Regarding the sailboats we will have an edition as interesting as the one in 2000/2001 that saw for the first time a canting keel boat winning the race. Many thought that the concept was not reliable enough for a circumnavigation race. The same happens with this race regarding the new "flying" foils and some, like Riou, prefered to play safe, not using them. One thing is for sure, it they will not break it will be a flying boat winning this race and probably the 24 hour record for a solo monohull sailboat will be beaten by a large margin. Flying boats are awesome and raised the beauty of sailing to another level. Enjoy:
I have been waiting for this for 4 years! More relevant than the U.S. presidential elections!
ReplyDeleteNo surprise on the start: Light winds upwind and PRB (Riou), the fastest boat with conventional foils, takes the lead and the older boats (also with conventional foils) are as fast or faster than the new ones. In fact I am a bit surprised with the very good performance upwind of some of the new boats (with flying foils), Virbac, jean Pierre's boat and Maitre coq, Beyou's boat and Gitana Josse's boat. This nigh they will get more wind and then they will go downwind. Then we will see probably the boats with new foils going away. Interesting to see how PRB will cope comparatively with those conditions..
ReplyDeleteA great article about the accidents on all Vendee Globe race. It brings back memories to me and it will be a fantastical read for the ones that didn't follow these stories when they happened. It is in French but you can use a translator if needed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bateaux.com/article/24236/accidents-plus-spectaculaires-vendee-globe
If you have problems with the tracker, know that it is not only you. On the Vendee Globe facebook page there are lots of protests about it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems it is related with some 3d visualization they wanted to make and that takes too much memory. They posted a 2D link and that one is already working, not well, but at least is working. Here: http://tracking2016.vendeeglobe.org/x6hz61/