Brest Atlantiques 2019 - Ultims

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Dolfiman, Oct 31, 2019.

  1. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    From Gitana 17:
     
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  2. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Video from Sodebo, about the broke rudder :
     
  3. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Gitana and Macif are on a West wind regime south of a High, forcing them to do gybes in a narrow corridor between this no wind zone and the ice exclusion zone. Actual Leader now 3rd at about 276 NM is still in a N-W wind and can go directly to Cape Town, it is a kind of compensation of their rear position which so limits their lag compared to the leader. Sodebo can go at about 26 Knots without their starboard rudder, they plan a stop at Cape Town to (try) change the rudder, the critical issue is the hull interface also damage.
    Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
     
  4. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

  5. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Due to the evolution of the High, Gitana and Macif (at 96 NM) can now go directly towards Cape Town, idem for Actual Leader taking advantage of this High evolution avoiding them the multi gybes sequence of the leaders and maintaining low their lag (188 NM). Sodebo can maintain a high speed around 30 Knots despite the loss of the rear part of their starboard ama, as can be seen on the amazing drone video here below.
    Tracking : Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
    Video by drone of Sodebo with its cut off starboard ama :
     
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  6. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

  7. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Gitana and Actual Leader (now second, 6 hours after) has turned the Robben Island mark and are now in a rear wind alongside the African coast. Macif is making a short pit stop " to repair two identified problems, on the bar transmission system and on the port foil lift system" dixit Macif Com. Sodebo soon arrives to Cape Town for a check of the damaged starboard float : a complete repair seems impossible in a short time, it is more to check that the shortened starboard float is ok (structure and waterproof) and about a decision to continue or not the race with a limited speed potential on one tack (~ 30 Knots) but not on the other tack.
    Tracking: Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
     
  8. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Video by drone of Actual Leader :
     
  9. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Gitana seems to have finished the zigzag alongside the Namibie coast and is heading now North-West to go north of the St Helen anticyclone. Actual Leader and Macif are ~ 300 NM behind, trying to take advantage of irregular light rear winds along the coast, with thermical effects. Sodebo still in check at Cape Town, decision to continue not yet taken.
    Tracking : Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
    Video Gitana : drone view at high speed, in front of Cape Town by night, ...
     
  10. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Man, the drone footage that starts off that video is simply extraordinary! Thanks!!!
     
  11. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Yes Doug, Gitana is giving a consistent demonstration of its flying capacity on a long oceanic range and for very various conditions, the crew istelf become aware >> Charles Caudrelier last vacation :"The boat is flying well. Compared to the others, we have an ability to fly a little earlier, it is an advantage and it also allows us to pass well in the sea. Before Bahia, we have less flying time than we wanted because we have had this daggerboard failure, we lost a lot when we switched to non-flying mode, it is not at all the same performance. This is new (for us), if we manage to return to Brest, it will be the first time (Maserati also) that a boat can do as many miles
    in flying mode
    . We are sure that it is the future. At first when they designed the boat, we did not believe it too much, we saw that we were flying on flat water on the America's Cup, but flying in the real ocean sea was something else, the Gitana Team did it, proved that it was possible, now everyone will go down that road".
    By hoping that a floating object (can be numerous offshore the African coast, inc. tree trunks,...…) will not damage again a boat, already 3 Ultims were forced to a pit stop due to that, e.g. it is a great frustration for Sodebo Indeed. Again it is really the Achille heel of the Ultims due to their high speed : at 35 knots, the kinetic energy is 12th times the one for the same object impact at 10 knots !, how a rudder can resist to that , and there is not evident solution of avoidance.
     
  12. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Sodebo finally decided to abandon the race : their starboard foil was also impacted and it is not safe for the whole ama structure to continue a sailing on a racing mode. Actual Leader shows a great resistance to Macif, both boats are still side to side in a multi gybes sequence alongside the coast, about 370NM behind Gitana beginning its ocean diagonal crossing on a N-W route.
    Tracking : Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
    Vidéo Macif alongside the African coast :
     
  13. Dolfiman
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    The 3 Ultims have now finished with the Namibian coast zigzag sequence ( to take advantage of the strong thermical winds very near the beaches !) and have initiated the diagonal crossing of the ocean up to the entry point to cross the Doldrums. Rear wind is the context. Actual Leader do very well in this context, they are still second and closer to Gitana, presently at about 150 NM, but the lags between the 3 Ultims depend of the various on-going tacks. In the video, Yves le Blevec shows the various option, inc. one very west, theoretically the faster but also the most risky including an upwind transition.
    Tracking : Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
    Video from Actual Leader :
     
  14. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Gitana in flying mode, by the drone, looks easy, with a slight nose-up trim, at the contrary of the AC75 prototypes :
     
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  15. Dolfiman
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    Dolfiman Senior Member

    Time to big options : Macif seems tempted by the west one, Actual Leader by the north one, in their chasing behind Gitana. Good weather for all, on Actual Leader they regularly water the main and jib sheets on the whinch reels to keep them slippy enough in case of urgent ease of them to cope with a gust of wind. On Macif, the mediaman is equiped with 2 drones type Phantom 4 :
    Presentation du DJI Phantom 4 https://www.amateursdedrones.fr/dji-phantom-4/
    Tracking :
    Cartographie et classement https://www.brestatlantiques.com/cartographie-et-classement
    Video from Actual Leader :
     
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