Vendee Globe

[PaulinVictoria]

Anyone following what is possibly the most gruelling, toughest race in the world? Single handed from France, round Antarctica and back to France, non-stop.
I'm amazed at the number of boats that have been involved in collisions with other boats (and a buoy) already. You'd think there would be plenty of space out there.

[MedSailor]

Those guys (and girls) are totally nuts. They're also in a COMPLETELY different sailing class to the rest of us. They keep spinnakers up 24/7 through gale force winds to keep their BOAT SPEED >30knots and they do it single handed. The race itself is more like circumnavigating Antarctica than circumnavigating the globe.

This book, about the Vendee Globe, was an awesome read:

Godforsaken Sea: The True Story of a Race Through the World's Most Dangerous Waters: Derek Lundy: 9780385720007: Amazon.com: Books

Godforsaken Sea: The True Story of a Race Through the World's Most Dangerous Waters: Derek Lundy: 9780385720007: Amazon.com: Books

[Faster]

Paul.. PCP is tracking the race regularly on the 'interesting Sailboats' thread - updates between the boat porn that's the normal feature of that thread.

[PaulinVictoria]

Well there you go, not the most obvious place for a discussion about a single handed race. I guess they are indeed interesting sailboats though, 30 knots in a 50ft boat all by yourself in the middle of the southern ocean. That counts as interesting. Or insane. One of those two.

[PCP]

Originally Posted by PaulinVictoria

Anyone following what is possibly the most gruelling, toughest race in the world? Single handed from France, round Antarctica and back to France, non-stop.
I'm amazed at the number of boats that have been involved in collisions with other boats (and a buoy) already. You'd think there would be plenty of space out there.

I am following it with almost daily comments on the interesting boat thread. If you will not find much fed back here, you are welcome to join us there

Regards

Paulo

[ChristianSailing]

I'm following as well. I agree w/the southern or antartica circum comment but in saying such I also admit, the remainong sailors are pretty awesome. Thanks fot the interesting boat tip. I'll jump over and take looksey.

[PCP]

Originally Posted by PaulinVictoria

Well there you go, not the most obvious place for a discussion about a single handed race. I guess they are indeed interesting sailboats though, 30 knots in a 50ft boat all by yourself in the middle of the southern ocean. That counts as interesting. Or insane. One of those two.

60ft, not 50ft...and interesting is the word. That race has decades and along that time boats have been perfected not only to be fast but also to handle those conditions solo sailed. The best part is that the same designers that design those boats are the same designers that design mass production European boats and what they learned there is being transferred to cruising boats, allowing for easier to sail boats, boats that sail with less heel, more stable boats able to be solo sailed too. Those boats (Open60's) are at this moment the biggest influence on modern cruising boats and all main European mass production boats have many characteristics that were tried with sucess there first.

Regards

Paulo