Transat Jacques Vabre

[Vega]

Pericles have posted this on other thread. It belongs here.

Originally Posted by Pericles

....he (Vega) has a tendency to state the obvious as if it is a nugget of gold that only he has discovered, and then he gets it wrong!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pericles :

I would love to have a Gunboat 66, when and if the next Jacques Varbre takes place and shadow the leading ORMA, probably Groupama 2, all the way to Bahia, Brazil and about a few miles from the finishing line, let the Gunboat have its head and surge past the trimaran, to take line honours, whilst having a good meal at the table and glugging the Bolly.
….
Am I dreaming? Absolutely!
Quote:

Originally Posted by Vega:

Yes you are dreaming. There is an incredible huge difference between a fast cruising cat like Gunboat 66 and a top racing trimaran like Gruparama. It’s like to say that a Ferrari F50 can be a match for a F1. Fact is that a simple racing formula ford, with be faster on a track.

Even an Open60 would be faster than the Gunboat. The Gunboat can make 36k? An Open60 also, even more. What counts is the wind needed to go fast.

If the conditions were very bad, as had happened on other races, you would see that the difference between the trimarans and the Open60’s would be a lot smaller and that the trimarans would experience a lot more retirements from the race than the monohulls (breaking, capsizing).

I like both types of boats, but we have to be fair regarding the strong and week points of each one and to see the difference between top racing boats and fast cruising ones.

Pericles:

Gunboat speeds are posted on their site. Where is your reference for IMOCA speeds and in what wind speeds?

Vega with remarks like that, you should not be so eager to post. Better you hide your lack of knowledge, rather than confirm it to all and sundry. Learn from the man! Guillermo is a NA.

Pericles

I did not know that Guillermo worked with big racing High-Tec boats.

Anyway I will post your comments on the proper thread, the thread from where you have taken these posts. Perhaps some of the guys that post there or that know and are interested in racing boats can comment on your ideas.

By the way, do you really think that the performance of the Groupama racing trimaran has something to do with the performance of the Gunboat 66 cruising cat?

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Chris Ostlind

Kinda confusing, guys.

There are two types of craft entered... Monos and Trimarans with not one single cat of any kind.

Chris, curiously there is a cat, a curious boat, the Avocet 50.

She had abandonned the race near Corunha:

"Avocet 50 (Class 50)a announced she was retiring from the race due to a problem in her daggerboard and is routing to the Corogne".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FfI_hjbjlw

http://www.jacques-vabre.com/fr/s07_...php?bateau=216

Not a bad boat, when competing in normal conditions he was 5th, on 8 class 50. But among these ones " Crepes whaou!" as no rival...and that's a beautiful boat.

[Chris Ostlind]

Amazing, Vega.

Amazing that you could find that tidbit... and further amazing that those guys on an Avocet would want to go do battle with the boats in Open 50 Class.

Thanks for the research and please accept my corrected notice.

Now, How about those guys on Ecover3? Could this be the boat for Golding... finally!... after all that really bad luck he's had in round the world events.

I like this guy, Golding. I like his work ethic, his modesty, as well as his focused commitment to sporting seamanship and ethics.

If the team at Ecover can keep this thing together, they will begin to look very tough for the Vendee Globe.

And then there's the Barcelona event just touching off with some of the other very hot boats in the class. Whoa Baby, it's gonna get very interesting when the clouds start to swirl for the Vendee kick-off.

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Chris Ostlind

Amazing, Vega.

Amazing that you could find that tidbit... and further amazing that those guys on an Avocet would want to go do battle with the boats in Open 50 Class.

Not my credit really. I just read it on a French Sailing magazine and check it out

[Vega]

Originally Posted by Chris Ostlind

Now, How about those guys on Ecover3? Could this be the boat for Golding... finally!... after all that really bad luck he's had in round the world events.

I like this guy, Golding. I like his work ethic, his modesty, as well as his focused commitment to sporting seamanship and ethics.

Most of these sailors are great human beings and surprisingly, modest guys. I believe that being alone on big seas gives you modesty

Yes, Goldwing is doing a superb job on his new boat ( Ecover - Owen/clarke 2007).

Marc Guillemot, the previous leader (Safran - Verdier/VPLP 2007), has lost Saturday night, all chances of winning, when they lost the spy. They are since then under geenaker, and losing 15º for everybody. Curiously Marc is a 60 trimaran specialist without experience on Open 60’s and his boat was designed with the collaboration of VPLP, also multihulls specialists.

The other boat designed by Verdier/VPLP (2007) is also doing great. Kito the Pavan on Groupe Bell is very close to Ecover. Kito is also not very experienced on this kind of boats. He had crewed the French Class America.

Other one close to Ecover is Loick Peyron on Gitana Eighty (Farr –2007). He sails closer to the coast. I bet on this guy. He had won last edition of this race (with Jean-Pierre Dick).

And last, but not least, Grupama has already finished, with a new record: 10days and 38minutes.

Fantastic sailing. (I hope they can revitalize this class, it is a shame if these fantastic boats disappear from the racing scene ).

[Vega]

What a race

While I was looking at the real time positions map, Foncia lost the lead to VM materiaux .

Safran, even without spy, has coming back on the race and there are 10 Open60's very close. Some of the Old boats are doing very well.

On the 50 Trimarans, "Crepes whaou", had lose almost all its advantage (330 miles to 70 miles) and is a sitting duck while "Laiterie de Saint Malo" is coming at 18k.

It is a shame that so few members enjoy ocean racing.