbon. Not sure how you do that.

This was from the Press relase on Vendee site. They didn't want them to take the penalty at the line and start over with so many boats crossing the line close together.

In light southerly winds of 10-13kts the record sized fleet of 33 IMOCA 60s were led across the start line by Louis Burton on Bureau Vallée 2 but the French skipper misjudged his timing to the gun and crossed early. He is penalised by the international jury, the rules penalise him five hours, requiring him to effectively stop and then restart his boat from the same point before the latitude 38°40,000N, just north Lisbon.

Another site quoted this version of the penalty which seems to make more sense...

The IMOCA skipper is penalized for having missed the start. "For his premature start (OCS), Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) received a penalty of 5 hours, served by the race jury. Louis Burton will have to take his penalty by passing twice at the same latitude, at five hours of difference, before the latitude 38 ° 40,000N ", specifies the organization of the race.

kappykaplan · Nov 11, 2020

@PaulK , tks for sharing that link. :beer:

shemandr · Nov 11, 2020

Do you know if this tracking has a wind feature? It would be more interesting to track if we knew what's ahead for wind. So far all I see is the current wind which is only broken into S, SSW, SW etc.

Scott B · Nov 11, 2020

shemandr said:
Do you know if this tracking has a wind feature? It would be more interesting to track if we knew what's ahead for wind. So far all I see is the current wind which is only broken into S, SSW, SW etc.

If you click on the weather forecast squiggly lines on the right hand side it brings up wind data. Go to the top of the map and you can scroll through upcoming wind predictions.

shemandr · Nov 11, 2020

Thank you! Now I'm up and running. The fleet has to think about saiing pinwheel around TS doesn't it? Otherwise they will see light headwinds. As the TS heads East the backside gets closer. They're not going to tack backwards into the African coast.

shemandr · Nov 12, 2020

Burton has dropped to 90 nm behind. I guess that's his penalty.

Scott B · Nov 12, 2020

So much for being first over the line....

After jumping the start gun last Sunday by a matter of seconds Louis Burton completed his five hours penalty last night, losing more than 70 miles in the process.

shemandr · Nov 12, 2020

A few seconds cost 5 hours. Not a good risk.
For a little color about two competitors look here:
Partners on Land, Competitors at Sea
One boat is Pure -Best Western Hotels( Romain) and is 37.5 miles off the lead.
The other is Initiatives-Coeur (Samantha) and is 33.5 miles off the lead.
And of course there is Hugo Boss with Alex Thompson. Learning these strange European names is going to take some time. Well I have 3 months!
Boats are pretty hard to find via the hunt and peck method.

shemandr · Nov 13, 2020

As the fleet emerges from TS Theta there's going to be an interesting choice. Sail South closer to African coast in under 10 Kt. headwinds or sail West approaching the South American coast. Better wind and mostly reaching. But they'll make it to the Southern Westerlies sooner. I think I remember from the Volvo race that the South American route was followed by most or all the boats.

Scott B · Nov 13, 2020

shemandr said:
A few seconds cost 5 hours. Not a good risk.
For a little color about two competitors look here:
Partners on Land, Competitors at Sea
One boat is Pure -Best Western Hotels( Romain) and is 37.5 miles off the lead.
The other is Initiatives-Coeur (Samantha) and is 33.5 miles off the lead.
And of course there is Hugo Boss with Alex Thompson. Learning these strange European names is going to take some time. Well I have 3 months!
Boats are pretty hard to find via the hunt and peck method.

Great article. I've been a Sam Davies fan since her first Vendee. It was amazing watching her maintain her upbeat composure through some of the worst conditions while some of the male racers were shaken.

Intersting to see the strategies. Alex and Jean le Cam appear to be heading as close to the eye as possible and the higher winds. Others seem to be skirting the edge further out in better conditions.

Also interesting is the cockpits being much more enclosed or even fully enclosed in Hugo Boss, than the previous races. Instead of eing out in the elements and being constantly drenched while adjusting helm and lines they can stay much more proetcted.

shemandr · Nov 13, 2020

Going too close to the eye of Theda may sent them right into headwinds. The boats behind prolly want to split anyway. It looks better to me to stay in the following wind as it bends South. We'll see. I assume they have 1st class weather routing.

senang · Nov 15, 2020

shemandr said:
Burton has dropped to 90 nm behind. I guess that's his penalty.

That would be 5 hours at 18 Knots......that’s very fast for the wind conditions they had.

shemandr · Nov 15, 2020

I don’t think the 90 nm deficit is all penalty. But a good deal of it probably is. But anyway that’s several days ago. My check yesterday showed Burton climbing back into the top ten.
BTW I’ve come to think of Burton’s start as a way to get pictures of his sponsors logo to be first over. 5 hours in a three month race being worth the cost.

shemandr · Nov 17, 2020

I've just caught on. The boats depicted on the graphic with the tiny wings are the foiling boats - Yes? Is there some sort of handicapping that is going to be applied? I note Hugo Boss, a foiling boat, was sailing 13.8. Yes I Cam, a none foiling boat was doing over 19. So maybe it's not so lopsided.

shemandr · Nov 19, 2020

Looks like a good path to Cape of Good Hope!