Route du Rhum Underway

[cardsinplay]

Coville's news post from this morning:

NEWS: In the Attack on the Front!
04.11.2010


"That night was marked by the rescue with the trimaran Sidney Gavignet Majan Oman Air was the victim yesterday of a severe damage on the front beam, 250 miles north of the Azores.

It was confirmed this morning that the trimaran was dismasted and that the float is in the central hull. The skipper was rescued by the Cavo Alexander, a bulk carrier which is en route to Turkey and the sailor took the difficult decision to abandon the boat.

The team of Oman Air has launched Majan Rescue trimaran whose position is followed by Iridium (satellite). Reassured Sidney safe, the team as skipper Sodebo have been very touched by the ordeal Majan the team they feel close. Not only the trimaran was built in Sodebo mussels, but Sidney has crossed the Atlantic last summer with Thomas and Thierry Douillard, a member of the cell routing Sodebo, sailed several weeks with the team Oman, among other in the Indian Ocean.

Front, there you are!

That night was also marked by a slight slowdown in green flare Groupama 3. If over 24 hours, Frank has maintained an average speed of 21.1 knots, it is 20.7 knots over the last 4 hours while that of Sodebo is 21.9 knots. In VMG (ie the compromise between the heading and speed), the trimaran Thomas Coville (3e) is also pointing at 19 knots to 8 hours against 17.2 per Franck.

Tom was able to take a rest tonight and valuable beginning to feel the influences of the front that will cross in the course of the morning. Behind, the skipper will earn a North East wind which should force 25 to 30 knots. What descend quickly to the West Indies and with a favorable angle but the sea could encounter a bit before the bows of the trimaran, as happens with the passage of a front cut than this one with a quick flip of the wind sector South to North."

 

[monocat]

Isn't this the same info that was posted in the other thread from Doug Lord earlier?

 

[cardsinplay]

No. The subject of a good number of these News Reports is the perspective of Thomas Coville on Sodeb'O, while the other posts about which you ask, are slanted to the point of view of Groupama.

Additionally, this site is taking a good look at the other Multihull Class in the RdR, the Class 50. I think that the Class 50 boats actually have the potential to bring more interest to offshore multihull racing than do the big boys. The 50's will be sailed more often in more varying types of events. Being smaller (if a 50 foot tri is small on anyone's plate) they are also a good deal more affordable, giving the potential to be perceived as more accessible to the everyday sailor.

 

[cardsinplay]

Meanwhile, in Class 50, Yves Escoffier on Crepes Whaou has increased his lead over Actual's, Yves Le Blevec, just a bit by stretching it out from last night's 68 miles to 120.

Watching these 50 foot boats pretty much keep up with the 100'+ Ultimate Class tris in big water conditions is great stuff for the world of multihulls. This is especially so considering that the next America's Cup will be using multihulls. Raising overall global consciousness as to the speed, grace and safety of these big and very fast boats can only benefit the development of multihulls in all areas.

 

[cardsinplay]

While snooping around at the Sodeb'O site this morning, I happened on their interactive RdR course map. See below for screen shot as well as URL for that page. The cool thing about it is that you can not only zoom into, or out of the various boat locations at the top of the page, but you can also use a slider at the bottom of the page to adjust the meteo forecast out for the next two days.

That feature is incredible and shows powerful reaching conditions for the next 24 hours for Coville, while Cammas is going to be doing some upwind sailing in much lighter conditions. After that, it looks like a slight wind favoring for Coville while both he and Cammas will basically drag race to the finish on optimal points of sail for both boats.

http://sodebo-voile.geovoile.com/routedurhum/2010/

 

[jehardiman]

Raising overall global consciousness as to the speed, grace and safety of these big and very fast boats can only benefit the development of multihulls in all areas.

You need to wipe the stars from your eyes, as it is a defect that a naval architect and his clients cannot afford. It is well proven that big multis are no safer, faster, or more graceful than any other hull form. The performance of any vessel is based on the quartet of design, construction, crew, and environment. Fail to account for any one of those criteria and there is the very real risk of someone dying.

So far for the 20 (21) multis, one has been dismasted, and another returned to port with structural failure but has not yet abandoned (and another abandoned to crew to illness). Of the 63 (64) monos 3 have abandoned the race for system failures, mostly in the autopilot systems (1 suffered a collision with a FV and was dismasted). And none of the IMOCA have abandoned and as of this time (2000 GMT Nov 4) they are all closer to finishing than the last place Ultime.

As I said before, it will be interesting to see if the failure rate tracks the last 2 races even though this weather appears to be signficantly lighter and more favorable to the multis.

 

[ChuckieBlood]

So, the anti-multihull passion continues with some.

Meanwhile, Prince de Bretagne is back on course sailing to the finish and only the most meager of supported entries in the either of the multihull class are lagging behind.

At the other end of the scale, the fastest multihulls are far ahaed of all of the monohulls and there is no reason to suspect that they will not stay that way. Yes, JH, that means that Class 50 tris are well out front of the fastest of the Open 60 monohulls. A boat that is ten feet shorter is wiping the course over the bigger and supposedly more powerful and seaworthy boats, of the monohull divisions. Make all the comments you wish, but that's reality and you can't argue around the facts.

Hardiman, your prejudice is showing, badly, and it is not complimentary to your profession that you do so in this fashion. Sadness prevails when a man of science casts himself in such a fashion. You are supposed to look at the results openly. refuse to be swayed by personal prejudice and if you make a position statement, it addresses that which is before you and not what you wish it would be. You have failed in that endeavor.

Take a look at the position map below and you will see the error of your ways in full and glorious color.

 

[cardsinplay]

Oh boy.

Back to the race. At this point, Cammas is doing 15 kts, or less, of boat speed in 10 knots of breeze and will be stuck in that reality for some time to come. Just up North, Sodeb'O is cranking out 27+ knots of boat speed in steady winds of 19-20 knots and closing fast on Cammas.

These conditions are going to prevail for at least the next 24 hours, or more, at which point Coville will have closed the gap completely on Cammas and then it's a real horse race to the line in Guadeloupe.

How fun is this turning out to be?

 

[Gary Baigent]

You tell that churlish chap, Chuckles.

 

[ChuckieBlood]

that churlish chap, Chuckles.

You are now my alliteration hero, Gary. I await the post of His Churlishness. Admittedly, I lifted some of the post from ideas posted by cardsinplay as they made a lot of sense to me. I thought that Hardiman would just step back because he had no platform from which to argue that had merit. I was wrong. We play on.

 

[cardsinplay]

Sometime soon after 1600 hours French time, Coville made this post. As of this post, he is now well under 300 miles behind Cammas and closing rapidly.

NEWS: Dancing with the wind
04.11.2010

"22, 25, 27 ... 28 ... 29 knots! The log displays rates of Sodebo to dream riders scum of the Route du Rhum!

After two days of battle in close, uncomfortable on the sea, the trimaran led by Thomas Coville has received favors from Neptune: rinsing with rainwater, late morning, immediately followed by a gracious flow of North is thus propelling the trimaran on the direct route to an average of 25-26 knots. On the fifth day of the race, tallying 16 hours, Sodebo ranks second, to 346 miles from Franck Cammas.

After a long period of tightrope walker, on the northern edge of the Azores, the skipper knew that today would sound Sodebo its time. We first had this morning, crossing the front, that is to say to a new weather system where the downwind promote its progress.

Entire wardrobe of the trimaran is gone! "I really transpired. I went from the small storm sail up gennaker, told Thomas Coville, during the vacation video 16h. It's a lot of maneuvers, so much energy. It must always be focused, but it succeeded. Thus, the skipper of Sodebo successively rolled and sent the ORC jib (jib storm), the staysail and the Solent to eventually roll out the gennaker of 325 m2. A sequence which requires a great physical and mental concentration to keep up. "I had a little squawk about sending gennaker said the conductor of the trimaran. He had to go to the bow to unravel the plays, it made a Pataquès, I do not like! But outside this maneuver scabrous everything was fine chains. "

Thomas Coville, who is a perfectionist, had evidently taken the prom adequate: a rainsuit and a sou'wester this hat brimmed providing the essential touch of elegance to the ocean racer. "My supplier Helly Hansen makes it a true sailor's hat! This morning, it rained a downpour as the front: I did not get cold. "

"It should be less rock and roll in the coming hours, Thomas felt watching the gusts of wind, listening gennaker hand. Then there will be on till the end and it will be a race to the West Indies. Finally! It makes the miles on the direct route! It was something ambitious, difficult, but it's a great satisfaction ... Yeah ... 32 knots! The rain patters, the skipper never fails to dampen the movements of the gray sea, the boat accelerates so that its bow greedily swallow the foam of the waves. "It slides, it's nice," sums up Thomas Coville, in his happiness to waltz the standings. At 16 hours, Sodebo is in second place, 346 miles behind Franck Cammas"

 

[monocat]

Admittedly, I lifted some of the post from ideas posted by cardsinplay as they made a lot of sense to me.

Ah ha, that'll explain why you sound like the same person.

 

[cardsinplay]

I see that some are tossing about the function of G3 being wider and that it will make the difference all by itself should Sodeb'O and G3 get into similar air together.

While that is one small component of what makes a fast boat, it is small potatoes compared to another, much more important aspect. That would be: How much experience does the skipper have singlehanding a boat this large at all-out speed in oceanic conditions for extended periods of time. That reality goes in the direction of Thomas Coville and Sodeb'O in every way you can slice it and the comparison isn't even close.

Where Cammas has experience driving the G3 quickly, he has only done that competitively when the boat was fully crewed with three, full watches and all kinds of guys on deck to watch and tend every element of the boat. Not only has Coville done that while serving as watch skipper on G3 for her Jules Verne record run, but he has several thousand hours at the helm of Sodeb'O in the wildest Southern Ocean conditions imaginable, all of it solo. Keep in mind that he also set consecutive 24 hour solo speed records, also in the Southern Ocean and those marks are still the highest ever seen by a solo skipper. The man knows how to drive a boat hard, very fast and do it for extended periods of time.

Boats, all by themselves, rarely win races. More, it is the skipper who does so. I wouldn't start the counting of chickens for Cammas until the green machine enters the harbor at Guadaloupe before Sodeb'O.

 

[cavalier mk2]

You guys with favorites are hilarious. Why if the sailors of the USA could find sponsors we would make a pile of French toast! Now we will have to use plywood and old sails but with our superior out sourced bailing wire and rusty nails we will not be second ! (maybe second from last Did anyone hear more of what failed in the beam of Oman Air, what construction was used etc..? Did the ama really go through the main hull?

 

[jehardiman]

So, the anti-multihull passion continues with some.

Meanwhile, Prince de Bretagne is back on course sailing to the finish and only the most meager of supported entries in the either of the multihull class are lagging behind.

At the other end of the scale, the fastest multihulls are far ahaed of all of the monohulls and there is no reason to suspect that they will not stay that way. Yes, JH, that means that Class 50 tris are well out front of the fastest of the Open 60 monohulls. A boat that is ten feet shorter is wiping the course over the bigger and supposedly more powerful and seaworthy boats, of the monohull divisions. Make all the comments you wish, but that's reality and you can't argue around the facts.

Hardiman, your prejudice is showing, badly, and it is not complimentary to your profession that you do so in this fashion. Sadness prevails when a man of science casts himself in such a fashion. You are supposed to look at the results openly. refuse to be swayed by personal prejudice and if you make a position statement, it addresses that which is before you and not what you wish it would be. You have failed in that endeavor.

Take a look at the position map below and you will see the error of your ways in full and glorious color.

Sadness is what I feel when someone resorts to petty insults instead of reasoned argument.

To say I am biased against multis is to also say I am biased against ratchet wrenches, becuase, as a professional, I have more combination wrenches, adjustable wrenches, screwdrivers, troque wrenches, and slug wrenches in my toolbox that I use than ratchets. No one questions wether a rachet wrench, with the proper socket, extension, and wobble, can turn a bolt faster than a boxed-end. But we also know that often a rachet won't fit, is more costly to buy, and weaker overall. The question here is not how fast it can turn the bolt, but wether has been improved over the last 4 years to stand the strain. My original post asks this question and no other.

My second post, was again not directed at the paper speed advantage of a multi over a similiar sized mono in certian conditions, is was directed at the false contention that multis are inherently safer and always faster than monos. Do a little data mining, and engineering analysis (such as in this thread), and this becomes obvious; especally for this venue. Go look at the fatalities in this venue and the placement of the first mono to finish vs the average mutlis. The crew and the environment overshadow the choice of hull selection. And everything still points to the several of the IMOAC finishing before the last few Ultime.

So I am not anti-multi hull, but they, nor any other hull shape, are not the pinnicle of the naval architects art and/or beauty, and I just want to inject some reason back into the discussion. There is no one best hull shape, only the hull shape that best fits the naval architects needs in the design stage....which may have little to do with what is needed on the course in the environment that is encountered (such as the 2002 race). The sea is emotionless and doesn't care about your calculations, but will relentlessly seek any error that you made.

Anyway, I'll be back with a wrap-up at the end. My money says that the ratio of failures is unchanged from 2002 and 2006.