Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Vendée Globe

Is anyone else following this race?
There is a very good race tracker, and also a weather report showing the wind speed and direction through GRIB files, so you can see why the boats accelerate and slow down, and change direction to keep going as fast as possible.
And do they go fast!
Alex Thompson is still in the lead as they pass South Africa, but only 20 odd miles ahead of the second place boat - they are both travelling at over 20kts, and doing more than 400 miles per day regularly.
Singlehanded!
I guess it is inherently foolhardy and unsafe - I wouldn't want to be sleeping on my own on a boat at those speeds, even for a minute - but I do admire their guts and skill.
http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

17 days 23 hours to the Cape of Good Hope from the start in Les Sables d'Olonne - 5 days faster than the record!
Mad...

It's an extraordinary contest and I'm full of admiration of the skill and courage of the competitors. I'm always excited by the Vendée Globe, and yet........

There's a little bit of me that's never been entirely comfortable with the whole concept of single handed racing, as there's a serious issue of good seamanship. A skipper is required to keep a proper lookout at all times, yet the single handed sailor cannot possibly do this. In a "normal" yacht, plugging along at 5 knots this is not such an issue as it is with boats that reach such dizzying speeds as these IMOCA 60s and the like.

Still, kudos to Alex Thompson.

thanks for posting. What must it be like to be the skipper/crew on one of these.

I do agree, Giles - it is inherently bad seamanship. And yet....!
Le Cleach and Thomson are now effectively match racing 12 miles apart, trying to find wind and keep going fast in very shifty conditions. The mental strain must be immense.
Very exciting though!

Weather tracker http://gis.ee/vg/

Thanks for sharing Amrum.
The weather tracker is ace.

It's awesome

Glad you like it!
It's an amazing battle at the front, and they are sailing in a very narrow wind band just above the ice exclusion zone, which must make route planning incredibly difficult as options are limited.
Can Thomson hold on to the Jackal (Le Cleach)?

Long way to go yet.

Historically, Alex Thomson's problem in this sort of competition has been breaking the boat. He needs to balance his battle with le Clea'ch with getting to the finish line in one piece. .

The trouble with this race is that they all set off with no insurance and rescue boats and then expect the Australian and New Zeald navies to spend vast sums rescuing them when it all goes wrong, which invariably seems to be down this end of the world. In the event of a rescue being required the contestant and organisers should repay the cost of the rescue. When you race your car part of the entry fee pays for the ambulance and rescue crews.