Route des Princes 2013

A few more details re. Lakota's 1993 Round Ireland record:

The Cork Dry Gin Perpetual Challenge? Sounds wettish...



Lakota’s crew and the Cork Dry Gin round Ireland recordTrophy they were presented with in the NYC - Nov 1993.
L to R Con Murphy, Cathy Mac Aleavey, Steve Fossett, David Scully and Brian Thompson

 

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That Irish Times article made it sound like there would be inshore races also on Friday (today). But the RDP inshore race page has a note saying "Next Inshore Live will be in Dun Laoghaire (Dublin) next Saturday 22nd at 13:40".

Windguru for Dublin is predicting wind of SW 17 knots and 28 knot gusts for 1300hrs Saturday, NW 18kts gusting 28 the same time on Sunday.


This is the second time the MOD70's visit Dun Laoghaire, which was a stopover in their European tour between Kiel and Cascais last September. there were 5 MOD70's (Ravussin's and Desjoyeaux's boats were there) racing then, some photos on this page: the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association.

On that arrival from Kiel, the first 3 MOD70's were neck and neck also, with Foncia grabbing the lead from Spindrift at the last moment. The onboard video footage and editing was a lot more ambitious then, as seen 14 minutes into the 2012 European Tour MOD70 video.

Here's another shorter 2012 video, showing racing off the East Pier September 2012.

 

Oman Sail nearly pulled off an upset second place against Edmond de Rothschild's when they duffed a tack near the finish of the Lisbon to Dun Laoghaire ocean leg of the race but they could not capitalise as can be seen in the video the Gitana Teams MOD70 has a slight edge in boatspeed over Oman Sail and managed to recover from the mistake. Sidney Gavignet puts it down to a fractionally better mainsail on Edmond de Rothschild. The two boats finished less than a minute apart after the run from Lisbon to Dun Laoghaire.

 

http://www.routedesprinces.fr/en/news-race/562/inshore-racing-returns-to-dun-laoghaire-tomorrow.html

Inshore racing returns to Dun Laoghaire tomorrow

Tomorrow (Saturday) from 1400hrs the MOD70’s. Multi 50’s and Ultimates will compete in the first races of the inshore series off Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay. The first start is at 1400hrs and three races will be sailed. Racing is due to be finished by 1700hrs. The prize giving for Leg 2, from Lisbon to Dun Laoghaire is at 1830hrs. So far it is Sebsastien Josse's team on Edmond de Rothschild which have reigned supreme

 

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The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company weather page, where some enterprising person has just now re-positioned the third webcam so as to give some glimpses of the MOD70 and Multi50 racing, when it starts shortly.

 

Spindrift capsized-Yann Guichard at the helm. From SA front page and here: http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=147929 . Photo by Mark Lloyd:
click--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wV5IN-00W3E

 

^^^

That is a surprise, Spindrift not being able to release the mainsheet/track, and capsizing.

I've had to be away from the net since my last post, but now I'm looking forward to hearing more about this!

And this is the thing, everyone. Here we have four very evenly matched and well-crewed trimarans racing each other on a short course with a nice breeze, plus.

This ought to make for good TV, even if the MOD70 budget is a little skimpy on the video production side. Capsizing is never fun, but it gets some attention from the unwashed masses.

 

Spindrift

Better video-someone related to Guichard broke his pelvis and two were briefly trapped under the tramp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CI2iIY61Lc8#at=55

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Statement from Spindrift Racing on afloat.ie:



#rdp13 – The MOD70 Spindrift capsized on the first leg of the Route des Princes inshore races in Dun Laoghaire today as Afloat.ie reported earlier.

All crew are safe and sound, but Jacques Guichard, Yann's brother and a key member of the crew, was hurt in the accident. Both brothers were airlifted by helicopter to the hospital in Dublin, where Jacques was diagnosed with fractures to the pelvis.

Yann Guichard, the skipper of Spindrift explained the circumstances of the capsize: "We had 22 to 24 knots of wind on the start line with gusts of up to 30 knots at the lower end of the course. We were at the limit of weather conditions for our boats and it was not great for racing. All the MODs had one reef in the main and staysail. We started a bit below and behind the fleet and found ourselves slightly in a wind shadow. When our rivals had moved away we had a sudden gust literally flattened us.

"I was unable to do anything at the helm, the boat was turned over with a single blow. We let out the staysail immediately, but it was too late as it all happened in a split second. the boat was lifted onto the port float and went over. Jacques was with me in the cockpit and we found ourselves in the net ... we managed to get out and then were airlifted. The mast broke in two when Spindrift turned over. The frame of the trimaran was towed away to the port. "

All the crew, with the help of the whole Spindrift racing team, immediately mobilised to secure the frame and make sure the towing operation went safely. The trimaran will be returned to base in port and the Spindrift racing team will quickly and expertly assess the damage. The team will then seek a solution from the boat's home base in Saint Philibert.

 

Been catching up a little this morning, wasn't able to follow it yesterday.

So, all the inshore races were cancelled on Saturday of course, on the RoutedesPrinces site the following notes appear:

From the map of the racing area, you see where the start was and how close to shore they were. In a way it perhaps exonerates Spindrift for seeming unprepared for the gust that tipped them over, not being able to see it approaching across water very much, if at all.

Are there 8 crew on the MOD70 inshore races? I've watched that video a few times and couldn't spot more than 5 of them during the capsize.

One crewmember looks to be at the helm position, struggling to free the sheet from the small traveller winch there? Was there an override/snag on it? The mainsheet is hydraulic on the MOD70's, it should also have been released.

The mast doesn't break until some ten seconds after it first hits the water, while it is sinking. It might not have broken if the sheets had been released; But at the moment the mast broke then the cockpit area looked to be at least ten feet off the surface, and it then came crashing down on whoever was still there.

I imagine that particular danger - that a sheeted-in mainsail would cause the mast to break and the boat to then suddenly fall with much greater force - is one of the things learned from this episode.

I don't find any additional information in French newspapers this morning, except specification that the gust during the capsize was 32 knots, and that another crewmember suffered a minor finger injury (Yann Guichard?). His brother Jacques is said to be in better condition than first was feared.

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As Yann Guichard had tweeted on Thursday, there was indeed something of a "Storm at Dun Laoghaire", and his team were the victims of it.

 

For the mast breaking would not have been a case of bottoming out then trying to support the boat, rather than main sheet position/tension. The bottoming out could also explain the pause in the capsize.

 

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There are a couple of articles in the local Irish papers:

The Irish Times,

and the Irish Independent.

The Times claims there were 8 men on board, the Independent claims there were 10, and their sub-headline is rather exaggerated: Hundreds watch giant vessel tip, catapulting crewmen into the sea

What is the usual number of crew on the inshore races, 7 or 8? It's set in the rules I'd think.

That first capsize video which Doug posted now has over 22,000 views. By comparison all the videos uploaded by the MOD70 organization usually don't get more than a few hundred views, and rarely more than a couple thousand.

 

I hadn't considered that, or noticed a pause. Will go back and look again.

 

^^^

Warwick is right, the area where they were racing is not deep enough to safely turtle your MOD70!

On this chart you can see the depths a little better than on the race area diagram above. Depths are in meters: Dalkey Island area chart

 

For some reason I cringe a little when I hear that carbon snap it's not quite the whole body shiver I suffered when Oracle lunched it's wing mast but similar. Glad that everyone was ok. It looks like the inshore racing is going to continue and Spindrift are hoping to be able to be back in action for the leg from Plymouth to Bay of Morlaix. The boats been rerighted at the Dun Laoghaire harbor by crane apparently it only suffered some minor damage to the coachhouse and with a new rig should be ready to race.

Some pictures posted by Team Actual show the crane in action.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.623004871051613.1073741845.220054754679962&type=1

 

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This screengrab is the point in the video immediately before the mast breaks. The MOD70 has a 29 meter mast.

Supposing about 2/3 of the mast is in the water, angled about 45 degrees, suggests that the location has a depth of 14-15 meters if the mast has touched bottom?

We might expect the racecourse to be repositioned into deeper water? But there isn't an area large enough, 29+ meters deep near the harbor.