Damn, these men and women are special, a different breed.
Besides the skills and physical condition, just wonder how much money needed to get on these type of sailing adventure ???
Not so much and less then some other top championships. Don't forget that on other top racing classes, I mean professional sailing, you have to pay a crew of eight to eleven the all season while here the sponsor as only to pay to one guy.
Regarding the other circumnavigation top race, the VOR, this one is a cheep one. That's why you have so many more boats here.
"Sam Davies is safe but out of the race after dismasting on Thursday night. She has switched on her engine and is heading to Madeira, 100 miles away, at about five knots. The weather is being kinder to her and she was expected arrive on Saturday morning. ...
She was near the centre of a depression with a 35 knots of wind and treacherous cross seas and was preparing to put a third reef in the mainsail, when she heard and felt the mast go.
"It was quite difficult conditions because I had just gone through the cold front and I had a really cross sea,” Davies said. “I was getting ready to my foul weather gear on and that’s when the squall was just finishing and the wind was dropping and the boat jumped off the top of the top of a wave and that’s when I had the impact.
....
Davies, who finished fourth in the last Vendée Globe, waited until the wind had eased before cutting away the mast and rigging and with them any chance of finishing her second Vendée Globe.
"Soon after Davies abandoned, Louis Burton, the 27-year-old Parisian, announced that he had abandoned and headed to La Coruña. He was limping back to Les Sables d’Olonne stuck on a starboard tack after colliding with a fishing boat on Wednesday at 0300hrs (French time). But the damage to the port shroud of his boat, Bureau Vallée, and consequent instability of his mast, meant that his passage through the Bay of Biscay with the current conditions would have been nearly impossible – especially with the deadline of needing to re-start the race by Tuesday November 20.
......
Javier Sansó reports that he has been sailing for 32 hours without his mainsail. He was approaching the Canary Islands yesterday afternoon, where he will shelter in calmer conditions while he climbs up his 100ft mast to recover the main halyard. It is a hazardous operation even with a crew and even in calmer waters - imagine climbing a hundred foot ladder balanced on a rocking horse (don’t try this at home).
“Today has been pretty entertaining preparing all the material to go up the mast tomorrow in the shelter of the Canary Islands,” Sansó, the only Spaniard in the race, said. “I just need some sheltered water without waves for a few hours and I think I'll be back again 100%. I've been able to sleep a full 2 hours - a real luxury!“
......
Sansó will attempt to climb his 100ft mast in order to assess the damage and recover the main halyard, so that he can hoist his mainsail again."
Jesus these guys are having bad luck, really bad luck
The attention has been drawn to these accidents but on the head of the race it is hot, really hot: Armel is now the leader but François and Stamm are really close. The two next days will be easy, full throttle ahead and on this game I think we will be François at the lead again... then follows the big game, the doldrums and there is where huge wins or losses are to be made.
Let's enjoy the drag race and wait for the big strategic game ahead the last one was won by Armel and Stamm was the second best. speed is not enough to win this race
New movie taken , before we came to La Spezia for EYOTY`s jury test . This day we sailed TNT trough 15 knots (upwind) to 25 knots (downwind ,in up to 2.5 m waves) from Imperia (to LaSpezia) in 9 hours
New movie taken , before we came to La Spezia for EYOTY`s jury test . This day we sailed TNT trough 15 knots (upwind) to 25 knots (downwind ,in up to 2.5 m waves) from Imperia (to LaSpezia) in 9 hours
Tweet from the VESTAS Sailrocket 2 team, 16 November 2012, 17:34:13:
"That's it... We've smashed the arse off it! 59 knot average."
Not long before they break 60 knot average!
//Mr W
Humm! Why they don't say that they have beaten the world record!!!!????
What I have heard was that the "Vestas Sail Rocket" went to a top speed of 61.92 knots but that over a distance of 500 meters the average speed was 54.08 knots, not enough to beat the existing world record.
Anyway the speed record is (or was) at the hands of a kit surfer: Rob Douglas 500-meter average speed of 55.65 knots.
Anyway the sad new is that Hydroptere had lost the sponsor. I guess that had to do with the fact that they had taken the boat all the way to America just not to find the right condition for a trans pacific record, not even an attempt. I guess that the management in what regards publicity returns was just a bad one I hope they can solve that because it is on that boat I am interested not really in Vesta or kite surfing.
Well, a sail world record is a record and I am interested in that so, have we or not a new sail speed record?
The same hull but a different cabin and interior. The last model was from 2009.
Specifications RM 1360
LOA (hull length) 13.60 m
LWL (waterline length) 12.82 m
Width 4.50 m
Weight 9.4 t
Draft Fin keel 2.45 m
Draft twin keel 1.95 m
Ballast Fin keel 2.95 t / 32%
Ballast twin keel 2 x 1.55 tons / 33%
Sail area 112 m2
Engine / Drive 75 HP / saildrive
The boat looks nicer than the previous one and I am sure that, like the previous one is a great and fast voyage boat, but that is not the point. I guess these guys and I mean boat manufacturers are heading to a suicidal path:
I mean, a substitution of a model each 3 years on a company that is not even a mass production builder? or at least a big remake?
This will make the previous model to lose a lot of value in the used market and has this is what all the major brands are doing it leads to a lot of boats with less than 5 years at incredible prices on the used market and the number of buyers that are buying them instead of a new boat is increasingly bigger as it is lesser the number of the ones that are buying new boats.
It is hard to justify to buy a new boat when in average 1.5 tears later the boat is not new anymore and you have a new model on the narket
I understand why they are doing this: It has to due with the exposure a new boat gets with boat tests, magazine covers and all and in fact most boats of a new model are selling now on the first years and then they drop because some other brand has a hot new model.
But this is ridiculous, it is at long term bad to the new boat market and brings the price of the boats up.
Well, Javier had successively managed to retrieve the main halyard. Scary stuff, at least for me
“I had to go to find some sheltered water in Tenerife to be able to go up the mast without too many waves. The problem was that once situated behind Tenerife there was absolutely no wind at all and a real swell. So after two frustrating hours waiting and trying to get closer in to land, I made an attempt to go up the mast with quite a large swell, the boat almost drifting and without any kind of steering.”
“Each time I went up a metre I was like a sack of potatoes swaying from one side to the other. When I got to the top, 30 metres above the boat, I have to admit that there was a really beautiful view and I found a way of not being shoved all over the place; a good thing since I was really at a limit with the strength I had left. I managed to fix the line to the track that was there happily waiting for me at the top of the mast.”
and then
“At 2000hrs the boat was tip-top to get back into the race again 100%,” he said. “The problem was that my sheltered spot in Tenerife had me trapped until 0400hrs in the morning when I was finally able to move out towards the south and then gybe west.”
At the head of the race it is like I said a drag race but contrary to what I thought it is Armel that is coming with flying colors and Stamm has even manage to overtake François while Vincent and Jean-Pierre are closing in. Interesting stuff
Connect with Facebook
486Likes
. That's why you have so many more boats here.
Incredible and sad
I hope they can solve that because it is on that boat I am interested not really in Vesta or kite surfing.
