Banque Populaire / Sodebo round the world / Trophee Jules Verne

Banque Populaire withdraws!

Due to the damage sustained in their collision the guys have withdrawn from the round the world record pursuit:

The Banque Populaire Team forced to retire from its first attempt of the Jules Verne Trophy With a lead of 324 miles over the reference time, the Maxi Banque Populaire V was handicapped for more than 48 hours by a damaged daggerboard due to a collision with a UFO*. The crew have tried everything to repair the broken piece and resume their round the world tour. However, after 24 hours of intensive care, Pascal Bidegorry and his men must face the facts: it is not possible for them to continue this journey with a daggerboard that does not fulfil its potential when one looks closely at the long upwind voyage ahead to the Kerguelen Islands. After fourteen days of sailing that has seen an impressive performance from the boat, the fourteen men on board are therefore forced to quit in their first record attempt of the Jules Verne Trophy.
*Unidentified Floating Object
http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/press/Maxi-Trimaran-Banque-Populaire-V/

 

speed and ufo's was thinking of that before, so they wont sail this jules verne after shore repairs rite? the favorite out, how many still in?

 

Banque Populaire: Round The World/Trophee Jules Verne

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Sodebo is in for the singlehanded record, but thats it. These high speed boats need some kind of electronics that could detect partially submerged objects far enough ahead to avoid them. I think Team Hydroptere has been working on developing something like that. Hydroptere will attempt a Pacific crossing this year so we'll see.

 

Just a quick question on Banque Populaires daggerboard, I realise it is probly a bit bigger than the beach cat daggerboards I'm used to using , but surely it wouldn't be too large / heavy to carry a spare (rudder also) just incase this sort of thing happens, much better to swap daggerboard and keep racing as opposed to cancelling the race alltogether.

Any guesses as to how much Banque Populaires daggerboard weighs?

 

A near 6m dagger (as long as your F18) able to handle the massive loads BPV would press on it ... has to be a heavy laminate of mostly carbon. I have no idea of weight (but it will be heavy) but do you know of any racing trimarans of any size that carries the extra weight and awkward stowage of another full sized board? You could possibly have a smaller replacement dagger ... but then the crew realized a 2 metre less length board (in this collision case) was not going to win them any records in the long distance race.

 

Yeah, sorry, stupid question

 

I grew up around the corner from a lake that was a Corps of Engineer flood control reservoir. When water level fluctuated down, lots of the old tree tops would stick out of the water at close to a uniform distance. We attributed this to being trimmed by boat props at normal water level.

Kick up centerboards and rudders were a very big priority when selecting sailboats for this lake.

At 30+ kts in the open ocean, impacts need to be anticipated even if they are not real frequent. At the scale of the Maxis, full kick up designs may not be practical. The next best thing would be a box with a replaceable insert behind the blade that is designed to allow ~45° of rotation from any impact approaching board damage. This would probably allow for on the water recovery from a reasonable percentage of impacts.

 

P Flados, I'm pretty sure that BPV had a crash box - but you cannon into something solid at 30 plus knots and you expect damage. Hydroptere is working on some warning electronics - maybe the only way to go.

 

I agree to some extent. I would think that a well designed crash box would have crumpled a bunch which was not reported above. Also, surface damage is a lot different than shearing off a large portion. The practical goal is really only to reduce damage such that giving up on an attempt is not required.

As far as electronic devices, large solid objects could probably be avoided with advance notice. Just not sure about the ability to detect smaller items and/or the usefulness. Constantly getting "false alarms" requiring course changes when not really needed would be troublesome.

 

Sodebo

From Scuttlebutt tonight:
PLENTY OF SOUTH - NOT ENOUGH EAST
(February 10, 2011; Day 13) - As Sodebo skipper Thomas Coville explained,
"Every cloud is a seller of dreams." However, the reality is the road
through the South Atlantic continues to be full of pitfalls, and while
Coville's latitude is now below that of Good Hope on the African continent,
his inability to get east keeps his position nearly 3,000 nm from the cape.
And the route to set a new solo round the world record is ... to the east.Current position as of February 10, 2011 (23:00 UTC):
Ahead/behind record: -790.8 nm
Speed over past 24 hours: 15.4 knots
Distance over past 24 hours: 369.7 nm
Distance remaining: 19,400 nm
Tracking: http://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/tourdumonde/2011/

Team website: http://www.sodebo-voile.com

 

Sodebo-Round the World Singlehanded(100' tri)

Sodebo is now over 1000 miles behind the record: http://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/tourdumonde/2011/

 

Banque Populaire

From Scuttlebutt Europe:

Ever Wondered What It's Like To Sail Aboard Banque Populaire V?

Brian Thompson's blog described it as being like full steam ahead on the express train or a bumpy ride on the Piccadilly line! As Pascal Bidegorry and his crew return to Lorient to prepare for another attempt, technical clothing partner Musto is offering a once in a lifetime prize to sail aboard this record-breaking trimaran.

Enter now at www.musto.com/fcp/content/Banque_Populaire/content

The fine print: "The promotion is offered by Musto Ltd. and is open to UK, Channel Islands and Republic of Ireland residents aged 18 or over."

 

Sodebo-Round the World Singlehanded(100' tri)

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

Coville's problem now is not a lack of wind but rather an abundance. "It'll
soon be four days that I've been in winds of over 30 knots with speeds
which don't allow you to put a foot wrong," noted Coville. "In conditions
like that it's a different ball game sailing single-handed on a big boat
like Sodebo. When the boat surfs she generates such a disturbed flow that
the leeward rudder ends up in the froth where I can no longer control it.
I'm heading off into surfs, the likes of which I've never experienced
before."

Current position as of February 15, 2011 (23:00 UTC):
Ahead/behind record: -1160.5 nm
Speed over past 24 hours: 22.5 knots
Distance over past 24 hours: 540.9 nm
Distance remaining: 16,967 nm
Tracking: http://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/tourdumonde/2011/

Team website: http://www.sodebo-voile.com

 

Sodebo-Round the World Singlehanded(100' tri)

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

* (March 3, 2011; Day 34, 22:00 UTC) - As of Thursday morning, Thomas
Coville (FRA) on the 105-foot trimaran Sodebo was approximately 2,000 miles
off Cape Horn. Conditions have forced him to take a more north-easterly
course to avoid a series of depressions and 35-45 foot seas, all in a
enormous zone of ice. Colville is currently 110 miles behind the solo
singlehanded round the world record set by Francis Joyon (FRA) in 2008 on
the 97-foot trimaran IDEC. -- http://www.sodebo-voile.com/
========================
This was a misprint! Sodebo tonight(3/4/11) is about 1260 miles behind Joyons record.

 

Sodebo-Round the World Singlehanded(100' tri)

From SA-

Since rounding the horn a couple of days ago, Sodeb’O has nearly destroyed the ghosting vision of IDEC’s lead, bringing it down under 500 miles for the first time since just days after Coville’s start.

What’s more, Coville continues to eat into Joyon’s record after losing the crash box on the box of his boat to a collision with a whale! Sodeb’O actually has TWO crash boxes built into each float’s bow, a solution the team implemented after Coville’s first record-ending collision with ice during his last attempt. Whether the boat will delaminate before the finish is still unknown, as is whether Coville will be need to repair it at all, and if so, how.