Volvo 70 Design Rule-- 2011-2012 Race

Vor

One of the best illustrations yet of the lifting foils on Telefonica(top outboard when retracted) :

click on image:

 

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Again for reference:

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Puma in the lead; Groupama 283 miles back in last....(oops!)

 

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Puma and Telefonica within 7 miles of each other-Puma leading. Groupama 363+ miles behind.

 

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Telefonica has passed Puma and is now 46 miles in front......
UPDATE,11/21/11: Telefonica is down to 20 miles in front......

 

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From the VOR site:

PUMA Dismasted!

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG reported that they had suffered a broken mast on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, which began 17 days ago from Alicante, Spain. The crew are unhurt.
“We were sailing on a port tack, beam reaching in 22-23 knots of breeze, heading east northeast with eight to 10 foot waves, when the mast failed. There were no warning signs.There was no panic on board, and all crew are safe and well”
The rig onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro failed at around 1500 UTC in the southern Atlantic Ocean, about 2,150 nautical miles from Cape Town, South Africa.

Skipper Ken Read reported: “We were sailing on a port tack, beam reaching in 22-23 knots of breeze, heading east northeast with eight to 10 foot waves when the mast failed. There were no warning signs.

“There was no panic onboard, and all crew are safe and well.”
“Thanks to amazing seamanship, the three pieces of the mast and all of the sails were recovered. We haven’t suspended racing at this point and are weighing our options.

“At this point we are not using our engine, but are taking some time to clear our heads and evaluate next steps. Our plans may include heading to the island of Tristan da Cunha – about 700 nautical miles from us, nearly on the way to Cape Town.

“This is the saddest and most disappointed 11 people on earth. We were in a comfortable second position, traveling south to get into the final front and head across the southern Atlantic towards Cape Town.

“We were planning to be there in five days. At this stage, my goal is to make sure we get this crew back safely and we will look at options as to how to get back in this race.”

The Brazilian 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 to establish the full extent of the damage and ensure the crew are given full support to enable them to deal with the situation.

The causes of the dismasting are not known at this stage. However, the rig is of a different origin and manufacture to that of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam which suffered a failure earlier during Leg 1.

PUMA Ocean Racing’s shore team are working on a recovery plan to ensure the yacht can rejoin the race as soon as practically possible and will work closely with Volvo Ocean Race to determine the cause of the dismasting.

Further information will be issued as it becomes available.

Picture: Amory Ross/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race
click on image:

 

Vor

Something is very wrong-three of 6 of the most high tech ocean racing monos around out with structural problems. Sanya, however may have been due to a collision. Masts gone on AbuDhabi and Puma.
Groupama , Team NZ and Telefonica left......
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Comment from designer Doug Schickler on SA:

FF was just really getting into the mast, and for that matter the carbon rigging business. But yes, respected manufacturer of composite rigging, that'd be true.

The mast and boom from Puma came from Hall Spars. They did not however use Hall SCR rigging, opting for Southern EC6.

The other two boats (Tele and Camper) have Southern and EC6. Southern is far longer in the carbon rigging game, with a truly different technology coming from Air Logistics (a military contractor).

As with the last Brazil, The last Tele, ADOR, I am betting that the issue with Puma is neither the element itself, nor the mast, but the fittings. And there, the teams still try to save windage, Clean. Disturbing that it would happen to a rigging technology that has been around so many times, and in nowhere the most extreme circumstances for this leg.

We deal in dreams...Doug Schickler
Schickler Tagliapietra Yacht Engineering
www.styacht.com

 

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From the VOR site:

Team NZ Crewman Injured

CAMPER’s bowman Mike Pammenter has sustained injuries after being thrown into the boat’s shrouds while doing a sail change in the latest of a string of dramas on the high seas.
“This is a dangerous race and when you are sailing on the edge like this the unfortunate reality is that at times you will damage both boat and crew. The key thing now is that CAMPER is back in the game and heading hard for Cape Town and the finish” - Grant Dalton
Pammenter suffered a broken tooth, gash to the face and various bumps and bruises in the fall. He was stabilised immediately by on board medic Tony Rae and after further medical advice from Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters has received three stiches and the affected tooth area has been anesthetised.

The team have reported that Pammenter is alert, well and generally in as good as shape as can be expected.

Skipper Chris Nicholson said that after initially slowing down to assess and treat Pammenter’s injuries CAMPER is now back to full pace.

“We buttoned off and headed downwind for a while but now that Mike has been stabilised and is in OK shape we’re back into racing. Mike will have one or two watches off and then will be back into things.”

“This sort of injury shows the extreme nature of this race and while we take all due care there’s still a pretty high degree of risk in pushing these boats hard in these types of conditions. That’s just part of the race; you don’t want it but you can’t avoid it.

“These boats are on the edge a bit but that’s what they’re meant to be.”

It has been a dramatic few hours for the Volvo fleet with second placed team PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG breaking their mast over the same period in the 20 to 23 knot winds.

Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director Grant Dalton said it was reminder of the at times brutal nature of the Volvo Ocean Race.

“To lose your rig in pretty moderate conditions while in second place only five days or so out from Cape Town is really hard. I’ve been there before and I know what it feels like so my thoughts go out to the Puma guys.

“For us it looks like we’ve been lucky this time and Mike will be OK and that’s great to hear. It sounds like Tony Rae and the other guys aboard have done a good job.

“This is a dangerous race and when you are sailing on the edge like this the unfortunate reality is that at times you will damage both boat and crew. The key thing now is that CAMPER is back in the game and heading hard for Cape Town and the finish.”

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1100h 22 November NZT has moved into second place 98 miles behind leader Telefónica averaging 19.6 knots in a 16 knot north easterly.

 

Vor

Well, this blowout of a first leg is almost over with Groupama finishing sometime today or tomorrow. Telefonica won with Team NZ second.
I think the three that were knocked out are going to have a tough time on the next leg thru the Southern Ocean-with Puma getting only four days to step their mast and tune it-and thats if everything goes ok in Tristan and on the trip back. I wish them all good luck-and I'm glad I'm not going!

 

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From Scuttlebutt tonight:

HAVES AND HAVE NOTS

Cape Town, SA (December 6, 2011) - The activity in the Volvo Ocean Race
village is a picture of extremes. It was on November 26th when skipper Iker
Martinez (ESP) guided Team Telefonica to a win on Leg 1 from Alicante,
Spain to Cape Town, South Africa. While the crew departed for some R & R,
their shore team proceeded with scheduled maintenance to ready for the
December 10th In-Port race and the start of the Leg 2 a day later. But the
reality for the three teams that retired from Leg 1 has been much
different.

* Ken Read and his PUMA team arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday night, 15 days
after breaking their mast, and 31 days since starting Leg 1. They now have
less than four days to get the replacement mast stepped and the boat in
condition to take part in Saturday's In-Port Race, with Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi
starting 24 hours later. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/PUMA-120611

* Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Azzam is back in the water, her new rig is in
place and skipper Ian Walker had plans for sailing on Tuesday. Azzam
arrived by ship to Cape Town on November 30, and now, with major work
pretty much complete, it is all about fine-tuning. Azzam lost her rig on
the first night of Leg 1 just over one month ago. The team resumed racing
after stepping their replacement mast, but decided to retire and tune-up
the new rig at Cape Town. -- Full report:http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/news/4294_Azzam-set-to-rise-again.html

* Salthouse Boatbuilders reported on Tuesday that the repair to the damaged
hull of Team Sanya is near complete. In less than 7 days the boat has gone
from having eight men standing with their heads inside a gaping hole in the
hull, to having a glistening new bow section awaiting her final spray of
paint. -- Photo: http://tinyurl.com/SB-120611

* The International Jury will hear in full the protest of Groupama sailing
team against CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand after deciding it was
valid. Groupama lodged the protest, which is once again related to the
forestay and rigging set-up on CAMPER, at the end of Leg 1. -- Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/VOR-120611

* Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 began with one of the most dramatic
first nights in the race's 38-year history and continued in epic mode on
the way to the finish in Cape Town. A 52-minute video documentary and
written review provide a recap of the first leg:http://tinyurl.com/VOR-120411

* Live coverage of the Cape Town In-Port Race on Saturday, December 10 is
at 1300 GMT and the start of Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi is the following day at the
same time. Follow the action at http://new.livestream.com/volvooceanrace

Overall Standings (In-Port 1 and Leg 1)
1. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 31 points
2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 29
3. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 22
4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 6
5. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 5
6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 3

Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html
Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos

BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started
in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012,
six professional teams will 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. Teams accumulate points
through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. -http://www.volvooceanrace.com

 

Doug, have you seen this daggerboards? Are they ballasted with little bulbs or this is just some hydrodinamic innovation?
Juan K thinks that Farr and Botin designs are the really favorites this time, may be because of this kind of innovations that can't be seen on his designs.
Abudahbi has this rare daggerboards and a very round bow...
Camper has his backwards daggers (and is the fasterone till now)...
Juan K boats have lifting daggers...
All this are potentially good improvements, but no one of them seems to be radical, don't you think?

 

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Quequen, I had not seen those boards-thanks! I doubt those tips have any ballast in them-they are probably a way to reduce drag off the tips. I wonder if they tested them?
I think the lifting daggers are the most significant innovation from a design standpoint but the rules of the VOR prevent much significant development. For instance, curved daggerboards pioneered on multihulls and on the Open 60's Saffron and V3 are outlawed-too bad. Now even the Open 60's are considering going one design-that would be a damn shame...

 

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Telefonica won the in-port race today in Cape Town-tomorrow the 2nd leg starts.

1300GMT / 6AM EST

 

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Team Sanya leads just after the start of leg 2. Good for them after the trouble they've had....

Race Tracker: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html

Overall course/ stopover ports: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/ports.html

 

Gents,
is the real destination for the leg 2 still secret ? as I understand they head for a safe place to be loaded and ship to final destination to avoid somalia thread?
rgds
bertho

 

Viewing the race tracker, an area labelled "Stealth Zone" is shown, starting from the tip of Madagascar.

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html

The website mentions a "safe haven" towards which the boats should be sailing. As the Volvo website is available to all, are Somali pirates watching and plotting? Antisiranana is my bet for safe haven.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ant...ent=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl