Route du Rhum Underway

Leading Class 50 Trimaran Actual Damaged: From Yves Le Blevec early this morning 08/11/2010

"Contacted shortly after reporting his damage Yves Le Blevec recalled: "I have broken the cross beam. It started quickly. The seas had built and the boat was slamming onto the waves, but that had not stopped me going fast. There were some crucial shocks. We had between 22 and 23 knots of wind, and I had told myself to slow down, and I thought I was going slower. During the night the problems happened one thing after another. It started with an electrical cutout. The beam cracked and the water gets in. It started with the pilot failing and the boat veered away into a half turn, I heard a big noise, I got back on course but I could hear a lot of noise from behind and could see the back cross beam deforming. The whole scenario lasted about a quarter of an hour. There are a lot of questions but not many answers, and all the same the beam remains broken. The damage to the structure has started and I have organized a survival cell. I will wait for tomorrow to see and evaluate the damage, if it is repairable. I am not in danger but my boat is. I will have to be extremely careful. My safety comes first but I am not too worried. With the liferaft and the communication systems, and I am not lost in the middle of the Atlantic. The seas have eased since I have changed the course, and I don’t hear the squeaking that I heard before.”

 

Just an hour ago, Thomas Coville made this post in concert with his daily video teleconference aboard Sodeb'O. Ever the honorable sportsman, Coville uses this moment to congratulate Franck Cammas for his terrific sailing, his solid preparation of Groupama 3 and the insightful routing of his journey.

NEWS: Future of Guadeloupe

"Despite headwinds and choppy seas, Sodebo queue full swing to the West Indies that will reach within 24 hours. Meanwhile, Franck Cammas on Groupama 3, will probably race won. Performance already hailed by Thomas Coville.

"Yesterday, we tried one last option cons Franck Cammas, it proved disastrous and it was stopped for eight hours late Thomas Coville, skipper Sodebo during the video session of 16 hours. Now it is upwind, the wind, fighting against the sea, they are not very comfortable conditions. "

Bravo Frank!

It was therefore necessary to wait until the middle of the night from Sunday to Monday for the trimaran Sodebo finds and recovers the wind speed, with an average of 15 knots on Monday. Meanwhile, Groupama 3 was weaving its way and its skipper could cut the finish line first at the end of the next night. Bravo Frank! Great job! welcomed Thomas Coville. Great boat, very well prepared and a nice selection of road. It was very intelligently led, like his skipper. It is not easy to live when you know that the dice are thrown and you lost. "

Within 24 hours, Thomas Coville will address the Caribbean islands by the North while his pursuers, Francis Joyon and Yann Guichard, will arrive from the east. "With Idec and Gitana 11, it is quite possible that sometimes grouped under the Guadeloupe," intends Thomas, concentrated to run his boat and just as catchy in the event of a race around Guadeloupe."

 

Class 50 warrior, Yves le Blevec on Actual:

Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale November 8: Damage to 1100 miles from Pointe-à-Pitre: Explanations

Throughout the night, Yves Blevec has sought to secure his boat and build his cell survival. He waited for sunrise to take stock of the damage the ship and possible solutions. Yves is tired, the sea is always unpleasant and life on board is trying. The weather should calm down by the hour ...
Explanations of Le Blevec:

Sunday evening, a shock caused a leak in the hull central Multi50 Actual. The compartment was then filled in front of the arm. The trimaran has suddenly found to carry three to four tons of water. This flood would have caused a short circuit and the autopilot then stalled. The boat took off on a wave and fell very hard. Yves then heard a big bang and that's when the stock arm starboard bow broke. He does not know the origin of the leak in the main hull, this may be a wave or a UFO, the track of the structural break is rejected.

Makeshift repairs on the arm before:

Le Blevec has begun to strengthen his arm forward with everything he could find hard on his boat to make it integral with the arm. Halyard gennaker relieves the arm carrying the float in the wind and keeps the float throughout the main hull, diagonally between the float and the mast.

If this repair seems to stabilize the arm before its effectiveness over time is unknown. That is why the team Actual, in permanent contact with the architect Guillaume Verdier and router Dumard Christian, finds all solutions to help save his boat Yves remotely.

Besides the arm, a repair is needed on the central hull. Before the plug, it will be emptied of tonnes of water that increase and weaken the boat. Currently, it is unthinkable to ask Yves access to the compartment flooded. The operation is too delicate for a man already proven by last night.

Yves recovery mode:

For now, the priority is to rest for Yves and his team uses to great lengths to enable him to sleep. It is strongly recommended to avoid thinking about different solutions until he will not rest. Indeed, stress and fatigue have largely started its energy. It also needs to eat to regain strength and lucidity. It feels safe on this boat he will not want to leave under any pretext. He claims to have ten days of autonomy in food, fresh water and energy.

Yves wrote this afternoon for his team: "If you look at the water autonomy as critical path decision, I see no reason to leave the boat in the state it is today before 8-10 days. Except where specifically requested by the shipowner in case of medical emergency or dangerous weather. "

At Pointe-à-Pitre, CEO of Actual, Samuel Tual, is with the team and its unwavering support, the aim being to provide repair solutions to Yves tomorrow, Tuesday morning at the latest.

Samuel reaction Tual, CEO of Actual:

"The feeling you get when you learn such news is that a big disappointment and a big frustration, a great injustice. But then things should quickly resume their rightful place and Priorities must be redrawn. Once we are reassured about the safety of the skipper must make every effort to save the ship and sustain the project. This is what concerns us most at the moment and this does is not an easy passage because it is full of uncertainties. Every moment that passes, we try to build and find the most effective solutions to reduce Yves earliest land. That is the concern of the partner and c is the feeling that must be shared by the entire team of Actual, and it is. We have received hundreds of messages from this morning. It shows great confidence in the navigator and the project. "

 

Class Multi 50

Lemonchois on the return.

On 08/11/2010

"Like two wounded animals Franck-Yves Escoffier and Yves le Blevec are making between three and six knots each as they nurse their injured Multi 50’s on their best routing to both preserves their craft and to get to Point-à-Pitre and the finish of this ninth Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale. In third place this evening Philippe Laperche on La Mer révèls les sens has just 65 miles to catch up on the leader Le Blevec and Lalou Roucayrol on Région Aquitaine - Port Médoc is just 69 miles back of the two crippled warriors.

His race course record is secure after the 7 days, 17 hours elapsed this morning but Lionel Lemonchois set himself a new speed record yesterday on Prince de Bretagne, marking a blistering pace. Quickest in the fleet, he has pulled back to 262 miles from the lead, already gaining 172 miles since yesterday morning attempting to make good his deficit after he lost miles between Days 2 and 3 when his mainsail headboard lashing failed. With light winds ahead for the leaders, Prince de Bretagne's gains should continue."

 

From the RdR website today:

Cammas, Playing the Angles to the Finish

Franck Cammas (Groupama 3): "I’ll have to tack all the way to Guadeloupe, trying to sail the optimum angles but solo it is not easy. The winds are very unstable while we are on the edge of this tropical depression, so it goes in all different directions. When it is daylight it is easie to see better what is happening, but at night it is stressful. At one time the wind shifted under a cloud yesterday and I had to tack, but only briefly.

Thomas fell into a hole yesterday and that will have been very tough on him. The conditions tacking upwind are not exactly great, and so I am trying to keep the final miles as short as possible. I will make a big banana, missing the obstacles and watching what is ahead I should be able to go ok.I have rarely sailed solo on Groupama 3 and at the moment the pilot is not ideal. And I will have to watch out for fishermen and shipping, going round the whole of Guadeloupe. It always drags on and feels long, the end of a race. You have the feeling that you are finishing, but never going to get there. You have to be patient and just think it will be long. I had to sleep last night before the first cloud and i twas a surprise because I slept an hour. This morning I was OK. Between the two tacks I could rest as well. As for the finish I’d choose the North of Guadloupe at 0100hrs CET or Basse Terre at 0400hrs"

 

Somewhat off the RdR for the moment, but has anyone taken a long look at what is cooking in the North Atlantic right now and blowing straight into the Bay of Biscay?

There's a potent low hanging tough at the southern edge of Wales and it's drawing massive, 49 knot winds into the French coast, with a dandy kicker of as much as 37 knots of wind pasting the North Sea, as well.

It's a good thing that the RdR didn't look to launch from St. Malo right now. There'd be carnage all up and down the coast of Europe from England to Portugal.

 

Well, that was not as you liked it?


Does not matter much..........

 

==============
ostlind, what do you gain from this impersonation/masquerading stuff?? Why??


==============

 

OK, that was interesting. What do you say we get back to our regularly scheduled programming having to do with the Route du Rhum?

This has been an interesting year for this iteration of the every-four-year running of the Route du Rhum.

There have been creative routing decisions, an ongoing need on board all the competitor boats for rapid sail changes, abrupt changes of sailing direction, alterations to pre-race strategies to suit the ever-changing conditions and a steady draining of the sailor's personal energy banks as they forced themselves to push ever deeper into sleep deprivation, seriously altered food intake and psychological encounters in order to keep up a maddening pace to the finish line.

The Ultime Class boats have been spectacular overall. The Class 50 boats and their skippers have shown to be resilient, tough minded and absolutely dedicated to their craft in tough conditions that would have sent lesser sailors packing and lighting-off EPIRBS all over the ocean.

There will be quite a big pile of information to sort-through in order to present a proper take on the race and all its component variables, once the whole thing is done. I'm looking forward to creating a digest of all the race reports so that an easy to read report can be presented for the interested readers of this thread. Available time will dictate that potential.

Some time back, one of the members of this broader forum indicated that the popularity of a given thread, as determined by the total number of overall thread visits and postings, determined the wide spread interest and importance of the discussion. Now, I don't know if that is all that true, but I do know that this particular thread on the RdR has been the most popular and most frequently read resource regarding the Route du Rhum on this Forum. It's been fun bringing these reports to the members of this forum along with the occasional opinion based insight.

Thanks for following along.

 

ostlind

ostlind: you've targeted me for years and you don't think I recognize you?
Probably the same with Apex. I'm curious why in the world you continue this charade after you have been found out?

 

There'll be a whole swathe of books resulting from this important and unique race ... and I'll be looking forward to reading your compilation, Chris.

 

Afternoon delight for Cammas?

"Time may be dragging for Franck Cammas this morning but he will hardly have time to think too much about it as he draws on his final reserves of energy to complete the last upwind miles to Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe to secure his first victory in the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale.

At 0500hrs (CET/French) this morning Cammas on Groupama 3 was still sailing in a contrary southerly breeze of between 10 and 12 knots. Maintaining his present VMG he is expected at Basse-Terre at between 1200hrs and 1400hrs (CET/French) and at the finish line some two hours later. Cammas has been maintaining the required exceptionally high work rate since yesterday, tacking solo the giant trimaran on which he sailed round the world fully crewed to win the Jules Verne Trophy. Since very early yesterday morning Cammas had completed more than a dozen tacks, and at 0400hrs this morning passed 12 miles north of Antigua, sailing through between the chain of Caribbean islands. By 0800hrs he had just 76 final miles to go, tacked back on starboard tack and was ten miles to the SSW of Antigua.“The end of a Transatlantic race is always long. It feels like you have finished but you have not.” Pointed out the Groupama 3 skipper this morning, positioned 76 miles from the Basse Terre buoy by 0500hrs (CET/French). If the wind conditions and direction remain as is, the green tri should reach the SW of Guadeloupe in seven to eight hours, turning there for deliverance in the form of 25 miles reaching sprint to the finish line off Gosier, by Point-à-Pitre. Behind the victor-elect, with a deficit of more than 186 miles, Thomas Coville’s second place on Sodebo looks to be under serious threat from Francis Joyon this morning on Idec. Idec is approaching on a faster angle from the NEE while Sodebo is more to the north, sailing upwind. At 0800hrs Idec was poised, computed to be one mile behind Sodebo in terms of distance to the finish line. And Idec has a VMG four knots quicker than Coville, the long time tenant of second place on the rankings. In the IMOCA Open 60’s Roland Jourdain has dealt with the worst of the calms that the leaders have been passing through, some stuck for several hours last night, but the leader on Veolia Environment this morning remains clear by 34 miles, whilst Jean-Pierre Dick has moved up to third on Virbac-Paprec 3. By their westerly track Franck-Yves Escoffier (Crêpes Whaou) and Yves le Blévec (Actual) have hit lighter winds conceded the lead in the Multi 50 on their damaged multihulls. Lalou Roucayrol on Région Acquitaine-Port Médoc now leads by over 40 miles but he will be aware of the continued advance from behind of Lionel Lemonchois on Prince de Bretagne who has caught up to within 156 miles and was still the class’s fastest boat this morningAnd Class 40 leader Thomas Ruyant will also be tracking the progress of the group to his south lead by Nicolas Troussel who are still gaining on the northern pack, by as much as another 20 miles, but Ruyant on Destination Dunkerque still leads by nearly 100 miles. Andrea Mura (Vento di Sardegna), remains a comfortable leader by more than 80 miles on Charlie Capelle (Acapella) in the Rhum class."

 

Most of us just ignore you Mister Lord, would you like to be targeted ?
If not then leave well enough alone ! Yes ?

 

Ya ...I can read the press releases from the big corporate sailors, but I still think the drama is in the rear of the fleet... The little guys like Pete Goss, Bernard Stamm....some of the most professional oceanic sailors around , plus a fleet of new young guns driving full tilt, for twice as long, twice as much fatigue, at a fraction of the budget as the big glamour boys. Guess that's just the way things go with the media.

 

I agree with you, Michael and there is much to be said regarding their efforts in the days to come. For right now, the Ultime Class boats are completing their race and naturally, there is a lot of attention being paid to them. I'll swing my postings over to the other classes a soon as the podium is mounted by the top three skippers in the Ultime Class.

From Thomas Coville this morning:

"As the sun rises on Pointe-à-Pitre in a pink sky and mild moist Caribbean, a high voltage finish is played on the Route du Rhum. Approaching the finish, Franck Cammas tacking on the islands. The leading approach to Guadeloupe at 15 knots and heats the pedals.

More than 10 tacks already "Franky" is to falter on his bike carbon by means of which it borders his sails. Soon the mud from head to English in Basse-Terre - there should be around 14h French time - it looks full, while in North East Francis Joyon puts some pressure.

Thomas himself also arrived from the north. At the close, he fights in the grain and against the sea A single transfer when Sodebo skipper who wins in the South to over 14 knots but the feat is difficult. Must be physically and morally all IDEC happens.

The classification of 8 hours, there were 265 miles to go Sodebo Idec and 266 for this benefit with "slides" for Joyon. At 18.9 knots, Francis tumbling downwind and with a very good angle. Then manhandled stuck in grains in recent days, Idec is well positioned relative to the axis of the ridge and the elements seem to open the track."