The Vendee Globe has begun!

J

Jonny_B

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Oct 14, 2004
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The 2008 Vendee Globe race has begun. It is an around-the-world non-stop solo sailboat race. The means one person sails their boat (typically 60') from France, down the Atlantic, West under The Cape of Good Hope, under Australia, under Cape Horn, then back up the Atlantic to France without stopping and without any outside assistance at all... and it's a race. Sailing is massively popular in France so they are overrepresented as usual, but there is one American skipper this year. You can follow the race here:

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/
 
oh, it's pronounced "vawn-day", just so you don't sound silly when you're telling all your friends about how excited you are about this race.
 
hawk82 said:
no outside assistance? so no food replenishment or fuel (for food, emergencies, etc)? holy shit.
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nope, nada. a few years back a brit named Pete Goss performed surgery on his own elbow to stay in the race. he was allowed to talk to the race medical officer over sat phone.

if you have an emergency that you can't cope with and have to pull into port for help you're disqualified, but people in those situations typically finish the race anyway, but their finish isn't official.
 
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Jonny_B said:
woo! i'll get a boat designer on a $1 retainer stat.
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for $1 I'll tell you to sail one of these just because they are so cool

trimaran.jpg
 
Some people would look at this and think "Whoopty-doo," but when you are the only person navigating and piloting a rather big boat through oftentimes stormy seas over those kinds of distances that has got to be one hair-raising goddamn experience. I'd be scared shitless.

Not to mention sea monsters and falling off the earth.
 
one of the boats being towed to the start:
picture.php

(they don't have engines since that would be weight wasted on something they won't be allowed to use anyway, they just have generators for charging batteries)
 
Sarcasmo said:
Some people would look at this and think "Whoopty-doo," but when you are the only person navigating and piloting a rather big boat through oftentimes stormy seas over those kinds of distances that has got to be one hair-raising goddamn experience. I'd be scared shitless.

Not to mention sea monsters and falling off the earth.
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and ice bergs. they end up sailing within iceberg distance of antarctica and the waves are so big that radar can't pick out icebergs. when you're below sleeping (or trying to) it's just a crap shoot whether you hit one or not.
 
b_sinning said:
How many days is the race typically?
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they should be done by february. so, about 90ish.

edit: the winner in '04 finished in 87 days and change. last place finished in 126 days.

at least no one died. the last true canadian to complete (Gerry Roufs in '96) was lost at sea.
 
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Jonny_B said:
and ice bergs. they end up sailing within iceberg distance of antarctica and the waves are so big that radar can't pick out icebergs. when you're below sleeping (or trying to) it's just a crap shoot whether you hit one or not.
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The amount of self confidence and sailing mastery required for that race has to be astronomical.
 
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