12th edition of Transat Jacques Vabre: 8 Tris (Multi50 & Maxis) started on Sunday

Safety first on high seas

Doug L: We talk here and likely to discuss three different aspects:

1.) Sailing + sail racing on its own... as mostly a skipper (duo) depends on its technical team (boat builders, naval architects, designers, sail makers etc. ...). So we still have to split between Pit crew + Sailing crew. Its all about trimming on board, tactics, routing...
2.) Technically aspects... boat design, construction/boat building...
3.) Media aspects... from perspectives as a spectator.

About 1.) mostly we cant say a lot, as we only see the tracker... we cant follow 1:1 the direct communication between the skipper teams, the advices and consultings by the meteo group on land... so we dont understand a lot what is going on board.

2.) is interesting under different aspects. As cruising sailors we never get one step on such racing mashines. So the images we get just satisfy our own desires and love for high performance sports (I also love Formula 1 racing and other extreme sports). So far so good. But I dont expect accidents, as I never wish any skipper to abandon his race or even the risks to behing hurt and risk own life.

3.) Here we come into the game: The Audience (or the web users). - As all these events only can work having an audience... and being financed by big corporations... because the sponsors expect media coverage to reach their target groups for fulfiling their own demands to promote their products, brand names... naturally I have the right to express my own thinking, emotions, feelings about what the race organizers and racing teams present me.

Yes, I get little bit "hot" (or overboard as you like to say) as I addressed with my last comment mainly the aspect of 3.) - Yes, I want be entertained... as audience. Clearly who visits a formula 1 race and then seeing the favorite crashing into a wall of tires after first round is very disappointed about. Life is short and we dont like to waste time for nothing good.

But again as I demanded it the organizers have to take this seriously: A regatta field and the regatta course are not taking place in a protected environment like we know it from the Formula 1 circuits.

Regattas are still part of international seafarership and maritime traffic, so the legal aspect. To see abandoned racing boats in row, 100% built and huge expensive drifting off shore isnt what we can accept or tolerate. - What if next night a cruising yacht crashes into the drifting "boss wreck" ?

If we do not address such questions, then the sponsors keep going with their "bad games". If they dont get feedback from us, that we dont like to see what we have seen now in just one week with all the damages they keep going on the wrong path. - Isnt ? A TJV or a Vende Globe arent events as we know it from America's Cup or Extreme Sail Racing series. I dont care about that there locally they crash their boats in row.... its just local activities. On an incentive afternoon they pick up their trash, repair it over week and then hunt to the next city to present their "sailing games" as we know it from Caesar's Colloseium in "Old Rome". Thats a very different sail racing business.

So we have to address such aspects too in my understanding related to offshore and trans ocean racing.

Trust me: the sponsors and their advertising agentices read very carefully social medias, they follow the comments... to get a feeling about what the masses are thinking... and so long an Alex gets applause even when we see him hanging on the hook of a SAR helicopter, then they will keep going this madness. No, Alex wont get applaus from me to see that he had to leave his boat.

Where is the limit ? Can we "sensation hungry" spectators expect a sail racing business as we know it from Formula 1 racing circuit ? I would say: No, we cant. As racing boats are still part of "public traffic". That is the big difference. I dont care about extreme sportsmen who like to risk their lifes. Its in their hands if they jump themselves to death from bridges, so long they do not risk other people's life. In my understanding, everybody has the right to end his own life his own way. So long he is not hurting other people.

Imagine you'd see in one week so many crashes of formula 1 racing cars they would use for their radical sports the public streets and autobahns. Immediatelly in public the voices would become loud to ban these risky racing cars and madly drivers from public streets, right ?

Safety first on high seas !

 

Above u can read a lot of " Bla bla , bla , bla " and another "demand" of a complacent " Writer "

 

haha... Richie... is this a hypotesis or prooven by reality ?

I only know from Dehler boats that they can handle a radically landing on the rocks being still in good shape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvxhQO4pw2E

(Dont care about that the moderation is in German... the display infos ( (some in ENG)) are enough to understand the crash tests.)

 

I agree.... its really sad to read what happened on board of Spirit of Hungary.
'My whole life was changed in only one hour' Nando Fa

As we notice from the short news it is not just about a boat and its crew which stops to sail. We get aware it can turn a whole life into a diseaster... as most skippers dont have the ressources and infrastructure to jump onto the next boat, e.g. as Gitana Team or Spindrift has a fleet of racing boats available...

Probably such regattas only can start because there are many smaller teams which have to run by lower budgets... and many of these "no name" teams invested more (even by own money) to come to the start line driven by passion and their dreams compared to the fully payed Pro Sailors where every single job is financed from sponsor's pocket.

 

Tjv

It doesn't matter how they get there-there is a story behind every entrant in these spectacular races. These races test many peoples dreams and aspirations
and there is great joy for some and great sadness for others - and thats what makes the TJV, Vendee, Sydney-Hobart and others great races. I have the utmost respect for all who become part of these epic struggles including the designers, builders ,engineers and most of all the gutsy crews who know what could be in store for them. Without demanding ocean races like these no new designs could be tried, no new building techniques could be explored,no new crews could gain the experience of a lifetime. And I think the sponsors, for the most part, play a key role in funding the new developments that wouldn't happen without them.
Sure there is heartache for some but also great satisfaction for many -win or lose.

 

philosophy of sail racing...

hm.... interesting perspectives you bring in. Never have seen it like that (yet). One might say by your description: A regatta fleet of 40 boats with different classes, and let's say - with different casts (the lower amateurs against the high professionals) is the mirror of life, with all its ambivalence. Day needs night, rich needs poor... happyness needs pain and suffering. Right ?

I never have seen "sail racing" under philosophical aspects, instead I see sailing per-se for my personal life very philosophically.

When I have initiated an own Whitbread campaign in the 90th for the 1997/98 race it was more kind of "mission & vision" we liked to follow with sponsors.

Already that time we had in mind image campaigns for "protecting water ressources", as we know it nowadays with "Race for Water Odyssey". I suppose that time 20 years ago I was the typically thinking in sports sponsorship far ahead. Mostly it was just "brand imaging". Corporate Governance was an unknown term that time in the concerns which received public attention later in the beginnings of the new century after the burst of the "dot com era" which lead to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in USA

 

Chapeau !!!!

You' ve Initiated your OWN Whitbread campaign --- as a 15year old teenager !!!!!



You are really " far ahead".




pogo

 

refreshing some memories....

refreshed old memories... looking at the TJV 1999... with Orma 60 Trimaran Broceliande (which later beame Foncia).... skippered by Alain Gautier and Michel Desjoyaux

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZDS3miKQCc


Have we already seen such kind of images from the TJV2015 ?

 

While the maxis stuck in low winds at 10 knots feeling the boring Doldrums the IMOCAs came like hunting from behind... Leading Bank Populair just 200 nm behind the two giants Sodebo and Macif. Interesting.

... and now its reality, that Thierry Bouchard with Oliver Krauss on Ciela Village are out for a moment. As reported the sails problems caused some bigger damages on the fore ship they had to take course to Cape Verde for repairs. So Arkema has its fight alone with FenetreA Prysmian. Little bit far on distance with ~270 nm.

Thierry just reported on Facebook from there with a snap of the neon green beauty, see attachment:

I suppose Macif and Sodebo will arrive in 4-5 days the finish line. By sure it wont be a new record.

P.S.: "wrecky boss" on the way back to La Coruna, Spain... http://www.sail-world.com/Transat-Jacques-Vabre---Salvage-team-aboard-Hugo-Boss-ahead-of-tow/139714

 

Tjv

PRB has passed Banque Populaire and Macif has stretched out to 117 m ahead of Sodebo.

 

30 knots on the log for Macif... cool. While Sodebo is slow pace behind only with 80% of Macif's speed around 24 knots... thats really bad shape.

Good, that Thierry is again back in the race... and only 520 nm behind the class leader.... not too bad for his stop over on Cape Verdes. Ciela Village pushes with 15 knots and hunting behind the two other Multi50s (Arkama and Fenetrea Prismian) which hang around like a slow snail in the doldrums with 4-6 knots... *knock on wood that all will arrive safely, the mult50 then would have the lowest quote of break downs*

Leading IMOCA PRB still has 2114 to go till finish line, just 160 nm front the leading Multi50: Fenetre Prysmian still has to go 2274. Would be great to see them coming closer to each other after leaving the Doldrums to see a nice finish. I suppose it will be in 6-7 days while Macif and Sodebo might end their race on Friday.

 

The Boss Story

Interview with Alex Thomson by Alan Block:
https://vimeo.com/144575070

 

Gilles and Yvan managed to coax their damaged Multi50 back to la Trinite safely. Prince de Bretagne Maxi 80 tow is approaching Lorient.

 

On board of Multi50 Ciela Village approaching the Doldrums...

Thierry's first video just comes in on board of Ciela Village approaching the doldrums...
https://vimeo.com/144804035

(P.S.: In French the doldrums are called "Pot au Noir".)

 

The rescue of Maxi Tri Prince de Bretagne...

Good to know she/he is back... meanwhile safely arrived in the harbour Lorient (France) the "rescue" of such a capsized 3-hull monster which looks more like a stranded wale isnt fun. (The capsizing happened on 27th Oct 2015). - Its tough work... and huge expensive as seen in the pics.

(Source of pics: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2015/11/03/the-rescue-of-a-big-trimaran/ )