single handing 100 foot multihulls

At 9:44 Eastern the wind appears to be opening up for Idec-maybe all the way in to the finish! At the same time it appears to be closing off for Groupama....
UPDATE- The wind field is changing rapidly-I'm not sure I was right about it closing off for Groupama...To see the wind field click on the box in the upper right corner....

http://routedurhum-labanquepostale.geovoile.com/2010/?lg=fr

UPDATE 10:15 Eastern: Groupama has 319 miles to go and shes doing 17.7 knots

Sodebo has lost a lot and is 302 miles behind doing 12 knots

Idec 355 miles behind doing 15.7 knots

Starting to look real good here boys........


Go Groupama!!!

 

50' Multi class-more sad news-"Actual" damaged

From the race site:

Actual damage (google translation)

French time is at 1:00 Monday morning Yves le Blevec, skipper of Multi50 Actual, warned his team and the race director from damage on the stock arm starboard bow of the multihull. He slumped his sailing under mainsail and ORC in 20 knots of wind southeast. Actual lies equidistant between the West Indies and the Azores. On the advice of his Christian Dumard router, it is heading west at a reduced speed of 8 knots to fall out of the rough sea area in which it operates. The situation is stabilized. The skipper held a cell survival in the back of his boat, safety equipment, life raft, life jackets, GPS, lamp, phone and knife handy. 
 
 The immediate objective of the skipper is out of the disturbed area to consider a repair with his team and the architect of the boat. Yves Blevec is still racing. Yves Blevec had reduced his speed by taking a third reef in the mainsail and described "peaks that were breaking huge wreaths on the boat." He expected to spend one more night to get out of this delicate regime in the course of the day Monday.

http://www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com/fr/s01_home/s01p01_home.php

 

Multies: Is this ok?

So far 3 of 9 of the big boats and 3 of 12 of the 50's are out with damage(one of the 50's was skipper illness).
Glad they didn't run into a serious storm. It will be interesting to hear what the sailors, designers and builders say about this!

Monos: Class 40 2 of 44
IMOCA(60') Class 1 0f 9




Go Groupama!!!

 

Groupama 3- almost time to jump up and down!

At 7:20 Eastern, the magnificent one and his super boat are 230 miles from the finish in good wind,
Sodebo is 286 miles behind and doing 11.1 knots,
Idec is 350 miles behind and doing 9.7 knots.

http://routedurhum-labanquepostale.geovoile.com/2010/?lg=fr


Go Groupama!!

 

Groupama 3

From Groupama:

Final tacks...
Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale 2010
280[230 see above] miles from the goal with a 278[286 see above] mile lead over his closest pursuer, Franck Cammas has never been so close to the finish with such a big separation. In an environment coloured by squalls which are far from idyllic, Groupama 3 is making headway as best she can towards Guadeloupe, but she's not on a direct course.

Faced with a medium S'ly wind which is set to progressively clock round to the SW, Franck Cammas is currently on course towards the British Virgin Islands, a spot well-known by yachties. It's only once he's close to this archipelago that he'll be able to set a course for the Basse Terre mark in Guadeloupe.

Logically the distance to cover will end up being longer, increasing from 280 to 380 miles, which gives true meaning to the expression which describes the close-hauled point of sail driving into the wind: "twice the distance, three times the effort".

It now remains to be seen whether the shift round to the SW will take place and if so when. The answer to this question will dictate the moment that the change of tack is made, one which may well be the last in this Atlantic crossing.

If the shift kicks in early, Groupama 3 will have to cover less distance but will be downwind of the islands of Saint Martin, Saint Barts, Saint Kitts and Nevis, but may be subject to the wind shadows from these same magical sounding places.

If the reverse is true, Groupama 3 will be to windward of them in less disturbed airs.

And there is a third possibility: tacking as many times as possible to methodically exploit each variation. This calls for more manoeuvres but fewer tactical risks.

Whatever the case, the skipper of Groupama 3 will have to double up his attention levels to avoid the pitfalls represented by other craft, such as fishermen and their nets, passenger vessels and commercial shipping, as well as cruising yachts.

The only tactical appeal of this rather atypical way of making landfall via the SW is that the finish in Guadeloupe and its dreaded Basse Terre will be less complicated.
Now the only question which remains unanswered is what time Franck will arrive?

An excellent question.

And we can well imagine that the only valid answer for Franck will be to finish before the second boat!

 

Groupama 3

From Groupama:

Prudence...
Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale 2010
With less than 200 miles to the finish, the skipper of Groupama 3 is focusing more than ever on prudence in the squally weather.

Tacking to leeward of the islands that make up the Caribbean arc, under one reef mainsail and staysail, Franck Cammas is making the most of these final hours of solitude before being thrust into the arms of the public and the journalists who are ready and waiting.

On shore and at sea, time is finally ticking by at pace. Initially expected at the finish line late afternoon this Monday, Groupama isn't likely to make the approach towards the Basse Terre mark before 2300 local time, that is 0300 hours GMT time.

At that point there will be just fifteen miles to go in downwind conditions before crossing the finish line in Pointe à Pitre. As to the difficult task of giving an ETA alongside the quay, it would seem highly unlikely that it will be before 0600 hours GMT.


In between times, we'll be flying over Groupama 3 during her approach this afternoon, local time.
This will be an opportunity to make the first live visual contact with the maxi trimaran and her skipper.


click on image:

 

Seems Mr. Ostlind was applauding the wrong "champ" ?

Maybe the decision going North of the islands was not as good as He thought?

Maybe some of us would have NOT made that mistake?

Go Groupama is not necessarily my motto. I am absolutely not interested in such events, and I am a mono man by all means.
But I am really attracted just by the fact, that our most insane member (well 4 of them) came out wrong! And I, the one who knows dead nothing about CAT sailing in any condition, came out right, just by predicting the weather right!

Go Groupama!

Richard

 

Groupama 3

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,....

http://routedurhum-labanquepostale.geovoile.com/2010/?lg=fr


Go Groupama!!!

 

Groupama 3

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2.....

At 10:15 Eastern tonight:
109m left for Groupama-she's doing 11.4 knots

Sodebo is 203 behind and is doing 13.5 knots,

And Idec is 233 behind doing 18 knots....

================
Go here and see video of Groupama 3 taken from the air 100 miles off Guadeloupe this afternoon-pretty neat: http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en/index.jsp





Go Groupama!!!

 

Groupama 3

At 8:46 Eastern Groupama has 50 miles to go and is moving at 15.5 knots,

Idec has passed Sodebo and is doing 17.2 knots with 144.7 miles to go,

Sodebo is doing 8.2 knots with 183 miles to go..


http://routedurhum-labanquepostale.geovoile.com/2010/?lg=fr

------------
From Groupama:

2010/11/09-10h45
Adapting oneself ...
Route du Rhum - La Banque Postale 2010
"Someone that comes into the world to disrupt nothing isn't worth either consideration or patience". The sentence comes from René Char, a French 20th century poet and early morning here in Guadeloupe, it takes on its true meaning.

On the deck of Groupama 3, beneath starry skies, Franck Cammas is busy with the manoeuvres and the trimming. To his left the lights of the West coast are evident, almost motionless.

Making gentle speed in a headwind, the man who is soon set to be the first to cross the finish line of this ninth edition of the Route du Rhum La Banque Postale remains relaxed and concentrated. He said it all yesterday: "you have to be patient".

So fast since the race start in Saint Malo some eight days ago, Groupama 3 is now making headway towards the Basse Terre mark at between 7 and 13 knots.

In two hours time, as the first light of day leaves a gash of orange in the dark sky to the East, the skipper of Groupama 3 will see the spectator boats converge towards him, impatient to see the sailor who has dominated this transatlantic race since the start.

Flown over yesterday by a Pilatus aircraft, Franck Cammas appeared minuscule in the cockpit of the maxi trimaran. Shaken about by messy seas, Groupama 3 was still powering along at 17 knots to leeward of the islands that make up the West Indies.

Forced to put in a series of tacks to gain ground to the South, he was seeking to avoid the final pitfalls of what has been an express transatlantic crossing up till now.

However, to further benefit from this exceptional sailor, the wind god has reduced the intensity of the breeze, thus reminding us all that he is the master.

And for us mere spectators, who have to remain patient... But for how long?



Go Groupama!!!

 

Groupama 3

At 10:20 Eastern, Cammas and Groupama are 10 miles away from the finish line! Idec is going very fast and is 90 miles away.
Probably no chance for Sodebo.....

Go Groupama!!!

 

Groupama 3---Victory!

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,Bingo!!!

Groupama just won-see this thread: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/multihulls/groupama-3-wins-2010-route-du-rhum-35412.html

Congratulations to Franck Cammas and Team Groupama!!

 

Franck wins, as has been on the cards for sometime, marvelous and heroic effort - but all these sailors aboard the giant multihulls are giants. As are all the sailors in this RdR fleet. Who is going to be first in of the 50's? Will they beat the 60's? I'm not predicting. But hope the anti multihull brigade can cool their churlishness with the two former 50 leaders seaman-like nursing their damaged boats home.

 

Okay, if you're serious about single handing ... according to Yann Guichard who came in fourth in the lengthened ORMA 60 Gitana 11 (to 77 feet plus longer floats), you need 100 feet under you. That is some comment: 100 footers for serious contenders. He thought his light boat required plenty of sail changing to keep in the groove and to stay safe whereas the big guys kept far more sail up and powered away. Remember the OSTAR days when it was thought near impossible to handle even 50 foot boats. Of course there have been French monsters before but compared to the giants of this year's RdR, they were underpowered trucks loaded with gravel.

 

=============================
A bit more beam sure didn't hurt: Groupama @ 73' vs Sodebo @ 55' .
What is the limit on beam-if any? The 60 footers were square weren't they?
And the fastest all use lifting foils-of course....Any thoughts that single handers couldn't handle lifting foils has proved to be nonsense.