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Volvo Ocean Race

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Hey folks,

Now that many of us have snow on the ground and we are now armchair sailors for another 5 or so months, I thought I might mention some wild and crazy sailing news (although I'm sure many of you are aware of this already):

How about these VOR 70's? On the first leg to Cape Town-the first boat in had a 24 hour run of 546 NM!!!! Class? Anyone? Anyone? Class?
That is an AVERAGE of 22.75 knots- for 24 hours! And many of the boats were routinely posting 500-525-530 miles days-so averaging 20+ knots day in and day out is becomig "common".

This morning, the 4th place boat is sailing at 19.8 knots with JUST a JibTop reacher and Staysail-they wanted to "back off" for a while.
All of this is quite cool-but think about this: to make these kinds of averages, these boats are seeing peaks over 40 KNOTS down the waves!!!

Surfing into the high 30's is common..

Let me tell you on a 70 feet boat with Canting keel and twin rudders and daggerboards, this will get your attention.

I think I mentioned a while back that at least one of the REALLY big guys, like Mari-Cha V is so fast she cannot carry spinnakers-she makes so much apparent wind that even if the she starts out going DDW, by the time she is up to speed she is on a close-beam reach-always-hence, no kites..

Don't forget Orange II (125 foot Cat) days' run of over 706 NM-averaging 29.4
Wanna guess where she peaked out?

Most amazing to me are the performances of the guys just finishing leg one of the double handed Transat-England to Brasil. There is a 60 foot multi hull, and 60 foot monohull (Open 60's-these were used in the Volvo last time around fully crewed), and also 50 foot multi and mono divisions.

Needless to say, the Tri's were all getting 500 plus mile days, and I believe ,
one or 2 of the 60 mono's. If not, it was close. Doing this with only 2 people on board takes EXTREME Sailing to the next level!!
Some amazing photos here:

http://www.jacques-vabre.com

Back to work!

S
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
One crew member on a Volvo 70 described the ride like being dragged down a cobblestone street inside a 55 gallon drum. I guess you have to be an adrenaline junky to appreciate it.
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
VO 70's fast boats. Lets see if they can all keep their keels on around the Horn... 2 boats had pretty catastophic failures on the second day reaching in 25-30kts. A third blew up a goosneck and had to head to shore for repairs. I hope for safety sake they get these thign sorted out before the Southern Ocean legs...
 

vabobadams

Member I
I have been watching this from the start, my hope to is that they can hold them together. The Farrs seem to have some major design problems, when guys start talking about banging and cracking sounds out of the bulkheads thats alittle scary.
 

Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
Fantasy Racing

Is anyone Fantasy Racing at the VOR website? Or have you downloaded the virtual spectator? The virtual spectator is REALLY cool!
We've been keeping tabs- our club is helping to officiate at the Annapolis in port race, and a bunch of folks are going up to spectate.
Chris
 

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
Chris we should hook up then. The party in Annapolis is going to be shared by SSA ( the club I sail with) and EYC. Should be a good time.
 

Chris Miller

Sustaining Member
The Pary Rocks!

We went to the last party- it was a blast.
I think I'm racing Beneteau's the weekend of the in port race (which is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of--- but that's another story), but we'll definitely be at the party!
I think my wife is taking "Sequoia" up as the floating hotel for the in-port and some other friends are bringing up their 24 ft power boat to go spectate. Should be a great time!
Let's plan as it gets closer.
Any other East Coast Ericson guys joining us?
Chris
 

rbonilla

"don't tread on me" member XVXIIIII
i'll bet the volvo boats really "hummm" and vibriate a lot at those speeds...the miles covered is amazing......it is great to see sailing take the tech leaps each year....
 

Roger Ware

Member III
a slightly sour note

Am I the only one who finds the VOR web site just plain annoying? All flash and no cash. Seems to have been designed by a "youth market ad exec" on leave from the latest Beyonce commercial. It's almost impossible to find a straight news update, or even better, a position chart showing the boats in a standard plan view. Yes, Virtual Spectator is cool, but it is hard to manipulate it to give you a straight "race position" view. I find the French sites, for the Vendee Globe, and the Transat just finished, do a much better job. Anyone agree?

Happy New Year, Vikings.

Roger, Kingston
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
To a degree

I agree the site could be a lot better, but the video and reports from the boats are so compelling it is worth the effort. I just downloaded the video of the inshore race in Capetown-AMAZING to see these things up close doing over 30 knots!!

Works for me,

S
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
GO pirates

That has to be one of the best shots(or clips) of an offshore race boat in action I have ever seen.

No question that is more than 30 knots once they launch down that wave about 1/3-1/2 way through the clip!!!

hang on!
 

Mindscape

Member III
Yo Ho Ho

Man - that has to be a ride. I can't imagine what that ride feels like - 20 to 30 knots. This is the movie Disney should make!!!
 

Seth

Sustaining Partner
Double head rig

Check out the Volvo Race site(www.volvooceanrace.org) in "multimedia" for the videos of Southern Ocean Sailing. Among all the good stuff, you can a clear view of what double headsail reaching means-with a high clewed genoa set above a small genoa staysail..
Awesome.
S
 

Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
Here's a nice quote:

"Mike Sanderson seems to be becoming a little insecure as the race goes on, “As I am bouncing along here the speedo beside me clicks over 32 knots and sits over 30 for over 30 seconds!!! Once back at a leisurely 27 knots, life seems safe again..."


Are these guys nuts?
 

Jeff Meier

Member II
the aerial videos are breathtaking, and the stern-mounted camera footage leaves me hanging on to my chair! but what other coverage is there? these short video clips just leave me wanting more!
 
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