Thursday 27 December 2012

Passing the Date Line

Just East of New Zealand runs the 180 longitude, that is where the East meets the West. Passing this line, from West to the East will set your Boat-clock one day minus a second back and you are one day younger. (this was the secret why Phileas Fogg won his 80-days around the world bet !!!) 

See it all happening in the video of Le Cam 





Tuesday 25 December 2012

Christmas in the VendeeGlobe

While one Boat is in seriois problems and in repair mode, some skippers are too serious to find some time for their Christmas celebrations, while others enjoy the VG2012 to its full extend and enjoy the celebrations of this special Christmas day as well. !



Stamm is still in repair mode, be it that the shelter on Auckland island is likely to get hit by a  direct storm, lifting the sheltered conditions. He has now chosen to sail to New Zealand for a better shelter and to continue his repairs.

The Leaders in the VG2012 are approaching the West Pacific Ice Gate with still a very small margin of 12 Nm, after several times changing the lead.
The Boats on the chase are more or less staying at same distance. The last boat in the fleet, Team Plastic (on first generation Imoca60 boat) is enjoying strong winds and high speeds; however at some 4000 Nm behind the leaders.

LiveSkipper, virtual  Boats have passed the Falklands islands already and now looking for the best strategy to pass the Southern Atlantic.

Sunday 23 December 2012

VendeeGlobe skippers in X-Mas sphere

The Skippers in the VendeeGlobe, might be alone and far from family but there minds are not excluding X-Mas idea's.
Mike Golding with X-Mas cap 
Alessandro di Benedetto is preparing a "real" Italian dinner from his dry-food stock. The tomato's do on picture almost look fresh. 
Others , show on video with a Xmas Man cap. 

Sailing however continues and the  2 leaders just passed the
Gate. Both Jean-Pierre Dick and Alex Thompson have gained a lot of miles on the leaders and keep them honest. Stamm has temporarily stopped at Auckland island for repairs in calm waters on his hydro-generators, without them he would have no power left for autopilot, communication and navigation equipment to pass the Pacific. 

Saturday 15 December 2012

Cape Leeuwin passed with a new record.

The leaders MACIF and Banque Populaire get richer!

MACIF leading the VendeeGlobe2012
The Leaders have passed Cape Leeuwin (SW corner of Australia) last night in a new record time! The new record is: 
34 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes! This is 2days, 2 hours and 25 minutes faster from Les Sables d'Olonne to Cape Leeuwin as the record from PRB , Vincent Riou set in VG2004.
Macif was 1e shortly followed by Banque Populaire; 1hour and 50 minutes later. 
Both leaders are now in a different and better wind system as the followers, of which Virbac Paprec3 is the closest at 350 Nm. 

As a surprise, Francois Gabart (MACIF) also broke the record between the two Capes, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin, with 9 minutes, now set at 11days, 6 hours and 40 minutes. 

The leaders in the virtual VR are somewhat ahead the real boats. 
I sail already east of New Zealand in LiveSkipper Virtual sailing game. All sailors are sailing a Imoca60 boat, but LiveSkipper does not have so many Ice gates, allowing those Boats to sail more Southerly routes. 

Monday 10 December 2012

Boats sailing at high speeds in VendeeGlobe

After validating Crozet Ice Gate the leading boats sailing fast Eastwards on Beam. Alex Thompson is setting the highest speeds and climbing to 3rd spot. 
a wave covers the Sailing Boat, which Boat?
What a Fantastic pictures this is with a wave breaking and producing a white water cover of the sailing boat.
The fleet is now heading to the Amsterdam Ice Gate, that is positioned relatively North to keep the boats away from the dangers of floating Ice bergs. 

The Virtual Boats in LiveSkipper have reached the South of Australia already, but in their Sail the Globe race the Ice Gates are less and more to the South, giving the advantage of sailing more South and a shorter distance to the New Zealand Gate. 

Saturday 8 December 2012

VendeeGlobe, and intense battle for the lead.

The last day has seen some 3 different leaders in the VendeeGlobe2012! 

Banque Populaire , only Boat that validated Crozet gate. 
While Banque Populaire is the only Boat that so far validated the Crozet Ice Gate as the Western Bouy, the other 4 Boats have passed, but need to go North to pass the  Crozet Ice Gate still closer to the Eastern Gate.
The other Boats followed a more southerly faster course but are now into calmer winds, while Banque Populaire has come out of the area of wind calm and with better speed towards the South-East is expected to pass again and take over the lead.

The following group of 3 boats, meanwhile is making good speed and closing in on the leaders.
A daily video impression is available on the VendeeGlove website or a link on my TAB "Media", above.

Monday 3 December 2012

Changing the Lead

The leading boats have now reached the first Gate: Aiguilles Gate, an Ice Gate where Boats have to pass at least one spot North of it. 


Day 23 highlights - Sunday, December 2, 2012 by VendeeGlobeTV

François Gabart (MACIF) was the 1st Boat to validate the Western buoy on the Aiguilles Gate, shortly followed by Jean-Pierre (Virbac-Paprec3) and Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire). Francois has the honor to lead the fleet into the Indian Ocean, but with the small differences it is by all not sure he will be the first to lead into the Pacific.

Suratna, sailing virtual in LiveSkipper, sailed yesterday already into the Indian Ocean and  would like a more southerly course, but southerly winds force her to sail a ESE course for some days, before a chance will come to go more south.  

Friday 30 November 2012

The West is gaining ...

The sailors that sailed further west are benefitting now from better winds, direction and strength wise. So we expect Vibrac3 and MACIF to make gains and come close to or maybe even pass Banque Populaire before passing Cape of Good Hope. 

 

The virtual Boats are also approaching the Cape, where the ice-gate has been shifted 1 degree to the North, because of floating Ice growlers from Antarctica.

My Boat Suratna, sailing in LiveSkipper is about to pass Trista de Cunha, and not like PUMA in the VOR to make a stop :) 
For the locations of My virtual Boats in LiveSkipper and VirtualRegatta and the leader of the VG, have a look at my Map in the TAB: "ROUTE" above. 

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Loy Kratong also for me sailing the VendeeGlobe

Loy Kratong is a traditional Thai festival. It is a Bhoedist tradition and the people celebrate with dance and music. People will make (or nowadays buy) a Kratong, a floating "lantern" and will float it on the water with a candle lit, while making a wish for the coming year.  


Kratong are made from natural materials such as  banana tree leaves and straw, thus not harming the nature. 
A reason for Loy Kratong is: to ask for forgiveness to the Gods because we drink and use the water and we often throw rubbish and waste in the water. 

Sailing on the Oceans, we should remember that the Oceans should be kept clean as there is already too much waste (plastics, containers) spoiling the waters. 

OK Sailing the Atlantic in the VendeeGlobe, I am with my boat in LiveSkipper, confronted with the question how to sail around the St. Helena High? Should I go more south, somewhere along the route of Paprec3 or just East along Banque Populaire? I think today is decision day! 

Sunday 25 November 2012

VendeeGlobe 2nd Week

The 2nd week saw the leaders of the VendeeGlobe 2012-2013 concur the Doldrums and pass the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. 



This 2nd week had 2 Boats retiring from the Race, Gutik(Zbigniew Gutkowski) on Energa could not resolve his electronic problems on the autopilot, and Jeremie Beyou on Maitre CoQ who suffered a broken arm on the hydraulic jack for the tilting Keel. 
Alex made a miraculous repair on a pusher bar for his ruder broken by the hudrogenerator failure. Lets hope the repair will last also in the expected heavy winds and waves of the Souther Ocean. 

On the Virtual sailing front, it is about the  same progress for the leaders, though the boats without options (0$ Sailors) are far behind sailing with the basic sails only. 

Friday 23 November 2012

Equator has been passed by VG2012 leaders

The leading Boats in the VendeeGlobe have already passed the Equator and for their good benefit , no doubt, cheers some navigational liquid with Neptune :) 

a simulation of the VG2012; not the Virtual Sailors but the Real Boats
Banque Populaire, skippered by Armel Le Cleac'h, is leading a pack of 5 boats some 40-60 Nm behind. For all of these skippers the big question will be how to sail around the St. Helene High; which is at the moment rather far South and even East. 
Most likely is to sail West around it, but how far South to go? 

Above image is a simulation of the Real Boats (a short motion impression can be seen here) ; not to be confused with the Virtual Boats.

There are now 14 Boats sailing only as Gutik, with his   electronic problems on the autopilot, could not fix it and  has     retired from the race. 
The VG2012 is improving, to the extend that 4 boats  retired in 1st  week and only 2 in the 2nd week. 

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Another Day in the VendeeGlobe - Another casualty.

Jérémie Beyou o/b Maitre CoQ has given up and started the engine to bring his crippling safely into a harbor in Cape Verde Islands. The broken arm on the hydraulic jack to move the canting keel, was no possible to repair safely to sail on , forcing him to abandon the VendeeGlobe. 

Alex Thompson o/b Hugo Boss has to repair a broken pushing bar on his ruder that broke when his hydrogenerator broke loose due to some vibration. 

L'incroyable réparation d'Alex Thomson by VendeeGlobeTV


Some better news is that the leaders have sailed into the Doldrums, and making a reasonable progress to pass it today. Once that is passed, the route  around the standard St. Helene High has to be chosen for the fastest way to sail to South Africa. 

Monday 19 November 2012

VendeeGlobe leaders approaching the Dolldrums

The leaders of the VG2012 fleet are pretty much staying together with little variation in classification. Enjoying fast sailing in the NE Trade winds brings the Doldrums within some days. A good place to cross, can make or break your progress, so it is important to find the best spot to pass; be it that the Doldrums are very difficult to forecast! 

Mike Golding on Gamesa making good progress
Sanso is sailing fast again, after he repaired the hallyard for the mainsail at the mast-top at the Canary island.
Gutskowski on Energa, has been successful in un-tying his Spinnaker from the mast but is still suffering the problems with his  auto-pilot and some wind-calm. 
Another Boat in problems is Maitre CoQ, she suffered a broken hydraulic jack to move the tilting keel. Jeremie is now  sailing to Cape Verde islands for calmer waters and hope to be able to fix his keel properly and continue, taken lower boat-speeds as penalty. 

On the virtual front, I read some posts in FB-VirtualRegatta that  the servers were out for some time but restarted. It all happened in my sleep, so I did not feel any pain. My boat is now sailing happily in between Canary and Cape Verde islands. 

Liveskipper, Sail the Globe virtual sailing race is still going strong. My boat has  passed the Cape Verde Islands and heading South to the Doldrums about 1 degree latitude ahead of Banque Populaire. :) 

Sunday 18 November 2012

VendeeGlobe 1st Week of Sailing

The Boats in the lead are sailing close to the Cape Verde Islands. The 1st week has seen some heroic sailing events but also some desperate ones.  



Banque Populair has just gained the lead from MACIF, who had the lead for almost 6 days. The lead is however only some 20 Nm. 

The VG2012 fleet  has lost 20% of all Boats in this 1st week already. Hopefully it gets better. 

  • Kito de Pavant, suffered a broken keel, 
  • Marc Guillemot, collided while sleeping with a fishing boat, that damaged his boat severely,
  • Sam Davies, demasted in stormy winds and rough seas, 
  • Louis Burton, collided while  sleeping with a fishing boat, he had damage on Port side shroud and tried to return to base for repairs and possible a re-start just within the closing time. However  adverse wind conditions prevented him from sailing back.  
The fleet is now approaching the Doldrums and this could shake-up the order with the un-expected winds and squalls. 

The virtual sailors in VR have grown to over 300,000 registered boats; some overload problems have been suffered as well. 

Friday 16 November 2012

Another Day in the VendeeGlobe - Another Casualty

No, this is not an error from me, the blogger, but a last report on the VendeeGlove Sailing Race. 

Samantha o/b Saveol is reported to have lost her mast in stormy winds just North of Madeira. I feel sorry for her, the only woman in the fleet and a finisher in the last 2008 Vendee. 

archive photo: Saveol and Samantha in better times
Now the VendeeGlobe Sailing fleet is back to 16 boats, while one boat is desperately trying to sail back to base for emergency repairsl; when that would be he can re-start the Sailing Race till 20th November 13:02 local time. 

Javier Sansó o/b  Acciona 100% Eco Powered  saw his mainsail coming down after the track on the hallyard broke. Now he has to wait for calmer conditions to climb the mast for inspection and lets hope he is able to repair and continue. 
    
The lead is still with MACIF, but the followers have reduced the advance to a handful of miles. The fleet is compacting in the front on approaching the Cape Verde islands. 

That not only some of the real skippers have problems, but all of the 200,000+ virtual sailors in VirtualRegatta (VR) had some 4 hrs outage of the server on Wednesday evening (CET) and could not control their boats. Apparently VR is struggling with the large number of virtual skippers, as the Forum is now taken out and the chat is not  working. The game, however, has returned and allowing the boats to sail on. 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Another day in the VendeeGlobe - Another casualty

The leaders of the VendeeGlobe have sailed through the ridge of High Pressure and not sailing fast in Southerly directions in  strong winds. François Gabart on MACIF is still leader in the fleet with about 50Nm. He also has sailed into stronger winds so his clever startegy has worked out for him and he has a good chance to stay in the lead somewhat longer. 



Day 5 highlights - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 by VendeeGlobeTV

Earlier in the day, Louis Burton o/b Bureau Vallée, reported a collision with a fishing-boat while taking a nap, about 400Nm west of Lisbon. He broke his shroud on Port side and considers a repair required. Trying to reach Les Sable d'Olonne for a repair. If he would succeed before 20th November at 13:02 hrs he will be able to restart!

Tuesday 13 November 2012

The West or the South?

The big question for the sailors at the moment is, to sail more to the West or keep sailing South along the African Coast as long the winds are favorable there?
Some Boats to the West have lost some miles over the last day, as the wind strength is less. However the winds along the African coast will weakening as well in roughly a day; what to do?

A 2nd Boat has to abandon the VG race with heavy damage to the bow. Groupe Bel, skippered by Kito, collided with a fishing boat, while Kito was taking a short nap. He could save the rigging, but the bow is so heavy damaged to continuing and even a quick repair is not an option. 
Groupe Bel  collided with a fishing boat and out off the VendeeGlobe Race
The Race continues with 18 boats and lets hope that the rate of boats dropping out of the race is lowering else in 3 weeks the race is over.

The virtual sailors in VR are going well. The site mentions over 200,000 boats registered, but that is also giving some problems, like the Forum is out for more then a week now and now also the chat is out; so not communication anymore. 

Sunday 11 November 2012

VendeeGlobe Sailing Race started

The 2012 edition of the VendeeGlobe Sailing Race has started. 


The start of the Real Boats could be viewed some TV stations (France, Europe?) but also on Internet on the Vendee website. 
This is a good coverage, expected in this time. 

There were some 3 boats which caused an early start and had to do some penalty. Sad to say that shortly after the Start already 2 Boats suffered problems , large enough to return to base for repairs; now  19 hours later I still see both Boats sitting in the harbour on the Race tracker.

If you like to follow the boats than a visit to the VendeeGlobe website will give you a link to the Race Tracker, or just check my blog in the TAB: "ROUTE"

Alongside the real boats a large number of Virtual Boats have started the VendeeGlobe, some 180,000 registered boats. 
To follow the same you may look at my TAB:  "ROUTE"
where I show a Map with a daily progress location for the leader in the VendeeGlobe, my virtual boat in VR and my virtual boat in LS. 
LiveSkipper another modern virtual sailing game, has organised a Sail the Globe Sailing race with a slightly different route, however. 

Friday 9 November 2012

VendeeGlobe starts TOMORROW.

The Vendee Globe, a historical solo-handed non-stop Round the World Sailing Race, is starting Saturday 10th November 2012 at 12:02 GMT (13:02 French winter time= CET) 


The Start location is Les Sable d'Olonne, France, and the the route starts to sail south over the Atlantic to round Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. 
There will be 20 sailors at the start, one of which is a lady and some have sailed this VendeeGlobe before. 
All sailors sail in similar Boats, IMOCA60 Open, be it that some are older than the other. 

Alongside the 20 Real Boats, there are a huge number of virtual sailors, now some 90,000 that have registered in VirtualRegatta to sail alongside their favorite sailors and even try to beat them. 
Want to try sailing from your comfortable arm-chair alongside your hero's, than register at VR. 
Or you might want to sail some alternative virtual World tours in LiveSkipper or Sailonline. Plenty of options. 

Route for VendeeGlobe 2012-2013

Monday 29 October 2012

Recruitement for Future VendeeGlobe

The 7th VendeeGlobe is to Start in about 12 days and all Boats are now in the harbor for last checks, stocking up and for the public to have a look at the boats and a talk to the skippers.
Vendée Globe: Two weeks to go before the start! by VendeeGlobeTV

Apart from the Real Boats sailing the VendeeGlobe this is also a large group of Virtual Sailors that will sail the VendeeGlobe alongside their hero's. 

The official Virtual VendeeGlobe will be sailed in VirtualRegatta.  There is still time to register and find yourself a Sailing Team that is looking to complete its 10 Boats and challenge some other 17 register Virtual Sailing Teams. It looks our Sailing Team VG2012 0$ Sailors is the only English speaking team with 17 French speaking teams!
In some other Virtual Sailing programs, like LiveSkipper there will be some alternatives Round the World tour sailed.

Friday 26 October 2012

Virtual Sailing in VendeeGlobe

Virtual Sailing becomes more and more popular!

The recently finished VolvoOceanRace, had some 60,000 virtual sailors in its VolvoOceanRaceGame and while the VR, the official virtual player for VendeeGlobe, has only recently started the registration, there already 20,000+ boats on the list.

VR virtual sailing the VendeeGlobe

The virtual Sailing Race will start on 10th November 2012 alongside the Start of the Real Boats in the VendeeGlobe. See the countdown counter in the Game till the Start at 12:00 GMT (13:00 French time).

Did you try virtual Sailing?
If not this is your change to start, and sail alongside 20 Real boats skippered by the Sailing professionals. The boats virtual and real have about same capacities, that is to say if in VR you are prepared to purchase extra sail packages. The Basic boats with 2 standard sails will not be able to sail same speed as the real boats and you will most likely not beat the sailors that buy themselves the speedy sails, waypoints and what not?

Will Sailing the Basic boat give any fun?
Yes , it will, especially if you can beat many of the Boats that have paid for the extra options but cannot use them to their advantage :)
Another advantage of sailing the Basic Boat is that you can join the 0$ Sailors Club; this is a club that also existed very successful in the VORG as well and will not spend any real money to sail the VendeeGlobe. Amongst the members of this club  will be sailed in an even playing field with a seperate 0$ classification.
Check out the VR  0$ Sailors club and if you can find yourself in the principles for the Club, you may apply for a free membership.

Is VR the only Virtual Sailing site to Sail the Vendee route?
No, apart from VR, there is e.g. Liveskipper, that sails an alternative Global tour. The advantage of Liveskipper is that it is a free virtual sailing player where all boats sail in an even playing field, no options for speedy sails as the boats have all  the speedy sails already in standard package.
There is also, SailonLine, as virtual player, but I cannot see any global race in there.

Monday 22 October 2012

My Blog to report on VendeeGlobe

Soon, on 10th November, the VendeeGlobe2012-2013 will start a Solo-Sailing Race around the World. About 20 skippers will take the historic race in challenge with the Sea, Oceans, Winds and Waves and of course each other. 

This blog will try to report on some interesting aspects of the Vendee race and its Virtual counter parts. 

The race will be possible to track via a tracker on internet, see my TAB "ROUTE" and I try to give some daily locations on a map. In this map I will show the Real boats alongside the Virtual Boats and hopefully they can sail a close battle. 

Some interesting maybe even useful links for this VendeeGlobe:

  • The official website for the VendeeGlobe
  • For Virtual Sailors the VR is the official virtual  sailing game.   
  • Another Virtual Sailing Site is LiveSkipper, which I prefer actually. To sail in Liveskipper you may register for free, choose your Boat-name and start sailing an alternative Global route