2015 Transat Jacques Vabre

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Hugo Salvage Update

UPDATE
Alex Thomson and his team are onboard HUGO BOSS which is now in a stable situation. Alex’s IMOCA 60 is undergoing the necessary checks in order to tow her back to A Coruna, Spain. Where additional team members are on hand to assist with the pending arrival. The rig has been removed and the water onboard pumped out, allowing the racing yacht to be towed. The weather conditions have enabled Alex Thomson Racing to complete a swift response to the emergency situation which occurred yesterday. The yacht is currently situated 100 miles offshore. The crew will remain onboard to make the necessary checks to ensure a safe tow through the night.

Technical Director Ross Daniel says ‘I am proud of our team considering the potential severity of the situation. Of course it’s disappointing we have had to retire from the race. But this year’s Transat Jacques Vabre has provided the fleet with challenging conditions, forcing seven IMOCA’s to retire. As a team we now need to focus on getting HUGO BOSS safely through the night and then assess the situation once she is alongside tomorrow.’

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"My Whole Life Changed In One Hour"




Writing last night Nándor Fa, skipper and owner of the dismasted Spirit of Hungary said:

" The Spirit of Hungary’s race in the 2015 edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre has become a short one. Exactly one week, 2 hours and 30 minutes after the start, 60 nm away from Madeira we dismasted. We were sailing on starboard tack, wind angle 130°, wind power between 16-24 knots, mainsail one reef down, A7 gennaker, boat speed 12-17 knots. It was a nice, fast and safe ride, with 6-8m swells coming from NW. So, not in the 45 kts wind a few days back, not in the 46 kts gust yesterday, no, it went down in a weather that’s every sailor’s dream.

We were sitting outside in our seats with Peter, having our meals and talking. The sun was shining, we weren’t cold anymore, everything was good. We were just discussing how to pass Madeira. There was a huge crack and from my seat I could see the boom disappear from the picture. I immediately knew what happened. I dropped the bowl and by reflex pushed the middle button on the keel controller. By the time I stood up, everything was in the water. Half of the boom was on the deck and on the cabin top. The bottom 3 metres of the mast was laying on the deck, then a big crack again, and everything was in the water, hanging on the halyards. Both of us jumped for tools, we mainly needed knifes and the iron saw. We knew that the most important was to cut everything off to save the boat. Peter had his camera on his head. I was working in the front, trying to saw the carbon stays off, but they were too thick so the saw was stuck, constantly pulling me as the boat was dancing on the waves. Peter was coming to help me when a bigger wave arrived and knocked the boat. Peter tried to catch the rail, which wasn’t there anymore. He fell off the deck in front of my eyes, his right foot stuck in the stay, I caught the left one and pulled him back. He hurt his leg very bad. Are you in one piece? - I asked. He nodded, he must have had serious pain. The camera with all our footages are on the way down to the bottom of the 4000m deep ocean. A minute later we continued cutting and we managed to get rid of everything, when I saw the A7 still hanging at the back. I tried to pull it back, wanted to save this beautiful brand new sail that we only used for 4 hours but on the other side it was pulled by the whole mast and it was pulling stronger. So I cut it off too, with bleeding heart.

We saved the boom, it is in perfect condition, and we have some ruins of themast left.

My whole life was changed in only one hour. It changed everything for the following months, maybe years. All of our communication instruments are working, I called the race organizers to inform them about what happened, and that our race is over for now.

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JP Speaks

This Sunday, the three times Transat Jacques Vabre winner Jean-Pierre Dick and Fabien Delahaye informed the race directors that they have been forced to abandon the Transat Jacques Vabre.
The St Michel Virbac duo discovered crack transverse ribs in their sail bin area. After discovering this on Friday the pair have sailed ot Madeira to further assess the damage and to effect repairs. But the team have taken the decision that this damage curtails their race.

Dick said today: "The boat in its current configuration, even repaired, is not strong enough to attempt a crossing of the Atlantic. We're not 100% sure that the boat is able to sail in the squalls that might be encountered in the Doldrums or at Cabo Frio, Brazil. This repair and reinforcement will take time. And for St Michel-Virbac to be able to race again It must be durable. "

What is your mindset?

JP Dick: "I am very disappointed but we must move on positively. We will go straight into a boat building process be able to sail safely and at 100% potential. Boats designed today are too fragile. We work now with the designers on Version 2 which is more consistent with the program. With my partners, we are frustrated not being able to finish the race but that's part and parcel of this game. These are racing prototypes. You need to update and evolve these prototypes. We knew we had a lot to learn with this new generation of boat foiler. And so we are already working to the future. "
What is the future program?

JP Dick: "We have two options: "To participate in the Transat B to B or to return to the base in Lorient. We will decide in the coming days. The decision depends on the repairs. "

[Born 2 Sail]

Nice to see them salvage Hugo. Lose the foils guys!

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Back On Dry Land



2nd November 2015 – British sailor Alex Thomson and his co-skipper Guillermo
Altadill are looking towards the 2016 Vendee Globe after an extraordinary sequence
of events ended their participation in the Transat Jacques Vabre this weekend. The
pair were rescued by the Spanish coastguard on Saturday afternoon after a rogue
wave caught the new HUGO BOSS while the yacht was in a hove to position. The
boat, which sustained damage to its rig in addition to taking on water while inverted,
was later successfully brought to the dock in A Coruna, Spain, after a swift response
from the Alex Thomson Racing Team.

The weather conditions in the first few days saw wind speeds in excess of 50 knots
(75 km/h) and waves up to 10 metres high. Alex and Guillermo made the decision to
take the safest route, passing the weather system to the south. Whilst travelling
south west the yacht incurred some structural damage and the skippers took the
decision to head for A Coruna, Spain 120 miles away.

The yacht was hove to, whilst Alex and Guillermo waited for the next weather window
allowing them to proceed to port. Unexpectedly a rogue wave caught the racing
yacht causing the yacht to turn upside down. Alex and Guillermo managed to close
the hatches and secure the situation whilst inverted. Alex immediately hit the keel
button, bringing the yacht back upright. They then alerted the rescue services and
technical team of an emergency situation. The yacht had taken onboard a substantial
amount of water and the rig had sustained damage requiring the skippers to leave
the yacht.

Alex Thomson explains “I have never experienced anything like it. I was asleep and
woke up to a boat upside down rapidly filling with water. Guillermo and I responded
together as a team to the difficult situation and now that my boat’s back safely we
can focus on our Vendee Globe campaign as a team. We have overcome problems
before and I am as determined as ever to succeed.”

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O' Canada Withdraws

O Canada withdrew from the transat Jacques Vabre
Arrived last Saturday in corunna to try to fix the rail of mainsail ripped at the top of the mast, Eric Holden and Morgen Watson could not get the necessary parts for the repair.
At 19, they have contacted the race direction to announce their withdrawal of the race.
"we are really disappointed to withdraw from the race and we would like to thank the organization for his help" has entrusted Eric Holden, skipper of o Canada

Canada's out
Since last Saturday in a pit stop in la coruna (ESP) to try to make a comment on the support of the main candle, Eric Holden and Morgen Watson informed the direction of proof of the transat Jacques Vabre that will not be able to return in a timely manner to the competition. The problem would be the delay to replace the damaged parts. "we are very upset to get out of the regatta and we thank the organisation for all the help you gave us", I told Eric Holden, Commander of the boat of class imoca.

[Rainier]

So just because the first version failed they should ditch what is clearly a much faster technology? By that logic Oracle would have ditched the foiling 72...

[cartman]

Only faster in test tanks.

Should sponsors risk the multi million dollar investments on fairy dust or quality boats with solid performance?

There is zero track record of these foiling Imoca's having the slightest chance to succeed in adverse conditions.

[Tonapah Low]

4 out of 5 foiling IMOCA boats have failed? Or is it 5 of 6?

Numbers don't lie.

[Rainier]

Seems like they made 2 changes. The foils, and a new skin with ribs type hull. I haven't seen any specifics but most of what I read pointed to the ribs failing, not the foil boxes. In reality its probably a bit of both. They made the shell more fragile and then put more load on it.

No matter what the cause is do you guys really expect these teams to give up on a new technology just because the first round didn't work? Remember all the failures canting keels had when they first came out? They sorted that one out, just as they will sort out the foils.

As for team sponsors, I think that falls under the "any publicity is good publicity" deal. What team sponsor do you most remember form the last Volvo race? Vestas Wind perhaps? You get a lot more headlines when stuff goes wrong than sailing around in 3rd place...

I guess time will tell. I think this is a great new technology and I'm glad somebody else is paying to dial it in. Everybody bitched and moaned about the last A cup but look at the foiling revolution it spurred.

[Buzz Light Beer]

With all due respect, the concept of dragging a lead mine through the ocean with massive appendages hanging out is slightly different
than a winged cat on a protective body of water. Lots of thing out there to hit. Some of them fixed objects from buoys to nets, to couches etc.

Then there are the living things. The largely unmentioned "hits" on marine life in SF Bay? Fish strikes were the common euphemism mentioned, but do you really believe that?

[Carl Spackler]

The boats break, they rescue the crew, give them more cigarettes. Everyone wins!

[Rainier]

BLB, 2 issues there. None of them personal so no worries about all due respect!

The new foils aren't any more dangerous to marine life than the standard dagger boards are they? I don't think there is anymore appendage footage in the water than there was before. The orientation is different but that's about it right?

Then there is the rescue operations. I agree that these teams should bear the cost of those operations. That said half of the regular 60's have dropped out too. This is more of a "should we have high performance ocean racing" arguments than it is about the foils. Once we figure out that one we should move on to backpacking, because I guarantee you there is a lot more cost in rescuing lost hikers every year than boat racers...

Everybody seems quick to point at the foils but it appears HB may have hit something, other boats had rib failures, the Tri flipped, some just plain dismasted, etc. The foils seem to be a small part of the picture even if their percentage(4 of 5) was much higher. My guess is most of the fleet waits for the big boys to figure out the technology before it becomes a bigger part of the issue. It would be interesting to see how many of the boats in the fleet are from each generation.

And again, just a friendly discussion. No panties bunched over here!

[Runs_with_sissors]

Then there is getting the rating certificate for your foiling J-70.

[Buzz Light Beer]

Rainier,

The IMOCA foilers have 2 j foils which extend 8 feet or so, in addition to the keel and 2 rudders. It's like a mini colander dragging through the water at high speed.

A 25-30 knot guillotine bouncing in and out of the water. The larger cats in flatter water have some continuity in their connection with the water. In the open ocean,
the boats are jumping in and out constantly, the loads themselves on the hull, through hull fittings and the rigs is much exaggerated. And for what? 3-5 knots of temporary vmg?