1. Can you tell me more about this boat and the captain?
2. He did not tether at all when sailing solo and walking around on the deck
3. What are those two side wing posts for? They both seem attach to the foot of the mast.
Sure. The boat is a 2007 one, deigned by Finot/Conq, and had already made one Vendee Globe with Armel Le Cléac’h, finishing second.
Bertrand de Broc is the skypper and had already entered two times (1992 and 1996) on this race, being forced to retire on both occasions. On the last one he raced the boat most the keel and capsized only two days before completion of the circumnavigation
I and many others still remember those incredible images of him stitching his own tongue in the middle of the Indian Ocean after being badly hit by the boom
It is not really a top racer in the class and has not any victories (some podiums) but has some impressive victories in crew races namely the very difficult and highly considered Tour de France: Victories in 2004 and 1998. It is also a Figaro racer and has 2 second places and a third on Transats, the last one in 2010. Of course, it is a hell of a sailor, as most, if not all, these guys are.
Regarding this edition he had to come back after hitting a boat at the start of the race, repaired and is on again, after losing 12 hours. It is the last but I believe not for much time
Regarding the movie, yes Open60 at speed are incredible boats and it seems incredible that one lonely guy can control such amount of power.
This is Marc on Safran, the guy that had already to retire after losing the keel. He should be devastated.
Those two poles give more support to the mast since the angle of the shrouds is much larger and regarding being tethered, they use it when they consider the weather is bad but I guess that bad weather for then is not what is for us bad weather
Like rockDawg, I was very curious about whether he was tethered. Seemed like conditions warranted it (but I'm just a lake sailor (Allatoona Dawg!) I thought maybe I was just missing the tether somehow.
IMHO, you should be clipped in any time you are on the boat by yourself, out of swimming distance of shore.
Hum, that is me and you and even so when I sail solo I only clip myself when I leave the cockpit with some wind and bad weather, not at all times for sure. I guess this depends how sure you are and what confidence you have in the safety of what you are doing.
Do you pretend to tell how to sail safely to guys that solo circumnavigated several times, made many sail transats solo, always racing and are here to tell the story?
When you are racing a tether takes much of your mobility. They only use them when they think there is a risk and what is safe for them it would not be safe for me and I guess, you.
Ok, Vendee Globe and all let's have a look at some of the boats (and skippers) to understand what is this all about, I mean regarding boats for the job.
Those hugely powerful boats are a major influence in modern design of cruising boats precisely because they are designed to be easy to sail since they are sailed by a lonely sailor, that has to sleep fom time to time. Easy to sail, stable and fast boats is what all cruisers want...well, not so powerful maybe
I test sailed the new TARTAN 4000. She is a pretty awesome performance cruiser. Where is she on this list? And the C&C 101? The US is still building a few cool boats...
I test sailed the new TARTAN 4000. She is a pretty awesome performance cruiser. Where is she on this list? And the C&C 101? The US is still building a few cool boats...
You are welcome and even if this thread is not a list and everybody can post about a boat that he or she thinks it is interesting (according to the rules that were posted on the first post), the boats you mention were already posted on this thread. You are an year and a half late
The race is not only about sailing well and having the fastest boat. It is also about strategy.
Let me point out another big difference with the Volvo Ocean Race: All know that one is a crewed race without scales and this one is a solo one without scales but some don't know another big difference: on this one they cannot have any outside help in what regards navigation neither they can receive any customized weather or routing information.
This is a huge difference. Not only one single guy has to sail the boat by himself as he has to choose by himself the best way in what regards wind/sea and overall speed. This is one of the things that makes this race great and those guys some of the best and more complete sailors on the planet. We have seen recently Groupama whose crew included many solo sailors, rookies on the Volvo, beat the best professionals in what regards crewed long distance races and Veterans on the Volvo. This is how good these guys are
So the tactical game is a main game on this race and it is at play right now:
I have said that François and others were choosing a course near the Canaries While Vincent was choosing a course near Açores. That's confirmed. Let's see how the game turns out. More wind and sooner to Vincent, more distance on the right direction and less wind for François.
François is just a rookie and a kid compared to Vincent without much experience on Open60 (at least solo) but probably the best of the new guys that come from the Figaro class that is also a solo boat that has transats on its racing program, so he knows a thing or two about rooting
Very interesting to see how to turns out this chess play between the Kid and the Veteran.
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