Vendee Globe 2012

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I looked it up too Corley and got a 19knot average speed(59% of BPV) w to e across the Atlantic for Mari Cha IV and 32 knots average for BP V-both are about the same length. BP 5 is state of the art multi with canting, rotating wing mast and curved lifting foils in the amas. I'm not sure Mari Cha IV is a state of the art mono.

 

Vendee

Tragedy for Jean Pierre Dick: from SA

Breaking News: At 0:45, while sailing in the third position of the Vendée Globe about 500 miles northwest of the Cape Verde islands, Jean-Pierre Dick called his team. Virbac-Paprec 3 has lost its whole keel at 23:45 pm (French time). The skipper from Nice has stabilized the situation. The boat is in place, filled ballasts, and sails at 8 knots towards the Azores.
More from the race site:

Jean-Pierre Dick told the race office by satellite phone: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/article/10667/virbac-paprec-3-loses-its-keel.html

"I was sailing on starboard tack under mainsail with one reef and the solent (sail), in 20 knots of wind. I was inside when the wind increased suddenly. I went out to adjust the sails. At that moment, I heard a loud bang.

“Virbac-Paprec 3 went to the luff and was pushed on its side. I eased the mainsail sheet and solent sheet. I furled it (the solent). I went to the end of the boom and eased the running backstay. I went downwind smoothly and the boat slowly went back into the right position. I filled all the ballasts to stabilise the boat.

I am heading to the Azores at 8 knots with two reefs in the mainsail and with a staysail. The situation is stabilised and I think that there is no risk of capsizing. My dream of a podium finish in the Vendée Globe has suddenly sunk.”

 

you are really willing to compare a solo- with a fully crewed circumnavigation and take it as proof that multis are 50% faster?
yet alone that in the vendee the skippers have to navigate ice gates while BP 5 went the most southerly course possible in their record attempt...
come on - be serious...

what a shame for jean pierre... sad to hear that.

 

I was looking at ratified non stop eastabout round the world records by the WSSRC and the fastest monohull record seems to be Foncia. I'm happy to be corrected please check for yourself is there a non ratified non stop monohull record that is faster?

http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/round-the-world-non-stop.html

 

Capn, Michel Desjoyeaux's time is the fastest monohull time ever, fully crewed or singlehanded, gates or no gates.
I think a more balanced example would be the Trans Atlantic crossing and other race times, IMOCA and ORMAs for their same length sizes, - the multihulls are still days ahead.

 

all of that is correct:
it is the fastest monohull nonstop circumnavigation, because all the other monhull races do not go nonstop and i know of no circumnavigation for the record alone with a mono...
nevertheless is it a big difference if you do it solo (running under auto-pilot most of the times) or fully crewed and it is absolutely incomparable if you can track your most direct course or if you are obliged to navigate certain gates which are farther north...
not only makes it for a longer route but it might bring you out of favourable weathersystems as well...
the singlehanded record on a multi is at 57 days - still, no gates to engage...

and granted - multis are faster but by no means the proclaimed 50%...
it is still a little bit unfair to compare BP 5 with much smaller monos...

also interesting is, that the 24 h record is still held by ericson 4 - a VO 70...
i wonder why all the super maxi out there are not going for this record... they should be faster.

could it be that monohulls are primarily made and used for races and the big multihulls just for record breaking purposes?

 

Super maxi owners dont go for the record because there is not much glory in being the tallest midget.

Back to the Vendee Globe and watching Imocas offering up their keels to Neptune , this edition of the Vendee has been a cracker of a race by the way.

 

One of the reasons early multihulls did not do so well is they often depended on their hulls for leeway prevention. In Captain Cook's day, almost all the western boats and ships had long, shallow keels and thus were just as inefficient as the multi's Captain Cook encountered.

In the '50's and well into the '60's, it was common practice to not use boards or keels of any kind on multi's. So against a mono with a fin keel, the multi was faster only down wind. Across the wind, the gap narrowed. And up wind, the mono had the advantage.

Also, western multi's were more a product of aircraft style engineering than throwbacks to their eastern cousins (which often had heavy construction and relatively small rigs for their weight). Rig failures were common as well as structural failures.

Once boards and keels were added and the brittle masthead rigs were replaced with more resilient fractional rigs, the western multis took off, even though by that time, aircraft style engineering had come to the mono camp, and the fast mono's were much faster than they used to be.

On a long ocean passage, speed advantages often disappear on boats with small crews, if the faster boat is any bit more difficult to handle than the slower boat.

For this reason, I would decline your challenge.

Even though the multi may indeed be 50% faster, that is only potential speed. That is not safe speed. The canting ballast mono (which I said was more like 80% as fast as a multi of similar length an technology) can be driven ruthlessly because there is at least the illusion that the ballast keel will right the boat, should it capsize.

There is no such illusion on the single handed multi.

BTW - I got the 50% faster 'rule' from reading some of Captain Cook's writings and comparing top speeds of monos and multis of similar lengths through the years.

Multis are natural race horses and monos are natural pack mules. This is the only reason I would own a mono rather than a multi.

 

Three Cheers for JP Dick and V3!!!

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

VIRBAC PAPREC 3 STILL RACING

(January 23, 2013; Day 75) - After losing a keel two days ago, Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) has delayed his decision whether he will abandon the race, or to try and make it back to Les Sables d’Olonne until after the Azores. He is currently talking with his architects (Guillaume Verdier and VPLP) and considering whether or not he can use the water ballast system effectively to provide greater stability to his boat.

Dick is currently making fair progress down the track and although Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) is slowly picking off the miles, on some level Dick is also keeping him at bay. Meanwhile the estimated times of arrival for François Gabart (MACIF) and Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) are becoming more refined.

 

i also applied, but did not receive a reply yet... it was probably to late for this years addition...
maybe next year then...

the very same thing happened this edition to le cam but in the southern atlantic...

they are expected to arrive at the finish line this saturday evening or latest sunday morning, which would but gabart 7 days ahead of the old record...

 

Vendee

from Scuttlebutt tonight:

CARRY ON KEEL-LESS

(January 24, 2013; Day 76) - Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac Paprec 3) has decided
to wait until Sunday to make a decision as to what to do in his current
keel-less state. He's still in the Azores high with just 12-13 knots in a
situation that's not easy for a boat without a keel.

He said, "Sometimes I feel like I'm windsurfing, you need to completely
change the way you work on the boat. I can't use large sails but the
ballasts are full to keep some stability. I'll see if I can finish the race,
if the conditions allow, but I can't take too much risk for myself, or
for the boat. I should sail off the Azores coast around the 27th, there
should be around 25 knots of westerly wind there and that will help me see
how the boat is doing when the sea and the wind are tougher."
------------
Elaine Bunting on Vendee keels: http://www.yachtingworld.com/blogs/elaine-bunting/533528/vend-e-globe-problems-with-keels

 

Vendee

JP Dick talking about his predicament: (with english subtitles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-X6W-8XfD74

 

Vendee

from the Vendee site:

Today, we recieved this message from Alex Thomson,

“I am back into real North Atlantic conditions again and the wind is colder and the sea state has started to get pretty rough again. Over the last few days I have been worried about JP Dick and him sailing without his keel and even though my optimum route takes me more North and West of my current course and back to Les Sables fast and direct, this morning when I experienced the conditions I decided to change course to stay with JP until I know that he is happy with the boat and he has made his decision about what he will do regarding stopping or continuing.

Tonight and tomorrow morning a front will pass over myself and JP with some strong breeze and I will stick around him to make sure there is someone close by if something was to happen to him. JP is a great sailor and I am confident in his ability to sail safely to wherever he chooses but I know that if I was in his position I would like to have someone watching my back through the strong winds that are coming.

He has not asked me to assist in any way, but I really feel that I cannot sail off and leave him until I know that he is confident and has confirmed what his intentions are. It is simple for me really, if he has a problem I will try and help him and once he has got through the worst of the weather safely and happy with the boat tonight, and if he then decides to continue with the race safely, then I will adjust my course and continue with mine. What I don’t want is to be too far away from him if he has an issue with the coming strong winds and before he knows if he is fully capable of continuing.”

This is a noble gesture from a man who has faced the icy peril of the ocean and survived. A man who has been rescued himself. It has not been requested by the race office and so he will not be compensated for any ground lost. The gap between Hugo Boss and the 5th place boat Jean Le Cam is significant enough for him to sacrifice the miles but make no mistake it is a sacrifice. This noble gesture could also sacrifice the potential to be the first British person to sail solo around the world in under 80 days but in this instance Thomson clearly has put Jean Pierre Dick's safety first.

 

this is seamanship!
i was opening the tracking site this morning and without reading the news, i could see what alex is doing...
a comment from the vendee globe web site:
"very few sports can demonstrate such solidarity and respect among competitors."
nothing to add...

 

Doug, I know it is out of production, but there are still a few Hobie trifoilers around. For top speed, I wonder which would really be faster in comparable conditions. If you want to take it one step further, with just a little upgrading (modern materials, modern rig, better foil sections), the performance of this 1995 design would be real tough to beat.

Ok, I went back & found the tricky detail. The Trifoiler was 22'. The boat does not look that big, but then it came to me, you do have to consider the feelers out front.