Elaine Bunting's blog

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Alex Thomson: no time for tears

14 November 2008

There is no other ocean race that has any thing like the personal cost of a Vendée Globe. The difficulty of getting to the startline is huge, the odds of success once there are long - and you get a chance at it only four years.

For Mike Golding, the quest to win this race has been a 12-year slog. The same for poor Bernard Stamm who, following a collision this week is on his third star-crossed attempt to complete (never mind win) the race.

And now Alex Thomson is fast shaping up as a serial quester. Your heart goes out to him: this is his second attempt at the Vendée Globe and his second failure. Put together with abandoning his boat in the Velux 5 Oceans last year, he has had a rough old time of it.

By the time he gets another chance at this race, he will have devoted eight years of his career to the goal.

Yet when I talked to Alex yesterday I was surprised to find him, if not cheery, then at least determined and composed. He had been understandably emotional and upset when I spoke to him following the collision with the fishing boat three weeks ago, and I assumed this would have been the more crushing blow.

But thinking about it, then he was in solo sailor mode, hungry for a win and hastily reassembling ambitious goals along with his boat. This time he has had to snap himself out of dejection. Back on land and with no race to sail, he has to resume the role of project boss, business manager and team leader.

He must show the way for a team equally bereft after four years of work. He can't wallow; he's the gaffer. It's time to regroup, keep the business running and his sponsor's eyes on the future.

There is a lot of clearing up to do as well: the insurance claim against the fishing boat he says will go to court to resolve; the uninsured damage now; the boat to ship back and repair. The worst thing now would be if, through demoralisation, Thomson's team were to lose their faith and commitment. So, grieving for this race has to be put the back burner.

It's the same for any solo skipper thwarted through incident or accident. Their ambition is an all-consuming mini-business and the work must go on.

Elaine Bunting

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Massive repairs for Jules Verne challenger

11 November 2008

On the subject of extensive repairs, I visited French builders Multiplast a few weeks ago and saw the work being done to repair the 104ft trimaran Groupama 3. She broke up off New Zealand earlier this year while attempting to break the Jules Verne record for the fastest time round the world.

The scope of the work needed shows just how a 'one little crack' type of problem can spread and propagate until it ends in major failure that needs a serious rebuild to put right.

Groupama 3 had been 2,000 miles ahead of the record when the port float tore off. The forward port beam of Groupama 3 cracked and the whole port float broke away between the forward beam and the foil.

Designers VPLP say they aren't yet 100% sure of the root cause but the hypothesis is that the port side suffered from a lot of wave impacts during the long period that the trimaran was sailed on starboard tack.

Luckily being so close to New Zealand most of the parts were salvaged after the crew were rescued, but some seven months later the boat is still being rebuilt. Designer Capucine Cadiou from VPLP estimates that the work amounts to "three-fifths of a new build".

The repairs involve completely rebuilding two new floats which are now monolithic carbon on the outboard side between the two beams instead of sandwich construction. They also have extra stringers and bulkheads to cope with torsional loads.

The beams are being rebuilt to the same design. The problem there was that some of the bolts along the aft face had fatigued and there was delamination at the point of maximum curvature.

It's still expected that Franck Cammas, currently busy with the BMW Oracle trimaran, will have another crack at the round the world record early next year.

Elaine Bunting

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Hugo Boss: flesh wound or fatal blow?

11 November 2008

As poor Alex Thomson nurses his wounded Hugo Boss back to Les Sables d'Olonne today after discovering a crack in the hull, his team will frantically be trying to work out how to repair the boat and whether it can be done well enough in time to restart by the Vendée Globe deadline next Wednesday.

The latest press release says that the crack 'is located between the aft keelbox and bulkhead'. That could easily be the result of the collision with a fishing boat two weeks ago because, at moment of impact, there must have been a considerable twisting force on the hull of Hugo Boss and it is in this highly loaded area that consequential damage is likeliest.

If the crack is on the keelbox, I'm told that might not be too serious or too difficult to repair. The bulkheads forward and aft of the keelbox are very high load areas, but although bonded to these the keelbox itself is not under a lot of load; its main purpose is to keep water out.

If it is merely a case of beefing up the keelbox area, Alex will be able to get back out again. But his worry will be if whether there are more problems lying in wait.

Whatever the case, if he goes again it will surely be with even less confidence in his boat. That will make this race a hugely stressful few months. How comfortable would he be going up to those record 24-hour speeds again?

Elaine Bunting

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Lucky escape for Stamm

10 November 2008

Cancel that thought that poor Bernard Stamm being very unlucky to collide with a fishing boat yesterday on day 1 of the Vendée Globe. Make that very lucky to have lost only the bowsprit of his boat.

After checking the AIS tracker, which logs data from ships such as vessel name, type, MMSI, course, speed, etc, his crew has confirmed that the vessel he collided with was an 80m cargo ship from Malta. Stamm had a close call with catastrophe there.

Most of the IMOCA 60s have AIS receivers but not transponders so Stamm will have had information on the ship on his radar display but the ship might not have had data on his boat.

So while you wonder why the ship didn't at least spot his active echo signal on radar, unfortunately it does a few questions about Stamm's watch-keeping routine, his radar alarms and so on.

There will be some very wakeful solo skippers out there now.

Elaine Bunting

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Rush to repair Stamm's boat

10 November 2008

It's terrible for Vendée Globe favourite Michel Desjoyeaux to have to return to Les Sables d'Olonne less than 24 hours into the race. The the two-day deficit on the leaders that he will have by the time he solves his charging problem will seriously dent his chances of a podium place.

As they used to say, a stern chase is a long chase. To have to claw back over the next three months is going to be really hard, especially when you know that the top two or three places are usually settled by a matter of hours.

And what a blow (literally) for Bernard Stamm, who collided with a fishing boat yesterday evening. I went to see what was happening on boat Cheminées Poujoulat's this morning after repairs carried on overnight.

The bowsprit broken off in the collision is being rebuilt ashore and an area was being repaired where and the fishing boat had scraped down the forward third of the boat along the hull to deck area.

To speed up repairs, Stamm's team are making repairs as the boat lies alongside in Les Sables d'Olonne under a makeshift tent of tarpaulins and plastic bags.

These are not ideal conditions, but Stamm's team told me they are aiming to get him back out tomorrow.

This is possible because the start line of the Vendée Globe is open for ten days. This allows skippers with early breakages or problems to rejoin the race and because they are restarting the race the rule prohibiting outside assistance does not apply.

Elaine Bunting

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Wide load

9 November 2008

Here's an interesting view of the new Artemis Ocean Racing (right) and Pindar (left) just before they left the dock for the start of the Vendée Globe this morning. The overlap of the deck spreaders shows just how big their rigs are.

Elaine Bunting

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Ellen: new Vendée ambitions?

8 November 2008

Ellen MacArthur is back in Les Sables d'Olonne for the Vendée Globe, the race that catapulted her to fame. She is in town in support of her team-mate Seb Josse, also sponsored by BT, but no doubt she'd be here anyway. Nearly all the past sailors are.

Unlike most of them, however, Ellen is akin to a pop star, hounded by fans at every turn.

Apart from what she makes of the fleet, the question Ellen is asked most often is whether she's coming back to race. That seems more relevant this year because Michel Desjoyeaux, who beat her into 2nd place in 2001, is on the line again and a race favourite once more.

To the French paper L'Equipe she hinted that she would like to return to the Vendée Globe, and she admitted to me a strong feeling of 'Vendée envy'. Ellen is, after all, a salt-water-in-the-blood type ocean sailor and born competitor.

She and Mark Turner are far too businesslike about their events and sports management company OC Group for her return to the Vendée Globe without first firmly establishing a diversified sailing team and sponsorship. They can't afford to be a one-product company.

Besides, she tells me she's enjoying building a house on the Isle of Wight, where she has something of an Old McDonald's Farm with hens, a cockerel, two dogs and some Tamworth pigs.

But in 2012, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ellen here again. Judging by the reception here, the Vendée Globe race itself would gain a massive star. And Britain might see its best hope of winning the Vendée Globe.

Elaine Bunting

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Saying no to more cheese

8 November 2008

Provisioning for Steve White's three-and-some months at sea in the Vendée Globe is a bit different. Steve is a vegetarian.

The funny thing is that in his great struggle to find funding for his project, he turned one offer down that might have made food shopping much more complicated.

On hearing that he was a vegetarian, one possible donor offered money if he would become the first vegan to sail round the world.

Steve turned it down. I wondered how he'd get the 6,000 calories a day he'd need in the Southern Ocean on a vegan diet. Steve laughs and tells me he's not sure he'd have room for all the cheese.

Elaine Bunting

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Nick Moloney at the helm

7 November 2008

Former solo skippers prowling the docks of Les Sables d'Olonne include the irrepressible Nick Moloney. Moloney is still proudly at the helm - but this time of a McLaren pushchair containing his eight-month old daughter.

Moloney claims to be quite nonplussed at his emotions seeing the fleet this time. He has absolutely no desire to be going off for three months to race round the world leaving baby Eva behind and says the feeling is really strange.

"People used to say 'I don't know how you do this, I couldn't' and I never understood that. I always thought I could do anything. But now this is something I just can't do."

Typically Aussie, though, Moloney is keeping his options open for a solo challenge at a more difficult stage of childrearing.

Elaine Bunting

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Niggling rigging trouble

6 November 2008

Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss is back in the water looking pristine after repairs to the gaping hole he suffered in a massive 8-knot collision with a fishing boat two weeks ago. However, there are still some worries on board.

As we reported here Thomson was disheartened yesterday after a day's sail trials to discover that the main halyard had chafed.

That's fixed now. Pity Thomson's shore team with the glamorous job of running the mousing line back and forth for 15 hours throughout the night!

But something that will be less easy to fix is stretch in the PBO rigging. Unlike metal rigging which has rigging screws for adjustment, modern textile rigging is just like classic yacht rigging: all done with blocks and lashings.

Once set up, there's no way of adjusting it except to re-do the lashings, something that needs to be done at the dockside. The problem is there isn't enough time to properly bed in the rigging.

Elaine Bunting

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Wheels of fashion

6 November 2008

You sometimes wonder how many of the gizmos on racing yachts are basically about fashion. I think this story throws some light on that.

Yesterday evening as teams working on the Vendée Globe boats knocked off for the evening a group of people formed close to Loick Peyron's Gitana Eighty. Observing the skirting wheels fitted to the guardrails, an old-fashioned idea revived by the wily maestro, Dee Caffari asked:

"What's with the cruising wheels? Do you have those?"

"I haven't," said Brian Thompson, "but I'm thinking of fitting them."

"I've got skirting wheels," offered Jonny Malbon.

"Why?"

"Because they stop the genoa delaminating."

"What about you?" Caffari asked Mike Golding. "Have you got skirting wheels?"

"Yes," replied Golding.

"Why have you got them?"

"I put them on because everyone else has them."

Elaine Bunting

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Pindar worries the French

6 November 2008

I've written a synopsis here about how the British skippers might do in the Vendée Globe. But this isn't just a question for those of us from the UK; it's also of great interest here in France.

One question that particularly interests race fans and skippers alike is how the super-powerful new boats, Artemis and Pindar, will do. Neither has yet raced against French rivals.

The consensus is that Artemis is too new a boat and Jonny Malbon has too few sea miles on board as yet to be a great threat. But Pindar? Well, the new Bahrain Team Pindar is a very different matter.

A little bird tells me that no less a figure than race favourite Michel Desjoyeaux is extremely concerned about Pindar. The potential combination of the Juan Kouyoumdjian rocketship with the highly able Brian Thompson as skipper has been gnawing at him.

Mich Des must think he has everyone else's strengths and weaknesses worked out. But Pindar is the dark horse of the fleet. The rumour is that even the president of the race committee, Sylvie Viant, thinks this is a boat so fast it could win the race.

Psychologically speaking, this is a useful position for Brian Thompson to be in. The quiet, statuesque Englishman is Sphynx-like at the best of times. "Suits me," he smiles enigmatically, as he walks around with a faint smile playing on his lips.

Elaine Bunting

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Vendée fever

6 November 2008

This is but a small snapshot of the scene here in the Les Sables d'Olonne, an out-of-season holiday town on the Biscay coast of France that has been besieged by sailing fans.

The scale of interest is incredible. As of last Sunday, 485,000 people had come to town to walk along the pontoons, see the boats and skippers about to set off on the Vendée Globe solo round the world race, hunt autographs or even just touch the boats of their heroes.

The French audience is quite different to that elsewhere in Europe in that it's a complete cross-section. They are not necessarily sailors; they are people inspired by maritime tradition and who regard the solo sailors who go out to test themselves against it as romantic heroes.

The story being told is much bigger than the narrow sports narrative that is the norm elsewhere. It's unapologetically human and the atmosphere is that it feeds on, and in turn nourishes, revolves round the human stories of the skippers: their struggles to get to the start; their past disappointments; hopes for this race; their families; their sacrifices.

And the evidence is right here that the audience has grown significantly. Over 1 million people are expected to come to see the start this weekend and many millions more will watch it live on TV. It's almost like World Cup fever.

Elaine Bunting

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A very big turn-out

13 October 2008

A beautiful sight this weekend as 1,928 yachts with amateur and professional crews alike started the Barcolana Race off Trieste.

This great photo is by Guilian Grenier - www.martin-raget.com

Elaine Bunting

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60-footer hits 52 knots

13 October 2008

Now that the 50-knot speed barrier has been broken several increments over by kitesurfers, most recently by Frenchman Alexandrew Caizergues with a run of 50.57 knots, this image looks even more impressive.

This is Hydroptère, the foiler trimaran that has been in continuous development since 1994. In recent speed trials near Marseille owner Alain Thébault reported that she had recorded a top speed of 52.86 knots.

As a design engineering feat that's a massive achievement. It really is amazing to think of a yacht as large and complex as a 60ft yacht chasing hard on the heels of a new outright speed record.

What the Hydroptére crew have to do for an official world record now they've hit a new instantaneous high speed is to maintain a stable top speed over 500m.

Photo courtesy of Gilles Martin-Raget.

Elaine Bunting

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Feeling the pinch?

10 October 2008

Even now, the majority view is that the super-rich and their superyacht playthings will be unaffected by the financial crisis. I think that defies logic, and there's some evidence that even the rich are beginning to feel a cool draught.

If the spending power of the rich diminishes, the superyacht industry could also face the end of inflated prices driven up by speculators who bag scarce build slots worldwide and 'churn' new boats for up to double the build costs. What will happen when that bubble, like all bubbles, eventually bursts?

You're not really supposed to sound pessimistic in the marine industry, as everything tends to be sprinkled with fairy dust, but The Times has splashed today on the fortunes of what they call the über-rich. Read it here

As always, comments welcome.

Elaine Bunting

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Tempting offer

9 October 2008

In an interview with The Daily Sail, Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knud Frostad is quoted saying that he believes: 'one of the keys to the success of his event is ensuring that all the top sailing heroes - the Coutts, Cayards, Daltons, Spithills, Kosteckis, etc - are clamouring to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race and a principle aim of his is finding out how to make this happen.'

Here's one suggestion:

$$$$$$$$$

Elaine Bunting

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Stealth tactics

9 October 2008

They say that when you see a good idea, you should copy it. Or better still, improve it.

That's what the Volvo Ocean Race organisers have done in allowing each of the yachts the option of 12-hours of undercover sailing per leg, a period in which their positions, course, speed etc are not made public. It allows crews to make a break at a critical weather juncture.

What they are calling 'StealthPlay' (great name, good on whoever came up with that one) comes directly from the silence period introduced as a new idea by OC Events this year in The Transat. That worked fine but it threw a blanket over the whole of the fleet simultaneously at a time determined a couple of days in advance and it lasted for 36 hours.

It relied on judgements based on weather forecasts on shore rather than on tactical decisions being made on the water. And in practice this year, the weather transition it covered on the Transat didn't produce too many surprises.

So this idea, to let teams decide when to go undercover, and to allow the decision to be made only 30 minutes before a position report is due is a clever improvement and I think it deserves to be adopted for all long ocean races. It recognises this perverse thing: that the frequency and detail of information now available online from fleets actually plays down many of the gambles teams routinely have to take.

Elaine Bunting

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Action man

7 October 2008

I'm busy rewriting my solo sailor crush list. In at a chart-topping No. 1 is French action man Seb Josse.

Photographer Erwan Crouan sent in these phots of Josse limbering up for the Vendée Globe last spring with a spot of extreme windsurfing. Cor.

Elaine Bunting

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Chased by dolphins

7 October 2008

A good omen for Jeremie Beyou on his IMOCA 60 Delta Dore in the form of a group of common dolphins.

It's just over a month to go until the start of the Vendée Globe round the world race, this winter's great solo epic. The serious training is over now and next week most of the skippers head for Les Sables d'Olonne, where the race starts on 9 November.

This time round there are more top boats than ever and some utterly spectacular photography. This is from the latest batch: of by the über-talented Gilles Martin Raget.

There are some other fabulous images and I'll post more up in the coming days, and if that's given you a taste don't miss our November issue, out this week, with a special on the British solo sailors, a photo spectacular and a special Vendée Globe race guide with all you need to follow the race.

Elaine Bunting

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