Vendee 2020

[DomPerignon]

Jean Le Cam just won the Vendée Globe !!!

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by DomPerignon

Jean Le Cam just won the Vendée Globe !!!

?????

He, and the others will get redress, usually hours to make up the time since they stopped racing for the rescue. It helps, but doesn’t prevent falling a weather system or two behind.

[DomPerignon]

Originally Posted by fxykty

?????

He, and the others will get redress, usually hours to make up the time since they stopped racing for the rescue. It helps, but doesn’t prevent falling a weather system or two behind.

What I meant is regardless of what position he finishes in he’s a winner.
To do what he did in 5 meters waves in the middle of the night is truly mind boggling. Not even the Coast Guards would attempt anything like that.

[Franziska]

Horray. Experience shows an Jean Le am has tons of it. Great guy, just saw his video reporting on the incident.

It's always funny to hear him talking, the way he talks and describes things is so natural and right out of his heart and mind.

Surely helped that years ago a boat sponsored by PRB got him out of the drink down there.

One thing I find interesting that Kevin says the boat folded in half in seconds. Earlier on in this thread I thought that this was about to happen to Alex when seeing his damage.
Still wondering if it's not to high longitudinal rigging loads as a common cause which caused the loss of Corum's mast, the cracks on Hugo Boss and the loss of PRB.
Will be interesting to hear the outcome of this.

[DomPerignon]

Kevin Escoffier describes what happened. His boat literally broke in two. He only had like 2 minutes to get off.. From the details it looks like the same kind of structural failure that Alex Thompson had.

[wolfgal]

this race is utterly amazing...

first Alex: his level of sportsmanship is amazing! just amazing! respect!!
i do hope that young people in yacht clubs are following. this is a man to emulate! i really wish someone would drone him in another boat: he has so much sailor-ism in him.

and now Kevin's experience: he really had just a few seconds to get out of the boat, no time for the grab bag, the thing folded up, filled up so fast. he really and truly had a fright, first escaping the folding boat and then more intense moments followed when Jean lost sight of him in the darkness. the guy has just lived a huge, huge thing. my feeling is that it might be a good thing that he is with Jean, who apparently, was rescued himself a while back...

and yes, my feeling is that a lot of people are starting to be concerned about the construction of these boats.

and Jean, he looks utterly, utterly exhausted (to the point of drunkenness). as Franziska pointed out, his way of communicating is very interesting. he speaks with loads of slang, slang that everyday people, especially of his generation, use. in the beginning of the race, i didn't take to him much because of a few jealous comments he let slip about Alex... having lived here as long as i have, i know that these things are common and "acceptable" in the french culture, but, for me, jealousy is difficult to make pretty... anyway, he has certainly redeemed himself: am thankful that he thought to look for something reflecting in the darkness.

i'm still watching the gals in this race. am so glad there are six of them because, as the race pushes onward, each becomes more and more of a personality, as opposed to being not-male. it really is fantastic how this is happening!

[MicHughV]

No other way to say this, but you got to take your hat of to Jean Le Cam. In his mind, he had a job to do, it was that simple, find Kevin and pluck him out of the ocean.

This race is from over yet, but Le Cam has won the hearts of people all over the world. That makes him a winner in my book!!

I can assure you, that on his return to France his welcome home will be one for the ages.

[psk125]

In the article, Kevin is quoted as saying that he heard a "crack" and looked forward to see that his bow section was 90º to the hull. At the time it appears he was doing about 17 knots in 25 knots of wind and 5m seas. Just had time to jump into his survival suit, set off the EPIRB and grab the aft life raft. The forward one was under 3m of water already and he didn't have time to get his ditch bag. Then a wave washed him and the aft raft overboard. Scary that Jean Le Cam came up, saw & spoke with Kevin, and then lost sight of him while tacking, just as night fell. Le Cam's video describing his efforts reflects how much sleep he got.

[jmh2002]

The Vendee sailors know that they are mostly alone down there in 'La Grande Sud' as the French describe it.

And that for the most part nobody is coming to rescue them either, except maybe the South African, Australian, or New Zealand Navy - if they can make it in time.

So of course for each sailor another boat and racer is their arch enemy, someone to be defeated, beaten, at all costs... until something goes wrong, and then, a magic switch is turned on and everyone knows that they will do literally anything to help their fellow competitor who is in trouble.

In my mind the rescue of Raphaël Dinelli by Pete Goss in the 1996 event stands out.

Pete turned his boat around and beat upwind for 2 days in 60kn and mountainous seas half way between South Africa and Australia, suffering multiple mast in the water knockdowns while trying to reach Raphaël's position and bring him onboard.

France awarded him the Legion d'Honneur for his efforts.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...i-1262298.html

The 1996 race was full of other carnage too, which changed the Vendee forever:

https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/...6-and-all-that

The third edition of the Vendée Globe went down in history as one of the most dramatic. Three sailors were rescued from the most hostile of Indian Oceans. Canadian Gerry Roufs did not make it and was lost in the Pacific Ocean. It was a landmark edition which directly gave rise to the IMOCA class and the new safety standards which came with it.

For this 1996-7 edition there were fifteen competitors at the start, plus Raphael Dinelli, who was authorised to race unofficially because he had not made the qualifying passage. But the Vendéen skipper was given a tracking beacon by organiser Philippe Jeantot.

While Christophe Augin lead the race several competitors had to stop to repair damage. Thierry Dubois is one of them, first he had to stop at Cape Town to repair one of his rudders on Amnesty International. Behind him, Tony Bullimore was sailing his own way. To get a good result, you need to finish. With everyone entering the Indian Ocean, a deep low was about to sweep across the Roaring Forties.

Pete Goss, A Seemingly Impossible Rescue.
The first victim of bad weather is Raphaël Dinelli, the most westerly of the fleet. On December 25, the wind hits 60 knots with gusts over 70 knots. Raphaël Dinelli communicates with the Vendée Globe Race HQ describing his situation. He capsized twice, mast in the water. Under bare poles his monohull starts surfing at nearly twenty knots. Suddenly a wave bigger than all the others sends his boat on a crazy ride finally pitchpoling end over end. In the process the mast pierces the deck and water rushes into the cabin. Dinelli has no choice but to don his survival suit and activate his distress beacons. He is halfway between South Africa and Australia and no authorities can come to his rescue, no one that is excpet another another competitor. It is the British skipper Pete Goss who turns around and fights for more than two daysagainst the prevailing winds to return to the position of Dinelli’s wrecked yacht. An Australian Navy aircraft managed to drop Dinelli a life raft.

Goss rescues Dinelli and it takes more than ten days for both men to reach Hobart Tasmania. The British sailor will resume his race despite a particularly painful elbow injury that progressively gets better at sea.
Goss finishes fifth after being credited with the time lost for the rescue of Dinelli.

Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore, the next pages in a remarkable chapter
On land it seems the world is rejoicing in the successful rescue of Dinelli. But on January 5, two new competitors then set off their distress beacons within hours of each other. Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore are both facing daunting conditions. The Frenchman who came to prominence winning the Mini-Transat of 1993 was in particularly difficult conditions. The wind was at 70 knots and the waves were easily ten metres high. Dubois took refuge inside his boat, leaving his pilot to do its best. Suddenly a wave rolls his boat and the mast is broken in three places. But the redoubtable Dubois sets a jury rig and does not ask for assistance. The next morning he is rolled again and this time his boat remains upturned, keel in the air. And the waters start coming in the windows which were damaged when his yacht was rolled. The situation becomes critical on board: Dubois decides to leave the boat and get into his liferaft. But the tether for the raft breaks and he finds himself hooked to the rudder of his upside down being swept by the seas.

But Bullimore is the first of the two to trigger his distress beacons. His boat is rolled and the keel breaks. He does not panic at first and is safe inside. But suddenly the Plexiglas lookout bubble explodes and the water rushes into the cabin. Within moments the situation becomes critical.
After deploying his beacon, the British soloist dons his survival suit and finds refuge in one of the few parts of his boat still out of the water. In the meantime, he lost part of a finger after a hatch slammed shut on his hand as he tried to reach his life raft.

The Australian authorities realise the need for a rapid intervention. But although the skippers are no more than ten miles apart they are fully three days away from their nearest ship. First an Australian Navy aircraft manages to locate the two skippers and drops a life raft to Thierry Dubois. The upturned hull of Tony Bullimore is also identified. But even so the rescuers do not know that the skipper is still alive imprisoned inside his boat. They don’t know until on January 9 when a rubber boat from the frigate Adelaïde can get to him. A few hours earlier Thierry Dubois was hoisted aboard by a helicopter that took off from the same frigate's deck.

The two men are safe and sound. But since January 7 the positioning beacon of Gerry Roufs the Canadian skipper has not been transmitting. A few long weeks later the wreck of his boat is found off the coast of Chile.

And so?
The disappearance of Gerry Roufs, the miraculous rescues of Raphael Dinelli, Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore set alarm bells ringing.

For the safety of the skippers it is obvious that big decisions must be made. The rules governing the boats are modified, rollover tests are imposed, the beam of the boats is limited and the IMOCA class is born.

[MicHughV]

I do wonder about these boats......that mast is around 90' high...it typically has three forward stays.....plus those massive arms supporting the shrouds...running backstays, etc....the compression load on that mast must be enormous...simply enormous...and the rigging taut as a drum....

Then add the load from the huge sails....on top of which, the boat slamming into waves or falling off waves, etc...and let's not forget an extremely deep keel with an enormous weight on the end also trying to twist the hull into shreds.....water ballast another load...

The hull has to take all these loads 24/7....

It will take only one weak link....a small delamination...a small tear...to quickly grow into a bigger problem.

In the case of PRB, I'm sure that boat was rigged or loaded tight as a drum...and one big slam into a wave was sufficient for the rig tension to overcome hull strength...and the hull simply folded.......yes, I can certainly see this happening.....

In their quest for speed, I think these newer Imoca boats are borderline, as I''m sure every effort is made to reduce weight, which in essence is reducing the scantlings of various components..

This race is far from over, and I expect we'll continue to hear about other failings as for the next few weeks it's the Southern Ocean in all it's glory....

[B23iL23]

PRB is, sorry was , one of the lightest of the Imocas. They went all out to make the hull as light as possible. Plus they did hit something earlier this year and did some damage to the hull which required repairs.

Not saying the damage caused the sinking but the lightness of the hull and all that pounding with a rig that's loaded to the max may just have pushed the construction limits a little too far.

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I do wonder about these boats......that mast is around 90' high...it typically has three forward stays.....plus those massive arms supporting the shrouds...running backstays, etc....the compression load on that mast must be enormous...simply enormous...and the rigging taut as a drum....

Then add the load from the huge sails....on top of which, the boat slamming into waves or falling off waves, etc...and let's not forget an extremely deep keel with an enormous weight on the end also trying to twist the hull into shreds.....water ballast another load...

The hull has to take all these loads 24/7....

It will take only one weak link....a small delamination...a small tear...to quickly grow into a bigger problem.

In the case of PRB, I'm sure that boat was rigged or loaded tight as a drum...and one big slam into a wave was sufficient for the rig tension to overcome hull strength...and the hull simply folded.......yes, I can certainly see this happening.....

In their quest for speed, I think these newer Imoca boats are borderline, as I''m sure every effort is made to reduce weight, which in essence is reducing the scantlings of various components..

This race is far from over, and I expect we'll continue to hear about other failings as for the next few weeks it's the Southern Ocean in all it's glory....

[sailormed]

JMH2002: "In my mind the rescue of Raphaël Dinelli by Pete Goss in the 1996 event stands out.

Pete turned his boat around and beat upwind for 2 days in 60kn and mountainous seas half way between South Africa and Australia, suffering multiple mast in the water knockdowns while trying to reach Raphaël's position and bring him onboard.

France awarded him the Legion d'Honneur for his efforts."

I met Raphaël Dinelli on a fair for Green Energy in Monaco several years back and among other things the above event came up. He told me he was standing on his boat with the waves level with the deck when he was rescued.

In his words: You are holding on to the boat standing there with 20-25 meter waves towering above you and you really ask yourself "What was it that I came looking for in this part of the world".

He had a wife and children when that happened. I think these events caused him to reorient his career to more mundane jobs.
Great sailors and great minds these Vendee Globe Gladiators!

[DomPerignon]

Kevin Escoffier got off that boat with only a few seconds to spare. They’re taking the design of these boats right to the limits. It’s a very dangerous game . But like everything else, until someone loses his life there will be no changes.
It’s supposed to be a contest between the best sailors in the world and the sea. Not a contest with their own boats.

[MicHughV]

As far as know....these exotics like kevlar and other synthetic materials have very little give.....for example, modern braided fishing lines have almost no stretch.
Strong yes, often touted to be 10 times stronger than steel....but synthetics don't tolerate abrasion, bending or flexing very well....

Some flexing in a boat is a good thing, imo, like a branch bending in the wind....the flexing of the branch or tree is what keeps it standing....if it didn't flex...it would break....

These Imoca boats are cutting edge...no doubt....but likely stiff as a board....Imoca boats also have relatively flat hulls....they are all planing hulls...and beamy.....so you have a wide, but thin hull....plus enormous compression loads on the mast and enormous rigging loads on the hull...

I don't think I have ever heard of a sailboat bending or breaking in half ...this is a first for me....

Finally, at speed, water is quite hard...do a belly flop from a diving board to see how word.

All these things, yes, I can see it happening....I'm sure there will be some head scratching at the design table....

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I don't think I have ever heard of a sailboat bending or breaking in half ...this is a first for me....

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...s+cup+sinking+

Original Commentary: The dramatic moments on the 5th of March 1995, when during round four in the round robin stage of the Americas Cup challenger series, and in a match race between One Australia and Team New Zealand, the Australian boat split and sunk within two minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yau9A7XDHs