Volvo 70 Design Rule-- 2011-2012 Race

Volvo Ocean Race

From Scutllebutt Europe today:

Volvo Ocean Race Countdown Enters Final Week

Alicante, Spain: The Iberdrola In-Port Race, a close-quarters sprint around a short course next Saturday, October 29, will mark the start of the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Months of preparation and training will be put to the test as the fleet of state-of-the-art 70ft racing yachts go head-to-head in Alicante Bay at 1400 local time (1200 UTC) in the first points-scoring race of the event.

With just over a week until the in-port race, time is running out for Team Sanya, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Telef�nica, Groupama sailing team and PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG as they carry out their final preparations.

The format of the race sees points scored in both in-port racing and offshore legs. In each port the teams will compete for 18 per cent of the total points up for grabs.

The rest of the points are awarded for the nine offshore legs that will see the teams battle it out over 39,000 nautical miles through four oceans. The team with the most points at the end of the eight-month race will become only the 11th team ever to win the coveted Volvo Ocean Race trophy.

The Race Village features a host of attractions including a 3D cinema, a simulator recreating the feeling of sailing a Volvo Open 70 at 25 knots, a winch grinding challenge and a zone dedicated to entertaining children.

Following the in-port race, the Legends Regatta and Reunion will see representatives from 61 former Volvo Ocean Race/Whitbread Round the World Race yachts converge in Alicante with up to 15 yachts from past editions racing from November 1 to 5.

The six teams will then face their biggest challenge - 6,500 nautical miles of gruelling ocean racing from Alicante through the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa, starting on November 5.

Both the Iberdrola In-Port Race and the start of Leg 1 will be streamed live at www.volvooceanrace.com alongside a live blog.

 

Volvo Ocean Racing Game

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

TAKE PART IN THE ADVENTURE

The Volvo Ocean Race Game now allows everyone to participate in this round
the world race.

During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts in Alicante,
Spain in October 2011 and concludes in Galway, Ireland, during early July
2012, your entry in the Volvo Ocean Race Game will compete alongside the
teams as they sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most
treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape
Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient.

While the crews on the six competing Volvo Open 70s test their sailing
skills, physical endurance and competitive spirit as they race day and
night for more than 20 days on some of the legs, you too will be tested.
Gamers will endure sleepless nights, fast food, and computer blindness as
they follow the race and adjust to its conditions.

The Volvo Ocean Race Game will have a Pre Race on October 29 to November 2.
The course is from Alicante to Palma and back. Participate in the game and
take part in the adventure. Join this pre-race on Saturday October 29 at
14:00 CEST / 12:00 UTC. The race will be open until Wednesday November 2nd
12:00 CET / 11:00 UTC.

The Volvo Ocean Race Game is hosted on the Scuttlebutt website:http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/GAMES/VOR2011-12/

 

VOR-Abu Dhabi wins first in-port race!

From the VOR site:



Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing delivered a blow to their rivals on day one of the Volvo Ocean Race, picking up the first points with a commanding win in the inaugural Iberdrola in-port race. IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race “It’s a great win -- I feel fantastic. I said before we left the dock that whoever wins today’s race can go home with a spring in their step and look forward to the week ahead.”
The crew, led by British skipper and double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker, romped home to a massive 14-minute win over their closest rivals in the race's first competitive action.

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were second, ahead of CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand in third. Team Sanya edged Groupama sailing team in the battle for fourth and fifth, with Team Telefónica trailing home.

Immediately on finishing, Groupama informed the race committee they were making a protest. Details of the protest were not immediately available.

“It’s a great win -- I feel fantastic,” said Walker. “It’s a great start for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. I don’t think it means too much but I said before we left the dock that whoever wins today’s race can go home with a spring in their step and look forward to the week ahead.”

The in-port race marked the start of the epic 39,000 nautical mile round the world race, tipped to be the most hotly contested edition in the event´s 38-year history. And after opening their account with a crucial win, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing will go into the first offshore leg with a maximum six points and a psychological advantage.

In-port races take place in all 10 Host Ports around the world, testing the crews’ skills at close-quarters manoeuvres and tactics. More than 20 per cent of all points are up for grabs in the in-port racing, which could prove vital when overall positions are decided. The races also provide a show for the millions of people who will watch the race worldwide.

Strong winds and pelting rain greeted the teams as they left the dock in Alicante, Spain, but by the time the start gun fired at 1400 local time (1200 UTC-GMT) the weather cleared with a 10-15-knot breeze blowing down the race course and the state-of-the-art Volvo Open 70s blasting along Alicante’s coast around the short inshore course.

An incredibly close start saw Abu Dhabi, CAMPER and Groupama lined up and equally matched, each looking for the slight advantage over their rivals. After weak starts, Telefónica and Sanya were left playing catch up.

As the yachts approached the first mark it was PUMA´s Mar Mostro with the inside track but sailing’s ‘rules of the road’ meant Ken Read’s team had to give way to Ian Walker’s crew and the United Arab Emirates’ first ever entry in the Volvo Ocean Race took the lead.

Slick crew work from Walker’s team saw them extend their lead during lap two. A nightmare rounding at the second mark saw CAMPER slip from second to fifth, a perfect example of how one mistake can cost dearly.

A dwindling breeze in Alicante Bay confounded the situation on the water as the teams struggled to keep their boats moving. The instability of the breeze led to the race committee shortening the course, and with a substantial lead over their opponents, victory was secured for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

With the race’s first ever Emirati, 22-year-old Adil Khalid, waving the flag of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s yacht Azzam crossed the line to claim the first points of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12.

Walker said a slick sail change at the second mark was the key moment. “We had practised it in training and we pulled it off,” he said. “It was a credit to everyone.”

The six teams now have one week to make the final tweaks to their yachts before they set off from Alicante bound for Cape Town, South Africa, the first of nine offshore legs. Leg one starts at 1300 UTC (1400 local time) on November 5 and is expected to take around 21 days to complete.Provisional results:

Position / Team / Time / Points

1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing / 53 minutes 44 seconds/ 6 points

2. Puma Ocean Racing powered by BERG/ 1:07:58 / 5

3. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand / 1:10:11 / 4

4. Team Sanya / 1:10:43 / 3

5. Groupama sailing team / 1:11:11 / 2

6. Team Telefónica / 1:12:08 / 1

 

Volvo Ocean Race

From Scuttlebutt tonight:

PROTEST: Groupama sailing team submitted a protest against Camper for using
a system enabling them to cant the mast astern, which is strictly forbidden
in the VOR race rules. This protest follows on from those lodged by Abu
Dhabi, Puma and Telefonica on the same matter, without success. In this
latest process, Groupama sailing team has the benefit of Telefonica as a
witness. However, their protest was later dismissed.

"Camper's adjustable headstay system has been a major topic," PUMA skipper
Ken read said in Scuttlebutt 3454. "While the rest of the fleet pinned
their headstay at one length, Camper has a hydraulic ram to adjust the rake
of the mast in different conditions. For sure the rest of the fleet read
the rule in a way that you couldn't do this, but the rules makers had a
different idea."

 

Volvo Ocean Race

From the Daily Sail today-excerpt:

Puma's secret weapon
Introducing the Doppler Velocity Log
Tuesday November 1st 2011, Author: James Boyd, Location: United States

Nortek announced today that it has collaborated with the Puma Ocean Racing team to develop a modified compact Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) for Puma’s Mar Mostro Volvo Open 70 yacht competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012. The project, which was completed over the course of the past year, has resulted in the successful integration of boat speed, leeway and in-situ ocean current readings. In other words: a secret weapon in the battle to go as fast and efficiently as possible.

read the whole article: http://www.thedailysail.com/offshore/11/60211/0/pumas-secret-weapon

 

Vor 2011

Race starts Saturday morning11/5/11 at 8:45 EDT. There are numerous ways to watch and/or keep track:
http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/How-to-follow-the-race/3817/news.html

Race Tracker(click on left for leaderboard): http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html There was a protest at the start-don't know the details yet.

Picture-PUMA at the start- from SA. Go Puma! One of the boats with lifting foils.....and that other "secret" weapon(post 35):

 

Vor

Groupama leading. Speed 15knts.
Puma 4th. Speed 14.7 knots 1.6NM from leader.

 

VOR--Abu Dhabi boat "Azzam" Dismasted!

from the race website:

Abu Dhabi launch repair operation after dismasting

PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean RaceAbu Dhabi Ocean Racing are putting a major repair operation into effect after their racing yacht Azzam suffered a broken mast in rough weather today, forcing her to suspend racing just over six hours into Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12.
"We have no injuries and have retrieved or secured all equipment"
PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race A spare mast is being rushed to the Spanish port of Alicante where Azzam and the rest of the six-strong fleet had begun the first offshore leg of the 39,000-nautical mile race in front of cheering crowds of 60,000.

British skipper Ian Walker said the crew was unhurt and the team were now motoring back to Alicante. The boat remains in the race, the toughest offshore event in sailing which will not finish until July 2012 in Galway, Ireland. Azzam won the first in-port race of the event in Alicante last Saturday and leads the standings with six points. The winner of the first leg will reap 30 points.

At 1915 UTC/GMT, Abu Dhabi told race management Azzam had suspended racing after the mast was broken. The boat was 30 nautical miles south of Cartagena on the Spanish coast.

Walker later reported at 2053 UTC/GMT: “Our situation is now stable. We are motoring towards flatter water at Cabo de Palos where we hope to lift the top section of the mast aboard.

"We have no injuries and have retrieved or secured all equipment. Our mast broke into three pieces when landing off a big wave in 30+ knots of wind. We were sailing under a J4 and two reefs. We do not as yet know the cause.

“Our intention is to return to Alicante under motor to repair any damage and step our spare mast.”

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad said he felt “desperately sorry” for twice-Olympic silver medallist Walker and his team.

“The team are extremely professional and I know they will do all they can to get Azzam back in the race as quickly and safely as possible,” he said.

Team media crew member Nick Dana told how crew member Wade Morgan had made a courageous attempt in waves of up to 3.5 metres to rescue the rig.

“The boat's mainsail and J4 were retrieved successfully along with various other parts that we will hope to re-use.

“We put a man in the water (Morgan) to cut away the top of the mainsail at the headboard car. Wade was able to make several attempts at cutting. However, a very violent sea state made it extremely dangerous for him to remain in the water.

“The crew retrieved him promptly and were able to get the mainsail off the lock - allowing it to slide down the rig and be pulled from the water.

“The mast from the first spreader up is now secured to the port side of the boat. About three or four metres protrude from behind the boat. A spider web of lines is keeping the operation intact. The crew are deeply disappointed.”

Cartagena search and rescue organisation have been informed and are on standby to assist if necessary.

Volvo Ocean Race control is in constant contact with the team while establishing the full extent of the damage so that the crew are given full support to enable them to deal with the situation.




Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuWGtdCRs4o&feature=player_embedded

Abu Dhabi boat "Azzam" on a better day:

 

VOR-Team Sanya suffers structural damage-suspends racing!

This November is not a good one for ocean racing in some quarters. Two thirds of the Multi50(see thread in ("multihulls") fleet in the Transat Jaques-Vabre and one third of the Volvo fleet are now out of commission. Luckily only one person hurt and that was in a Multi 50.
-----
from The Volvo website:

Team Sanya's entry in Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 suffers hull damage
PAUL TODD/

Volvo Ocean RaceAksel Magdahl, navigator on board Team Sanya, reported at 0834 UTC on Sunday that they had suffered hull damage on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, which began yesterday in Alicante.
In a blog from the boat Skipper Mike Sanderson describes the moment when they new something was wrong:

So close to making it through the worst of the big breeze and then disaster struck. We were looking after the boat nicely when at approximately 9 am this morning while going upwind in 35 knots of wind, suddenly the boat went really bow down and immediately we knew it wasn't good.

Instantly we slowed the boat right down, got the remainder of the guys in there bunks into life jackets and then set about tacking over to head for shelter.

The watertight bulkhead is doing a great job, the pumps are running and we are nursing the boat with just a double reefed mainsail into port.

Right now we have no idea how major the damage is, we can however see a puncture wound on the port side and streams of carbon peeling off so it isn't good. We are all safe though, as I write this we are just an hour from a safe harbour.

The guys are doing a fantastic job, all very positive and working incredibly hard even though you can see the bitter disappointment on all there faces.

Be under no illusion though, we will be back with vengeance.

I will let you all know as soon as we have checked our poor boat out in a few hours.

Volvo Ocean Race control is in constant contact with the team while establishing the full extent of the damage so that the crew are given full support to enable them to deal with the situation.

Team Sanya’s shore team are working on a recovery plan to ensure the yacht can rejoin the Volvo Ocean Race as soon as practically possible.

Further information will be issued as it becomes available.
=======
News: Andy Meiklejohn, Bowman on Team Sanya, sustained an injury during a sail change last night and has now managed to get it check in hospital and has been informed he has a broken foot. His family are aware and are now assessing treatment options with medical advisers, further news to follow.



Sanya facebook: http://www.facebook.com/teamsanya

Sanya bow damage---click on image:

 

VOR tech

Earlier, it appeared to me the Abu Dhabi was using what Ken Read called "negative dihedral" boards(out at the top when retracted).
Now it appears they are not or that they are adjustable. Or there may be an optical delusion with the pictures that seem to show the boards angled out because of their proximity to the raked mast?



Pictures--The first and last picture look to me like the boards are angled out at the top when retracted. The two center pictures show the opposite

click on image:

 

yep, they seems to be raked in a traditional way...
(at first and last images, spar is strongly raked back, that could mislead)

 

From my cursory reading of the VOR70 rule I think the angle of these boards can change. I'll have to double check it. They can be angled up to 30 degrees
and though none of the boats show that much angle with the board retracted I would be surprised if they let that advantage go.


Picture: It's hard to really tell but if you look closely at this picture it seems that the two boards are at slightly different angles...

 

Vor

Groupama, being sailed by the master-Franck Cammas, is 143 miles ahead of second place going 2 knots faster as well! What makes this so cool is that the course Cammas has chosen is so very different than the rest of the fleet: he has hugged the coast of Africa while the rest of the fleet is 350 miles away in the middle of the Atlantic. Whether Cammas' strategy continues to work or not will be tested in the next week or so but right now he's the man.

------
UPDATE: forgot to mention Abu Dhabi got their replacement mast stepped and got underway yesterday-they are back in the race!
-------
UPDATE 2- Video of Sanya damage from inside the boat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g99Pdy-TGe4&feature=player_embedded

 

Vor

A day after rejoining leg 1 Abu Dhabi decides to discontinue racing this leg:

From The Volvo site: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/Abu-Dhabi-retire-from-Leg-1/3958/news.html

The decision leaves four of the fleet of six still racing the first stage, the 6,500-nautical mile leg from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town. Team Sanya also pulled out after suffering substantial damage to the boat's hull on Sunday.

An Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing spokesperson said: "Despite the heroics performed by the shore crew in getting our yacht Azzam re-masted after it was damaged last week in high seas and strong winds, the team believes that the estimated arrival time in Cape Town would be counter-productive for its preparations for Leg 2, especially given the almost windless prevailing weather conditions in the Mediterranean.

"Azzam's mast and rigging system have not been compromised and the decision is purely one of time management."

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing will now sail to Lisbon, Portugal with an expected arrival time of Saturday evening. Azzam will then be shipped to Cape Town to arrive around November 28.

The decision will give the team suitable time to ensure the boat and the team are 100 percent ready for the Cape Town In-Port Race on December 10.

"Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is steadfast in its commitment to return to the race from Cape Town," the spokesperson said.

 

Vor

Cammas gamble still has Groupama in the lead ,but she's only doing 9 knots and all three of the other boats are doing 22 knots. Groupama is 120+ miles in front but maybe not for long.....

UPDATE,11-12-11,8:58 PM: Puma in the lead now at 18.2 knots, Telefonica 2nd at 20 knots, Groupama 3rd at 7.2 knots, Team NZ 4th at 19 knots. Ooops........