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2bish said..
Gitana about to pass Jeremy. All of 1 day 8 hours since departure and sitting on 35 knots boat speed, perhaps he could catch their slipstream?

It must be kinda like finally getting to grade 7 at school and thinking you're the boss of the playground, then along comes some Grade 12'ers and bust your little fantasy as to who are the real kings of the playground.

This is an interesting vid from ex-Vendee sailor Conrad Humphreys, his guest being Merf Owen of Owen Clark Design, who beside needing no introduction, has designed quite a few Imocas as well as been actively involved in managing multiple campaigns in both crewed and solo round the world races.
There is a really interesting bit where he explains the transition from when the foilers get airborne, and how localised weather can massively change up distances between the boats just based on that transition zone of a few knots in wind.

Well worth a look just to hear the opinion of a seasoned designer and campaigner even if you're not into the race.

That was interesting to hear him talk about that transition to foiling and how that massively effects the distances if a lead boat is stuck in mono mode and the boat behind is still in foiling speed winds. I didn't catch which boat is Kingfisher in the current race, that's amazing to have a 21 year old boat out still doing this race. And that story about two main halyards breaking, bloody hell...

Oh no... again! Alex has damaged a rudder now. He must be gutted, is he carrying spare rudders on board? I seem to remember he mentioned that in passing on one of the vids, maybe it was someone else?

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2bish said..
Oh no... again! Alex has damaged a rudder now. He must be gutted, is he carrying spare rudders on board? I seem to remember he mentioned that in passing on one of the vids, maybe it was someone else?

Noooo!
Not again!
Man, that guy must drive his gear hard.

I think PIp o'Hare had a spare rudder, I don't think Alex did carry one?
That reminds me of the Volvo race, where Melbournite sailor Sophie Ciszek jumped overboard to fit a new rudder on Team Sca,
Even if you do have a spare, replacing a ridder in the middle of the Atlantic, solo, does not sound like fun to me.

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shaggybaxter said..

Noooo!
Not again!
Man, that guy must drive his gear hard.

I think PIp o'Hare had a spare rudder, I don't think Alex did carry one?
That reminds me of the Volvo race, where Melbournite sailor Sophie Ciszek jumped overboard to fit a new rudder on Team Sca,
Even if you do have a spare, replacing a ridder in the middle of the Atlantic, solo, does not sound like fun to me.

Just Pip Hare, no O'Hare

www.alexthomsonracing.com/news/
Soul destroying. Can't imagine how he is feeling.

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tarquin1 said..
www.alexthomsonracing.com/news/
Soul destroying. Can't imagine how he is feeling.

Absolutely, we're big Alex Thomson fans here, he's such a nice guy and a fantastic sportsman. We're gutted this morning. He must be feeling pretty low and our thoughts go out to him, he's had such bad luck in the Vendee. You'd have to wonder if it's worth it, and if you still decide it is, then would you be thinking about if it's worth taking a weight penalty and carry spares in a redesigned boat that would enable these major components to be swapped out? That's probably naive on my part, but it seems like there's so much **** floating around out there, and hitting something at 20-30 knots SOG is an order of magnitude more destructive compared to a cruising boat.

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2bish said..

tarquin1 said..
www.alexthomsonracing.com/news/
Soul destroying. Can't imagine how he is feeling.

Absolutely, we're big Alex Thomson fans here, he's such a nice guy and a fantastic sportsman. We're gutted this morning. He must be feeling pretty low and our thoughts go out to him, he's had such bad luck in the Vendee. You'd have to wonder if it's worth it, and if you still decide it is, then would you be thinking about if it's worth taking a weight penalty and carry spares in a redesigned boat that would enable these major components to be swapped out? That's probably naive on my part, but it seems like there's so much **** floating around out there, and hitting something at 20-30 knots SOG is an order of magnitude more destructive compared to a cruising boat.

Yep here too. Even Gitana decided to bail after incurring damage to the foil from hitting something, I'm not sure if their rudder damage was through failure or another UFO.
I can't imagine the shock loads from hitting something at those speeds, it seems near impossible to deny physics and make a structure that can withstand that without adding so much weight you kinda defeat the purpose.
Carrying a spare rudder makes enormous sense (benefit of hindsight?) , nobody has managed to make a kick up rudder system that doesn't get triggered by the loads these things are generating.
Jean Le Cam continues to impress the pants off me, isn't it great to see a race where the older gen boats are still competitive?
I don't really mind who wins, it is awesome to watch and I wish them every success. And to think, we haven't even got into the Southern Ocean yet!

Great vid from Pip Hare (not o'Hare thanks Loose!) showing the mental challenges these guys and girls must be facing, I just wanna give her a big hug out of sympathy. Warriors in every sense of the word.

1. So after 4 days, there's no daily video updates from Alex ... I know he spent 4 years of his life on this (although I guess he still earnt an income so it is not wasted) .. but I still would have thought we have a video vlog update?

2. Alex had this professional camera setup specially designed by Nokia Bell Labs ... unfortunately for Alex, there are other sailors like Boris (and most other sailors) that have far better videos just with a GoPro and Drone. Alex's videos were pretty much the same angle everytime and poor quality video.

Update from Alex is online now ..

Poor guy he looks absolutely at rock bottom.

And now Kevin in PRB has sunk and is in a life raft, 4 boats diverted to his area for a rescue. Jean was there first and made visual and radio contact but lost sight of him in the failing light and 5 meter seas. Hope they find him ok, he must be terrified.

Jean Le Cam found Kevin, has him on board....thank you Lord.
Searching at night, in 35 knots and big seas with minimal sail up and under motor for god knows how many hours looking for a dot in the ocean, these gents are seamen of the highest order.
Kudos to them all, I hope they get a heroes welcome when they make it to dry land.

Just read the article on the Vendee site. Amazing he found him. Le Cam having been rescued himself would not have given up looking for him. Must have been some very relieved people when they heard the good news.

Looks like he was in the water for just over 10 hrs. Doesn't say if he was in a liferaft. Will be interesting to see if he had a personal AIS or how LeCam found him. Just a miracle he found him in those conditions and at night. Great news.

Translation from a communication from Jean Le Cam by one of the chaps on SA.;


I was at 2h of PRB, more or less, so I was the closest to the objective. So I go to the position that the beacon indicated. So voila. Then I arrive at the zone. Superb, I see Kevin in his liferaft. So I tell him, as I have the position, all is well... I tell him I come back, we are npt doing anything stupid, you see. So at this moment I have 2 reefs in my main, main only, but two reefs. With the seastate it was not easy, not easy to maneuver. So I come back where I left him, and there was no one, ohlala... I came back to the place at leadt 5 to 6 times. That means tacking every time.
With the seastate and everything. So I went into standby state, waiting, waiting for daylight. But then I tack again, as I tell myself that during the night I might see the light better than during daylight. One moment I was on deck and I can see a strobe. A strobe,I mean it is not a strobe, it's a light that appears in the waves. I tell me that it is not real... I continue and I see the thing. I see the light appearing more and more. At this stage you tell yourself OK that's it. You go from despair to joy. So I head into the wind and ... I tell Kevin to come, let's do it right now, I am not coming back. I throw him the red buoy. And he can get it. So we succeeded. He attached it and we won.

More articles now in the French news.
Couldn't believe Le Cam would loose sight and come back. One article is saying he had engine problems and had too abort the first attempt.
He did have personal AIS but the signal wasn't good. Think hand held VHF in 4-5m waves.
One article says he was in the life raft.

No mention of engine problems or AIS.
Again its amazing he found him.

Kevin talks of the boat nose-diving and the whole boat folding in half!! Only 4 seconds to grab the epirb.

Just unbelievable. If he had of been asleep. If they ever really sleep. Things may not have ended so well.
www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/20717/vendee-english-live-24-kevin-escoffier

On one of the safety courses I did the instructor said most bad situations you have less than 10 seconds. He wasn't joking.

Great video on the news in France. Le Cam is talking and Kevin is in the background shoveling food in out of a frying pan. Nobody has a frying pan! They are both joking. Le Cam knows the felling of being rescued.
Looks like they will let LeCam continue once he drops off Kev. He will have to take on extra provisions to be able to continue though.
Maybe Alex could pick up Kev and give Le Cam his rations.

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tarquin1 said..
Great video on the news in France. Le Cam is talking and Kevin is in the background shoveling food in out of a frying pan. Nobody has a frying pan! They are both joking. Le Cam knows the felling of being rescued.
Looks like they will let LeCam continue once he drops off Kev. He will have to take on extra provisions to be able to continue though.
Maybe Alex could pick up Kev and give Le Cam his rations.

That would be gold, make a Frenchman take on an Englishman's provisions, he'll likely decide to go hungry.

Yes i did think just after there's no way LeCam would eat Alex's food. Well he would but swear and hate every mouthfull.

And what a twist, Vincent Riou driving the very boat that is/was PRB, rescued Jean Le Cam who had capsized in the same area during a previous edition of the race...

so do the other boats who diverted to do the grid search get recompense from RC?

Le Cam continues or is that it for him too?

on the plus side, there's more chance for Clarisse to come from behind with the leaders races being so effected

The boats that diverted get a time compensation.
They said Le Cam will drop Kev and can carry on. He will get compensation as well. He will also have to take on extra food because Kev was a bit hungry. Where he will drop him?
This is just what I have read in the news. Nothing official.
This is all just part of it for them. They rely on each other.
It is also maritime law that a vessel at sea has an obligation to give assistance to another vessel in distress. As long as it doesnt endanger the vessel or crew. Or standby until a vessel that can assist arrives. Something along those lines.

Another injured boat
From the Vendee site:
"... at 0230hrs UTC this Wednesday morning in fourth place was S?bastien Simon on ARKEA PAPREC. The 30 year old Les Sablais skipper has been showing good speeds in recent days on the 2020 Juan K design. But no sooner was he into the Indian Ocean than reported substantial damage to his starboard foil and its casing after hitting an object in the water at 0820hrs UTC this morning.Simon slowed the boat which had some unspecified amount of water ingress, and had stabilised the situation, this afternoon making between eight and 12kts on port gybe racing towards the back of a low pressure system."

And now Sam Davies from Britain as well!
Another UFO.

www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/20756/sam-davies-initiatives-coeur-has-hit-a-floating-object-and-is-heading-north