Who here is keeping up with the VOR? I was a huge follower of the Vendee Globe, I'm having trouble getting into the VOR as much. Guess I'm rooting for the home team, even if the Pirates boat is pretty UGLY.
I haven't been following much of it at all. To be honest I didn't even realise it was on for a while. I would have liked to go to Melbourne when they come in but I will be in Perth at the time.
I am following it. The website sucks and all this sitting around after the inshore teaser is getting to me. One more day. The individual boat websites are way moreinteresting. I guess we will have to see how the coverage pans out after the start. As far as cheering anyone on... at the moment. I guess the Pirates. Hey they got Curtis Blewitt Go Canada! They gotta win now.
here is a link to the orange sailing team website: http://www.orange-sailing-team.com/index?page=base&f=multimedia/videos there are about 15, 3 min videos on the fastnet race i have been looking everyday on their site because they update, and post new videos everyday its all in french but the footage is pretty cool
Yeah I'm keen to see if they have a "yacht tracker" system like they use in the Sydney to Hobart race - it's linked to GPS on the boats so you can literally watch them race across the ocean, checking their speed and heading.
For anyone in Australia - check out Channel 10 at 12.30 tonight as they are having a bit of footage of the Volvo Race. Aparantly it's going to become a regular thing every monday night now. It's only half an hour but it's better than nothing.
yeah, it's kinda like the AC boats. There is a very fine line between all out speed and longevity. Surprised they are coming apart already though?!
They sure do. http://www.volvooceanrace.org/virtualspectator/ They think Moviestar hit a growling surface container.... probably fallen from a cargo ship. Considering they were moving at around 25 knts when they hit there lucky the boat didn't go right to the bottom. The only thing impressive about Pirates, in my oppinion, is that Cayard is the skipper. Other than that it's a sailing bilboard. Seems to me that in big breeze ABN-AMRO-1 has another gear.... for some reason there boat speed seems to be the same if not more than the wind speed. I wonder how thier measuring wind speed??... true or apparent?..I bet true. It'll be interesting when they reach the doldrums to see how much advantage the Ericsson boat has in the lighter conditions; as claimed. From the in-port racing the boat won handily picking up valuable points. If they can win all the in-ports and stay real close in the ocean legs I think they could pull it off. All in all it's just warming up and proves to be a real battle. I know I'll be follwing very closely. I've already got my noaa weather site listings trying to read the patterns.. . Wait till they get into the southern ocean..... talk about hairy sailing..... -K
those boats are so wet, I just can't imagine the cold and the wind are going to be fun. The Open 60s looked so much more protected. Obviously different boats doing different things, but you would think keeping the crew warm and dry is fast......we'll see....
Yeah these boats certainly arent very forgiving as it relates to the human condition. Overexposure in the deep south could make the difference with exhaustion being a major factor with making mistakes. I think that the fine line of raw performance and minimal living conditions will certainly be tested here. -K
