Transat Ag2r La Mondiale : départ dimanche !

The other woman in the race, Alienour Fleury on Guadeloupe, with Arthur Bouwyn.

Guadeloupe940X336.jpg

Not the other woman in the race. Tanguy Le Turquois on Cuisines Ixina.

Capture.jpg



Complete boat and crew list:
http://transat.ag2rlamondiale.fr/fr/s06_skippers/s06p01_skippers.php
 
KevinS said:
Wind Map. The short explanation - Big Fs are better than Hockey Sticks when you're looking for more wind. Big Fs where the horizontal lines are both long (instead of top long, bottom shorter) are even better. It's a good thing when the long part of the Hockey Stick/F points from where you are to where you want to go.

View attachment 37562


The long explanation, with pictures and appropriate terminology:

View attachment 37563
Click to expand...

Kevin on the wind I would say these guys and ladies would rather not be sailing downwind but rather a broad reach at 125 to 140 to the wind. These boats point well and downwind for them is just not much fun. Besides being hot it's slower. It was great for the square riggers.
 
Message from Lorientrependre, listss the difficulties which they have fought through (engine cooling problem, torn mainsail, weather, low winds). At the end, they are conceding that they have no chance to win the race. Two other competitors (Free Dom and Cuisines Ixina) have been blocked by the same ridge which has kept them in the back of the fleet. They go on to say that in the spirit of personal goals and competition, another (unofficial) race starts between the three trailing boats.

Message de Lorientreprendre reçu à 17h47

Rapide résumé de ce premier tiers de course des frères Yannig et Erwan Livory à bord de Lorientreprendre. Une traversée du Golfe de Gascogne au près avec une première nuit sous des grains à 40 nœuds : l'entame était tonique ! Problème de refroidissement du moteur au petit matin. Nous avons mis 4 h à le réparer (bol du filtre à eau cassé) puis le passage du cap Finisterre dans de la molle, de nuit, avec son lot de cargos : veille et vigilance accrues !Débute alors la descente le long des côtes espagnoles puis portugaises dans des conditions sous spi de plus en plus musclées. Mercredi matin, après avoir dechiré la grand-voile, le choix est fait de se dérouter vers Cascais, à l'entrée de Lisbonne, pour réparer. On ne peut continuer ainsi, mais si nous préservons la grand-voile jusque-là, nous devrions pouvoir repartir.

Plus de 10h, sous 1 ris solent, pour rallier la marina que nous atteignons à 20h30 le soir.

Réparation express. A 1 h du matin, elle est de nouveau à poste, mais nous devons attendre que le vent baisse un peu car sortir du port avec des rafales à 50 nœuds en remorquage est un risque.
A 2h30 Jeudi matin de nouveau dans la course mais désormais dernier.

Nous atteignons les Canaries dans des vents très faibles voir nuls.

Les premiers profitent d'un vent portant sous spi alors que nous restons coincés dans l'archipel.

Ce matin, mardi, conditions toujours très faibles et de surcroit au près en quittant les Canaries.

Nous devrions/espérons enfin toucher un début d'alizé demain pour glisser le long des côtes africaines. Le moral et l'ambiance à bord restent quant à eux excellents avec le beau temps et le soleil qui sont de la partie.

Nous ne sommes plus dans le match pour notre objectif sportif mais pour notre bien et celui de la compétition, deux autres concurrents se sont aussi fait piéger dans cette dorsale qui nous barre la route vers notre descente vers le sud.

Une autre course débute...
 
The northern group, as of the last update of the day. They've found a little bit of wind, but the winds of the main fleet still elude them:

Capture.JPG

The main fleet, as of the last update of the day:

Capture.JPG
 
I found this polar for the Figaro:
BeneteauFigaroPOLAR.jpg
How to read a polar is explained here. In constructing this polar, the boat was likely considered entirely a displacement boat (with a max speed of ~8 kn for its waterline length) - this does not account for the ability of the boat to plane which can allow for speeds 8-10 Kn higher. Additionally, polars would be determined for a specific boat to help assess how well it is being sailed. Nevertheless, the plot gives a general idea of how potential boat speed changes with wind angle and velocity.

In regard to wind on the water, PassageWeather.com is a good free site with wind predictions for a few days ahead.
 
KevinS said:
Message from Lorientrependre, listss the difficulties which they have fought through (engine cooling problem, torn mainsail, weather, low winds). At the end, they are conceding that they have no chance to win the race. Two other competitors (Free Dom and Cuisines Ixina) have been blocked by the same ridge which has kept them in the back of the fleet. They go on to say that in the spirit of personal goals and competition, another (unofficial) race starts between the three trailing boats.

Message de Lorientreprendre reçu à 17h47
I am thinking the only use of the engine should be recharging the house bank. Clearly they are not motoring in a race. Odd to tear a main in light wind a job or Genoa I understand. Most tears are the result of chafe and this has not been that long of a race so far, especially with light winds.
Click to expand...
 
Bob, that tear occurred early in the race in high wind and forced them to go under power into Lisbon for repairs.
 
They have more electronics on these boats than they used to, so I'm not surprised that they use an engine to recharge the house bank. It's also there for emergencies, as when Skipper Macif was dismasted, and had to motor-sail to Madeira. I recall from 2014 that one boat was penalized because their diesel tanks were below the minimum requirement at the start.

As to the mainsail tear, it occurred back around the Finisterre leg of the race, along the Portugese coast in heavier winds. It was reported to be a vertical tear at the second top batten.

"On a la grand-voile déchirée en vertical au niveau de la deuxième latte supérieure. Du coup si on continue, ça va s'ouvrir encore plus. Nous nous déroutons vers Lisbonne avec un ris dans la grand-voile. Il y a en ce moment 35-40 nœuds, on pense arriver à Lisbonne dans 10 heures. Ca été musclé cette nuit, le vent est monté jusqu'à 45 nœuds."

They actually sailed into Cascais, outside of Lisbun, under a reefed sail. They gave a shout-out to Vicente at North Sails for a speedy repair. They were required to make a 3-hour minimum port call, but were forced to stay in port longer than that due to 50-knot winds.

With an assist from Google Translate, any errors are theirs :
"Then begins the descent along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts in conditions under spinnaker increasingly muscled. Wednesday morning, after tearing the mainsail, the choice is made to divert to Cascais, at the entrance to Lisbon, to repair. We can not go on, but if we preserve the mainsail until then, we should be able to leave.
More than 10 hours under solent 1 reef, to rally the marina we reach 20:30 in the evening.
express repair. At 1 am, she is back to position, but we must wait for the wind down a bit since leaving port with gusts to 50 knots towing is a risk."
 
English Corner:

12/04 - 16h23
[h=1]Tuesay, 12th, "Keeping the spinnakers in good shape is an absolute priority"[/h] We should sail down here more often ! I just spent the last hour and a half on deck in shorts and t surfing down wind with 13-15kt boat speed. Trying to plan the next move for verdes, all the GRIBs show us cutting through them, but none agree on which island to aim for 1st... plan is to stay at fastest angle possible which at the moment passes us neatly north of the 1st island. " We've got the stack in the middle of the boat right now since we are quite deep, and it makes our little ship very full in the only space we normal call 'ours'. A bit more wind, and the stack goes aft which is a relief - going faster and not having to clamber over everything to move about"
" I'd say we are getting on well, we have a happy rhythm going now, two nights ago, we both got ourselves too tired, and really pushed yesterday to get decent rests, it helped as last night was not so hard, humans are not naturally nocturnal, so you alway fight the night"
"Apart from that we are pacing ourselves really well, we are not yet 1/2 way, either in time or distance, so very conscious that we must remain vigilant to keep ourselves and the boat in good shape"
"it's looking downwind all the way to the finish, so keeping the spinnakers in good shape is an absolute priority"
"Our main chance to make up some miles is the 3 boats ahead of us splitting up slightly, which they appear to be doing, They will no longer be able to pace/push each other - so that's our chance, try to be a little % faster than them,and grind our way back up to them, but we are realistic about trying to make up a 55nm gap - it'll take time."
" It's an amazing race, the current routing takes us to 10N which is probably further south than we'd really like, but if that is what it takes, we'll be there, previous races have been to 11N so it's not that uncommon, just uncommon to be dipping down there so early in the crossing"
 
A new day begins for the race, as one ends for me. The lead boats are in the Cape Verde archipelago. It looks like a few different tracks are being followed, and then the question becomes how far below Cape Verde will they dive before making the big turn towards St Barth. 12N? 11N? 10N? Cape Verde is roughly at 16.5N, and St Barth is at 17.9N. Looking back at the wind map which I posted, BBT's comment, and T3's polar graphic, I'm getting a better understanding of some of the tactics.

Prior to that, there are wind shadows around some of the islands. Will a boat pick the wrong route and get trapped, as the trailing boats did in the Canaries? Will the winds change completely before the trailing boats arrive, and will that be a positive or negative event? It will be an interesting 24-48 hours for the lead boats, and an interesting 96+ hours for the trailing boats.

The early position report for today:

Capture.jpg
 
More on the engines - Marie-Galante has been assessed a 39-minute penalty, one minute for every 100 miles in the race. BBT's comment yesterday made me wonder how Race Control would know if a boat did use its engine for propulsion, rather than just for recharging the house batteries. Apparently there is a seal on the propeller shaft, which gets broken if the shaft turns. On April 9 Marie-Galante self-reported that their seal had been broken. Race Control informed the Race Committee, which informed the Jury. The Jury determined that the violation was unintentional, and imposed the minimum penalty, one minute for every 100 miles of the race. The penalty will be served today.

13/04 - 11h55
PÉNALITÉ DE 39 MINUTES POUR MARIE GALANTE



​


Pénalité de 39 minutes pour Marie Galante




Suite à une réclamation déposée par le Comité de Course de la transat AG2R LA MONDIALE, le jury de la course a décidé d'infliger une pénalité de 39 minutes à Marie Galante (Kéni Piperol et Benjamin Augereau) pour rupture du plomb de l'arbre d'hélice. Le 9 avril, alors que la flotte naviguait au portant dans la forte brise, Kéni et Benjamin ont signalé à la Direction de Course que le plomb de l'arbre d'hélice (scellé qui empêche l'hélice du moteur de fonctionner et donc la propulsion) avait cédé. Selon la procédure classique habituelle, la Direction de Course en a informé le Comité lequel a porté réclamation devant le Jury. Ayant considéré que cette rupture était involontaire, ce dernier a décidé d'infliger la pénalité minimum prévue par les règles de la classe Figaro-Bénéteau, soit une minute par tranche de 100 milles. L'équipage en a été informé hier. Aujourd'hui, la progression de Marie Galante sera donc neutralisée pendant 39 minutes, à l'arrière d'un segment virtuel perpendiculaire à sa route.



 
The morning position report shows that the fleet has so far made three choices for routes through the Cape Verde archipelago. Cercle Vert has decided to make a big move, and pass to the north of the islands, while the rest of the leaders have chosen two different routes through the archipelago.

image.jpg
 
KevinS said:
More on the engines - Marie-Galante has been assessed a 39-minute penalty, one minute for every 100 miles in the race. BBT's comment yesterday made me wonder how Race Control would know if a boat did use its engine for propulsion, rather than just for recharging the house batteries. Apparently there is a seal on the propeller shaft, which gets broken if the shaft turns. On April 9 Marie-Galante self-reported that their seal had been broken. Race Control informed the Race Committee, which informed the Jury. The Jury determined that the violation was unintentional, and imposed the minimum penalty, one minute for every 100 miles of the race. The penalty will be served today.

13/04 - 11h55
PÉNALITÉ DE 39 MINUTES POUR MARIE GALANTE



​


Pénalité de 39 minutes pour Marie Galante




Suite à une réclamation déposée par le Comité de Course de la transat AG2R LA MONDIALE, le jury de la course a décidé d'infliger une pénalité de 39 minutes à Marie Galante (Kéni Piperol et Benjamin Augereau) pour rupture du plomb de l'arbre d'hélice. Le 9 avril, alors que la flotte naviguait au portant dans la forte brise, Kéni et Benjamin ont signalé à la Direction de Course que le plomb de l'arbre d'hélice (scellé qui empêche l'hélice du moteur de fonctionner et donc la propulsion) avait cédé. Selon la procédure classique habituelle, la Direction de Course en a informé le Comité lequel a porté réclamation devant le Jury. Ayant considéré que cette rupture était involontaire, ce dernier a décidé d'infliger la pénalité minimum prévue par les règles de la classe Figaro-Bénéteau, soit une minute par tranche de 100 milles. L'équipage en a été informé hier. Aujourd'hui, la progression de Marie Galante sera donc neutralisée pendant 39 minutes, à l'arrière d'un segment virtuel perpendiculaire à sa route.
Click to expand...
Exactly,it's no different that the organization in London he World Speed Sailing Record Council that certifies and logs many sailing attempts. They are the official body that records Solo Non Stop Unassisted Circumnavigations. Not only do they seal the shaft they also have a device on board that records the location of the S/V still scratching my head on unintentional but I guess they could have "accidentally" bumped the throttle and it was in forward or reverse position.
 
I do not know the rules for this race but one practice is to provide the crew with multiple numbered seals. If a seal is broken, another is placed. This is recorded using GPS. I think it is fair to assume that breaking of additional seas would elicit progressively greater responses than the noise of thunder that came from the race committee for opening the first...
 
Cercle Vert has made their gamble. I'm not sure what Fulgur-Evapco and Artemis are doing, perhaps hedging their bets. Five boats continue to head south, approaching never before seen latitudes for La Transat AG2R La Mondiale.

Capture.JPG
 
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