Volvo:movistar abandons ship

The Atlantic leg is proving tragic for the Volvo teams! Heres more on movistar:
Volvo Ocean Race 2005 - 2006
Address:http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/a...don/index.aspx

[Figgy]

Those keels are dropping them to thier knees. A perfect event in ruins.

Seems to me that one designer and his boats have done extraordinarily well while the other designer-well..hasn't. You can narrow down part of the problem to one designers approach to the keel problem--but that keel problem is not going to be the demise of this race -given the success of the other approach.
Lets just hope that the boats that are still out in awful conditions make it in safely!

[Figgy]

Originally Posted by Lorsail

but that keel problem is not going to be the demise of this race -given the success of the other approach.

But I think it will. This event, like most, are sponser driven. Who is going to want to sponser the boats from that designer? Given the failures, I wouldnt. Diversity in the designs are good, to see what works and what doesnt. But it's still not good for the venue.
I'm already turned off by the event, and if only ten percent of the people out there feel that way, well..

[usa2]

Im with Doug on this-the keel problems are not going to be the demise of the race, mainly because all of the problems regarding the keels have been by one design office, suggesting that they seriously messed up somewhere. Next time around, the sponsors will just use another designer.

[yipster]

its a top sport race, nevertheless this was tragic!

[yipster]

is this fallen moviestar now to the finder?

[RHough]

Originally Posted by yipster

is this fallen moviestar now to the finder?

Yes, but ... no one is looking ...

[K4s]

The real reason this race wont carry on in the future are the rules of participation.
It stopped being a fleet race around the world along time ago,when boats were able to score full points without completing previous legs on their own bottoms,but could fly,container ship,truck or what ever to the next leg.
When this anomily has been addressed I will once again be fascinated by the race,but at the moment it really is only holding attention for the tragedies both past and present that are occuring.

[ClarkT]

Was the nature of Movistar's keel failure similar to the other Farr boats? I thought there was something wrong with hinge bearing attahcment which caused the abandon ship.

It is intresting to see Farr blow it like this. Would not have expected that. Do you think that the knowlege gained from these mistakes will make Farr the canting keelers to beat next time around?

On another note, this is a real bummer for SP Systems. This was their first big project with the 70deg C. resin (I think), and even though the failure seems to have nothing to do with their resin...there is no boat to show for it.

ClarkT