Why do the Vendee boats keep hitting stuff?

[chris95040]

First the Hugo Boss guy had his starboard foil "ripped off by a submerged object", now another guy just knocked his keel off?

I guess there's a lot more crap floating around out there than I imagine. Or these guys are just ridiculously unlucky.

[Don C L]

Or some really unlucky whales.

[SV DestinyAscen]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Or some really unlucky whales.

This. Marine life usually avoid being hit. Sort of hard to avoid a boat going 15-20 knots and emits a confusing high frequency foiling noise.

[chris95040]

At first I chuckled at the "unlucky whales" comment. But... I'm sad now. You really think that's what it is?

Makes sense, why these fast guys seem to be hitting stuff more often than a cruiser's odds of hitting things would suggest.

[SV DestinyAscen]

I think it's more likely than a submerged container - most shipping routes overboard containers either sink or float with the current into the convergence zones. Not a lot of shipping in the southern oceans - and it's prime whale hunting location when it was economical.

[Hamish_ct]

Back in Oct I attended a presentation by Ken Read in CT. He said somthing very interesting about the Vender boats with foils. These is a lot of stuff, aka human made garbage, floating in the oceans. This stuff is small but after a while will build up on your boat. He thought it would only be a matter of time and distance before most of the boats loose a foil.

[Don C L]

You can run into a sleeping whale when you are going 4 knots, or a lounging mola mola, basking shark.... not likely but possible

[DeepFrz]

You could hit a whale, large fish, shark etc. or you could hit an abandoned fishing net or log or tree stump or plastic box. Hitting something at 5 knots and hitting something at 20 knots are two entirely different things. These boats often surf at 30 knots or more when they are sailing at 20 knots. Your average cruising boat probably wouldn't even notice some of the garbage that will damage an IMOCA 60 in full flight.

In the last race Vincent Riou hit a bouy that was floating in the middle of the south Atlantic.

Then again, we humans dispose of a lot of trash into our oceans and have been doing so for many years.

[Neptune's Gear]

I've hit 2 things ( both logs) in about 40,000 nm. Both would have had dire consequences at 20 + knots. Just as well my boat is no foiler! :-)
There is a lot of crap out there, it's just a matter of time till you hit something. I think you'd be lucky to do a circumnavigation without any type of UFO collision. But I'd be interested in others opinions.

[Gaia]

22 years of ocean sailing with six ocean crossings and yet to hit anything. Luck of the draw of course as visitors at night is mostly nil and not much better on windy days but the open oceans are cleaner than the land!

Jim

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Gaia

22 years of ocean sailing with six ocean crossings and yet to hit anything. Luck of the draw of course as visitors at night is mostly nil and not much better on windy days but the open oceans are cleaner than the land!

Jim

Logically, hitting "stuff" is not just a matter of luck, but of wind patterns and ocean currents. While fish and whales are not as subject to them, the things they eat are, and they will not stray far from available food sources. Large sections of the ocean are therefore "watery deserts" devoid not only of most life save planktonic, but most garbage, containers, stumps and other debris unable to otherwise move itself.

[a64pilot]

I have never hit anything yet, but I don't have the miles you folks do.
My Brother lived in fear of hitting a telephone pole end on, after seeing one floating out in the Gulf about 100 miles out. We used to run Sportfishing boats out to the Fl middle grounds to fish and running at night he wouldn't plane at night after seeing that pole.

[Sailmonkey]

I've done a glancing blow to a small root ball.....at 4 knots it went thump in the dark, nothing but a smear on the hull.

If I had hit the same small root ball at 20 with a foil the law of conservation of energy would have reared its ugly head.

[UNCIVILIZED]

When asking this question (posed by the OP), & that of damage to boats & foils. There are some obvious contributing factors:

- Speed of the boats, in that it's tougher to avoid things at 20-40kts.

- Tougher to see things at 20-40kts; let alone in time to avoid them.

- Permanent exhaustion of crews. Crap sleep, & food. Permanantly wet & cold. Underfed calorically...

- Huge workload for crews, especially when you look at; sail size, boat size, loads involved, just you on deck, 15 min+ of hard work per gybe...

- Energy involved in ANY impacts. Try hitting a Tree or CONEX box in your car at 30mph+

- Boats & foils built to edge of material strength, & design limitations.

- Sailing 30,000nm+ in a couple of months. AKA a circumnavigation+

- Zero real world maintenance for circumnavigation's duration.

- Boats being pushed beyond limits, purposefully, & continually for 3months, 24/7.

- Routes following prevailing ocean currents & winds. The same ones which carry & govern floating debris. AKA liquid mine fields.

- Purposeful storm hunting/sailing. In conditions most of us wouldn't leave the cabin, let alone the slip.


What's been said about marine life, whales primarily, is true. Plus when a boat's doing 30kts, while at times making little noise beyond the stuff inherent to the oceans, then it's tough for a whale to nail down where the noise is, ID it, define it as a problem (eminent collision), & move out of the way in time.

If you were napping in a field, could you hear a vehicle with it's engine off coming at you at 30mph in time to; wake up, ID it as a problem, & know how to avoid it in time to do so? I'm thinking that the odds ain't great. And I'd prefer not to try it, personally.

I've lost track of the number of times we've come within a boat length of a whale. Unbeknownst to us, or to the whale, until we were in dangerous proximity. This while doing all of 6-8kts. Just off of San Diego alone. So how many didn't we see? And what if we'd been going 2-5x as fast?

[chala]

Originally Posted by chris95040

I guess there's a lot more crap floating around out there than I imagine. Or these guys are just ridiculously unlucky.

Or maybe some old abandoned Vendee Globe boats.