Route du Rhum 2014

No signs of that but I think the 2002 event was a wake up call. The ORMA's suffered the worst in 2002 but the MOD70's are somewhat stronger with no structural issues so far.

 

RdR2014

This seems way out of line .......From the website-the damage toll-and timeline- so far:
What's the Damage? Timeline
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The running order for a tough first 36 hours on La Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe. All the details and the ABANDONS to date
Timeline of damage
Sunday 2nd November
-9h00 : Luc Coquelin (Classe Rhum) hit by dive boat when at anchor, damaged bowsprit.
-13h15 : Jean-Édouard Criquioche (Class40) rig problems, starts at 1900hrs.
-15h00 : Ricardo Diniz (Classe Rhum) diesel problem and other issues. Arrived back in Saint-Malo at 1800hrs left Monday 1700hrs
-19h00 : Charlie Capelle (Classe Rhum) stops in Saint-Quay Portrieux to let worst of weather go, restarts Monday 0800hrs
-19h45 : Jean Galfione (Class40) strikes unlit buoy off Bréhat and damages hull. Arrives Saint-Quay Portrieux at 5h30 Monday, aims to leave 19h Monday
-20h15 : Giancarlo Pedote (Class40) sail problems heads for Roscoff.
Arrives at 7h, leaves Monday 11h
-23h00 : Marc Lepesqueux (Class40) loses keel fills ballast heads to Guernsey under engine arrives 10h Monday Abandon.
-23h30 : François Angoulvant (Class40) loses keel, helicoptered off at 00h40 Monday to Brest .
Abandon.
-23h35 : Loïc Féquet (Multi50) float damaged, towed by SNSM to l'Aber Wrac'h at 8h Monday Abandon.
-23h45 : Thomas Coville (Ultime) hits a cargo ship. Damages main bow and starboard float. Arrives Roscoff at 11hrs Monday. Abandon.

Lundi 3 novembre
-0h30 : Bertrand Delesne (Class40) has problems with sails halyards and headsails. Heads to Perros-Guirec then Roscoff.
Arrives Roscoff at 9h, leaves Roscoff at 13h.
-1h15 : Bob Escoffier (Classe Rhum) sail and rig problems. Heads to Roscoff, arrives 08h Monday. Aims to leave Tues 06h
-1h45 : Thierry Bouchard (Class40) wrist injury, heads to Saint Malo. Arrives 16h Monday. Abandon.
-4h20 : Brieuc Maisonneuve (Class40) pilot problems, heads to Roscoff arrives 10 :45 Monday.
-5h35 : Gilles Buekenhout (Multi50) breaks rudder, towed by SNSM to Roscoff arrives 16h Monday
-6h30 : Nicolas Troussel (Class40) twists ankle, routes to Brest arrives 15h Monday Abandon.
-7h00 : Hervé de Carlan (Multi50) breaks daggerboard, heads to Saint-Brieuc.
-7h15 : Erik Nigon (Multi50) shreds mainsail, heads to La Rochelle, Abandon.
-8h10 : Pierre-Yves Lautrou (Class40) loses two wind vanes. Heading to Camaret.
Arrives 17h Monday.
-8h45 : Alan Roura (Class40) water ingress, other varied problems. Heads to Roscoff, ETA 19h
-9h45 : Tanguy de Lamotte (IMOCA) rudder damage, route towards Brest since 1400hrs.
-10h00 : Vincent Lantin (Class40) various problems, heading to Camaret.
-10h10 : Patrick Morvan (Classe Rhum) various problems heading to Camaret.
due 18h30 Monday
-10h15 : Alain Delhumeau (Multi50) dismasted, heading to Brest Abandon.
-10h45 : Julien Mabit (Classe Rhum) pilot and electronics problems heading to l'Aber Wrac'h.
Arrives 14h00
-12h00 : Bertrand de Broc (IMOCA) pilot problem and injured elbow
Heading to Lorient. Abandon.
-14h00 : Arnaud Boissières (Class40) crack on deck and other pbs heading to Les Sables d'Olonne
Abandon.
-15h00 : Philippe Fiston (Class40) technical problems. Arrived Camaret at 17h Monday
-14h00 : Benjamin Hardouin (Classe Rhum) arrived Roscoff to repair leak, plans to restart Tuesday 06h
-16h00 : Conrad Humphreys (Class40) arrives Camaret 16hrs sail problems, batten car damaged
-16h30 : Nils Boyer (Classe Rhum) arrives at Roscoff to replace life-raft
-17h15 : Vincent Riou (IMOCA) damaged mainsail track mounting, heading downwind slowly to repair

 

There are a lot of technical stops there for repairs. They are racing boats and things break particular in a cauldron like the Bay of Biscay in rough conditions. Nice to see Loick leading the way as the Route du Rhum is one of the few races he hasn't won but Yann on Spindrift 2 is coming up quickly behind him.

http://www.routedurhum.com/fr/s03_actualites/s03p02_detail_actualite.php?actu=500

 

wait, did I miss something? when did Loïck Peyron abandon the Walter Greene tri "Happy"??? I was really looking forward to seeing someone run it in a classic small "mostly" self funded boat.

Im too young for the heydays of the OSTAR so Im stuck watching old documentaries about Moxie and the other greats. Seems like a world long gone. Now is the time of the mega-corp.

I wish the Jester race would get more coverage

 

RdR2014

There's another classic in the Multi 50 class PIR^2-one of the early tri's to use foils and also made of aluminum.
Story here: http://foils.wordpress.com/ Skipper Etienne Hochede is in 5th place now.

Tracker: http://www.routedurhum.com/fr/s02_corporate/s02p08_cartographie.php

 

Loick was offered the helm of Banque Populaire VII after Armel le Cleach injured his hand prior to the race and the Route du Rhum is one of the few races he hasn't won outright and he has a very good chance of doing that now.

He still owns 'Happy' maybe next RdR in 2018 he will take her across the Atlantic.

 

The Route du Rhum news coverage and tracker is excellent so I wont try and repost news to the thread best to just visit the Route du Rhum website for updates:

http://www.routedurhum.com

Loick is doing well out the front of the fleet, BPVII is a more wieldy boat from a solo perspective than Spindrift 2 but if Yann can get some more stable weather he might be able to exploit the power of the boat a little better. The big story for me is how well Sebastian Josse is doing on the modified MOD70 Edmond de Rothschild he is punching well above his weight to hold onto a solid third in the Ultime class.

In the Multi50's some strategic positioning by Lalou Roucayrol has seen him take the lead. Lalou's early strategy saw him go for a more Westerly route initially and has given him sea room and kept him out of the worst seastates that the boats went inshore had to deal with. Team Actual has to drop into Cascais for repairs to their wind instruments which will allow FenetreA Cardinal to sneak away into a more solid second place.

In the Rhum Class Route du Rhum veteran Anne Casaneuve is the leading multihull second behind the powerful canting keel monohull Vento di Sardegna.

 

A nice round up of the current race situation by Marie Le Berrigaud:

http://www.sail-world.com/Australia...128604&SRCID=0&ntid=0&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

 

Loick Peyron (BPVII) still has a solid lead over Yann Guichard (Spindrift2) in the Ultimes. Lionel Lemonchois has consolidated his position in third.

In the Multi50's Lalou Roucayrol on Arkema has been overtaken by Erwan Le Roux on FenetreA Cardinal with Gilles Lamire on Rennes Metropole St Malo Agglomeration moving into third, Yves Le Blevec on Actual well behind after the technical stop at Cascais.

In the Rhum class Anne Caseneuve has closed the gap a little on Andrea Mura on Vento di Sardegna.

tracker:

http://www.routedurhum.com/fr/s02_corporate/s02p08_cartographie.php

and an impressive video from Prince de Bretagne Maxi 80 sailing at about 35 knots.

http://dai.ly/x29gpe7

 

Not much change in the Ultimes class save that Loick on BPVII has extended his lead and is now over 200nm ahead of Yann on Spindrift 2.

In the Multi50's Erwan Le Roux is in the lead with Lalou Roucayrol within striking distance about 5nm behind.

In the Rhum class conditions are suiting Anne Caseneuve on ANEO quite well and she has made up a significant margin on Vento Di Sardegna.

 

Loick Peyron on BPVII is approaching the finish with about 39nm to go and it appears he will improve on the outright record time for the race.

http://www.routedurhum.com/fr/s02_corporate/s02p08_cartographie.php

In the Multi50's Erwan Le Roux is holding off Lalou Roucayrol who is in second place for now but it's pretty close.

In the Rhum class Anne Caseneuve on the trimaran ANEO has moved into the lead and extending away the canting keel monohull being skippered by Andrea Mura Vento Di Sardegna.

 

RdR2014

Corley, do you think Spindrift needs a bigger rig?

 

It may also be a case of how close they can sail a boat at that sizes optimum, may be spindrift requires that much more effort.

 

Technically Spindrift 2 should be the faster boat but trying to solo a monster like that I don't know.. the sails and gear are really heavy and maneuvers become exceptionally slow, difficult and physically exhausting. Optimising sail choices to the conditions is difficult and as Warwick notes it's hard to sail a boat like that to anywhere near the polars solo.

BPVII is that bit smaller and lighter with a more manageable rig. I think BPVII's rig cants as well which may have been helpful with extracting more power from the rig safely. It's too bad that Thomas Coville on Sodebo had that collision early on he probably would have pushed Loick really hard. It's nice that Loick took on the challenge as this is one of the few races he hasn't won and to do it in emphatic style against the best field of Ultimes to ever contest the Rhum.

 

Loick approaching the finish on BPVII

http://dai.ly/x29qoz5