The Bol d'Or - or sleepless in Geneva

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Blackburn, May 31, 2013.

  1. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    It's not finished until its finished, but things are looking slightly better for Zenith's chances of surviving this terrible ordeal.

    They are halfway down the 'petit lac' while the D35's have to watch more M2's catching up along the French shore. Including that boatload of fat odious Germans, the SL33 Black Jack, which is looking slightly less stupid, for the moment at least.

    The Tribune blog says Zenith can now see the fountain near the finish line, and the TDG staff are vicariously counting Zenith's eggs before they hatch:

     
  2. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    This leftist newspaper harassment is getting so bad that I feel even more sympathy for Ernesto, than usually.

    I'll translate that after having my dinner. Or else I'll need a marriage counselor...
     
  3. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    Judging just from the tracker, it looked like Zenith finished at 22.22 hrs.

    It would be an appropriate finishing time, for a catamaran.

    Closest D35 was Christian Wahl, some seven miles away, doing 2.2 knots.


    Congratulations to Zenith, and the whole Ventilo gang!

    :cool:
     
  4. rob denney
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    rob denney Senior Member

    Well done Zenith. And many thanks for the entertaining commentary, Blackburn
     
  5. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    Six hours later, who hasn't made it to the party yet? Ahh, there is only one M2, the dragonfly Calopteryx, and since they are one of the few M2s with nice bunks on board they don't particularly care that they're doing 0.6kts in a direction not exactly towards the finish.

    There is a boat in the Surprise class, off Lausanne, named the Ringle! All Patrick O'Brian fans take note; This is the kind of thing that can befall you, if you dream of the high seas, but live on a lake.

    Scores of others all over the lake, and last but not least there is a boat called Njut, at the very very back of the fleet near Bouveret. Njut is the Swedish word for pleasure! Hopefully they are laying back, thinking of Sweden, and doing what Swedes are best at, at such a time on a Sunday morning.

    Flashback a few hours ago to the Zenith! The skipper takes his most historic bath:

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^^

    You're most welcome, Rob!

    Now I don't know whether to go to bed again, or start yakking about the perils of the Irish sea for the Multi50's...

    ;)
     
  7. Corley
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    Corley epoxy coated

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  8. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ^^^

    It always amazes me how much fancy sailing gear there is on that lake!

    This page has 170 photos by Siebenthal and others, from the start to the finish.

    One of the photos there that I actually liked best was this outlandish view of Mirabaud LX, looking pretty cool instead of absolutely dorky, as is usually the case. Wink wink.

    Here is something which is doomed to forever represent the epitome of dorkiness. I don't know if they finished the race this time either.

    The foilers Pi28 and MirabaudLX came in as 50th and 51st across the finish line, curiously, with ca. 15 minutes separation.

    For photos of the Pi28 during the Bol d'Or, sporting the closest thing to a wing in this race, you have to go to their Pi28 Gonet&Cie Facebook page:

    [​IMG]

    If there's a photo (among the 170) that shows when Zenith Fresh! pulled away from from its rivals, it's perhaps this one.

    And at the end of that collection (after the photos of Zenith's crew celebrating) there are a couple of shots of Christian Wahl and his D35 crew who were second to the finish line (Alinghi was 3rd) and the crews of 1st mono Raffica, Libera class, and the 2nd mono (a French Doug Petersen design).

    All the rounding and finishing times for the 2013 Bol d'Or are on this page.
     
  9. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    Here's a tricky situation:

    Priorité!.jpg

    I mean, this is Ladycat blithely sailing on port, and I for one would normally yield to the ladies.

    However there aren't that many ladies onboard this year, so what is the correct way to behave?

    Hmmm?

    lol



    ... and here was what all the fuss was about:

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    I find that the Pi28 is another project in which Swiss yacht designer Seb Schmidt has been involved. Schmidt's multihull interests have included several Formula 28's, later he collaborated with Jo Richards on Le Black, and as far as I know he was the lead designer when the Décision 35's were cooked up.

    Seb Schmidt's website is a good resource for articles about these boats, with links to both French and English language articles about them. Want to see what was written last year in Seahorse about the Pi28?

    Seb Schmidt also has some nice looking luxury cruising multihulls, as you can see from the Swiss Catamaran Concept website. Their latest 45-footer project looks pretty good, more advanced than the 'small Gunboat' project which has a trial balloon thread at SA Multihulls at the moment.
     
  11. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    Good stuff here, Blackburn-thanks.
    The Pi28 was the first foiler designed with telescoping hydrofoils as far as I know:
     

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  12. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    ...

    You're welcome Doug.

    ... Should you feel inclined to return the favor then please remove that Barcalounger from the center hull of your craft.

    Or put wheels on it so you can roll it up to windward!

    ;)

    I was looking at that Pi28 mainsail (photo above), which looks terribly much as if it has camber too far aft, and wondering how a wing like this formed of sailcloth can be shaped better.

    Brings me back to my capricious invention of the Swiss inflatable wing during the so-called 'Deed of Gift' AC33, if you recall that friendly and gentlemanly encounter between the maritime powers of the USA and Switzerland...

    Wouldn't it be nice to control the pressure inside both the windward and leeward halves of the mainsail, so it could have a more efficient shape.

    The Swiss should have the technology to do this. They have been slacking off or sulking since losing the AC33, and it's high time they repaired to their labs and workshops and got it done!

    :cool:
     
  13. TheScampi
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    TheScampi New Member

  14. Doug Lord
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    Doug Lord Flight Ready

    ==================
    Just saw this and I have a question: why?(!)
     

  15. Blackburn
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    Blackburn Senior Member

    Ay ay ay, Doug!

    Are you saying there really is a Barcalounger there?

    :eek:

    I was just being facetious after a quick glance at some photo or other, that appeared to show some kind of chair in the center hull. You don't have a very good view of the boat or sails from centerline you know, not to mention the virtues inherent in more actively moving around the boat to balance it well.

    Occasionally I browse parts of your thread on that project, Doug, and if I recall didn't Steve Clark also say something about the chair, more recently?

    And a chair is extra weight! Extra windage! Fie, Fie, Fie!

    ;)
     
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