Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

[jackster]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

Yea, I guess it's all about degrees, and all boats could designed safer.
I don't... I couldn't... I wouldn't... race sailboats.
There is something that I admire...appreciate...enjoy, about these races. All top-level, extreme sports I watch.
I guess, in the final analyses, I think the rules and safety standards are rightfully in the hands of those who participate.
It is voluntary, after all.

[Ian McColgin]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

More in the line of truely versitile all around hard seas boats were the Global Challenge iterations. One of MaryEllen's cousins was on one so we got the tour when they hit Boston. I was awestruck.

[jackster]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

Leg 8 is under way... https://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/home.html

[switters]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

After everything that happened the last leg it is pretty cool that every boat is racing.

[Hwyl]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

They're in waters I know very well now. Should be a very tactical finish. I'm torn as to which side of the exclusion zone I'd pick. I think I'll go with the Western (Point Jude) side.

[Chris249]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

More in the line of truely versitile all around hard seas boats were the Global Challenge iterations. One of MaryEllen's cousins was on one so we got the tour when they hit Boston. I was awestruck.

They have some interesting details and there's a certain rugged aesthetic, but interestingly, a quick check doesn't show much evidence that the Global Challenge boats, or the later Clipper boats, were much more reliable than the Volvo boats in terms of dismastings, strandings and deaths. Obviously crew experience is a huge factor but then again they aren't being pushed like the Volvo boats.

I've always been surprised to see how slow (both in reality and on rating) the GC and Clipper boats are, even compared to 36-45ft production racer/cruisers and classics like the '60s S&S 73 Kialoa II, which beat the GC boats in the Fastnet. I'm not sure what that says; perhaps it indicates that heavy boats really do have a speed limit.

[Chris249]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

Yes. The Vendee Globe boats are just as fast, safer and more comfortable.

Alex Thomson in the Vendee, did a day's run of 536 miles, Brunel in the VOR did 538 miles.

On the other hand, it seems like the Vendee Open 60 boats also have areas in which they are comparatively weak, especially upwind. The VO65s beat every Open 60 home in the Fastnet in both 2017 and 2015. It looks like when the round the world boats come up against the Maxi 72s, they can both get whopped, as when the sole Maxi 72 finished 7 hours ahead of the Volvo 70s and the Volvo 65 in Fastnet 2015, with the first Open another 50 minutes behind. While the Maxi 72 is longer it's also heavier, simpler and has pretty much the same sail area.

[Hwyl]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

Very tight and slow finish.

[Hwyl]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

The last leg was a bit of a lottery, but it was enthralling.
Well done Charles and Dongfeng (East Wind) did well.

[jackster]

Re: Footage from the start of the next leg of the Volvo

^ Yes, Congratulations! to Dongfeng and all of the teams.
A gutsy move, to take that inside route, that really paid off