Golden Globe 2018 - 50th Anniversary

[Owly055]

Istvan Kopar Solo Circumnavigator has successfully transferred 20 Ltrs of water across to Kjell Litwin of Sweden onboard SELENE his Vagabond 31 yacht mid ocean a short time ago. He was down to 1 Ltr of water!!!

SELENE is part of the "Longe Route" fleet.
Handpowered watermaker anyone?

     Interesting that there is a "shadow fleet", if only consisting of a single boat...........This is the first I've heard of it.

     It's hard to believe anybody would go to sea these days without some sort of watermaker..... local water can be a problem in too many places.... availability, cost, purity.... 

     I've been working up a design for a pedal powered water maker.   The math shows that one can easily produce the energy required to make enough water for a day in just a few minutes.... a 20 minute light workout would produce enough for a nice fresh water shower.   On passage, lack of real exercise / loss of muscle tone, is an issue.  Your legs suffer the most, as you tend to use your upper body more.   A bicycle is a non-negotiable necessity for a voyager as far as I'm concerned.... your mileage may vary ;-).    Using parts of a folding or take down bicycle design to drive the pump for a watermaker just makes sense.

                                                  H.W.

[Norman]

I think that the water problem is a combination of failing to catch water aggressively when it is available, and too little storage.  Long distance sailors generally have effective hardware for catching rain from the sails and adding it to the storage tanks.  Failure to do that, anticipating plenty of rainfall later can produce problems when the desired rain fails to fall on time.  A manual water purifier would solve that, of course, but if the sea state overwhelms the time available, or the near rolls damage it, then you are in trouble.  Local water issues do not apply to non stop circumnavigators.

Both Moitessier and Knox Johnson had times of low rain input, or damaged storage tanks, forcing them to ration water, and also use sea water for cooking, leaving out added salt.  Half a cup of sea water contains the proper amount of salt for a normal person's daily needs  Both of them found that even a thick fog or heavy mist provided more water than was needed for a day.  Robin's shortage stemmed from the cracking of his two large tanks in the knockdown in the southern Atlantic, leaving only his smallest third tank safe to drink.  The other two now had bilge water in them.  He did not discover this until his small tank was practically dry, and water conservation became critical until rain could be caught..

Relative to the "failure to scuttle" the two vessels, both are being salvaged, not left drifting.  Abhilash Tomy's, in tow by the French Fisheries vessel, and McGuckin's drifting with the AIS functioning with solar power, until the  arrival of the salvage ship.

I have heard and read the two sides of an adrift small craft in the north Atlantic in the 60's.

First hand, from from an officer of an American sub on patrol which surfaced for some on deck exercise and fresh air.  The radar operator reported a faint blip at the edge of his detection range.  The skipper ordered the sub to investigate, expecting that the blip might be a sub schnorkle and they found a small daysailer drifting with no sails up, and no one in sight.  a voice hail produced no response, so the klaxon was sounded.  Out the hatch came a head half a sleep and completely wild eyed! The wind had died, and the skipper dropped sails, and was catching up on much needed sleep.  He was just fine, and not in need of any assistance.  They gave him some fresh fruit and other edible luxuries, and went their way.

Second version may be read in Robert Manry's account of his voyage across the Atlantic on Tinker Belle.  There is no significant difference in the two accounts, but from the point of view, a totally different experience!

Norman

[SeaHusky]

http://longueroute2018.com/entrants.html

[Owly055]

In a recent article on the GGR site they mentioned fouling issues as a major contributor to the huge spread of the contestants.   The modern antifouling paints seem not to be doing the job. A number of the contestants have gone into the water during calms to scrub the boat, and been shocked at the amount of fouling.   Below is a link to the article, as well as a quote from it regarding the different method used by Jean-Luc Van Den Heede.   It is well worth reading and considering.

                                                                H.W.

DAY 120: Barnacles – the scourge of solo circumnavigatorshttps://goldengloberace.com/day-120-barnacles-the-scourge-of-solo-circumnavigators/

Lionel Regnier, who assisted both Uku Randmaa and GGR leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede during their final preparations, says: The antifouling was applied to Uku's boat just after Jean-Luc's. Uku's had only 2 coats applied, but Jean-Luc who used the same process and applicator, had a third coat plus a 'hot' top coat mixed with copper powder which erodes as the boat passes through the water. The only barnacles are attached to the gel coat."

[Owly055]

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede was knocked down and had significant damage to his rig and will be going into Valparaiso for repairs.    This effectively knocks the leader out of the race, reducing him to the "Chichester Class".   The knockdown was said to be 150 degrees, which is nearly a full capsize.   No injuries and no emergency declared.  Temporary repairs will allow him to make Valparaiso under his own steam.

                                                                                                                              H.W.

[Owly055]

I'm disgusted!!!   The GGR has gone off the rails as far as I'm concerned.... I followed the recent GGR avidly, and am on their mailing list.    I was very disappointed that they excluded multihulls.  Of the two that competed in the original, one was a fraud, and the other was sailed to destruction against an imaginary adversary, but that should not exclude them from the modern race.   The proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" IMHO with regard to the 2022 race is the compulsory recording of video by participants.  Below is a quote:

Increased media budgets in 2022 will enable a larger dedicated professional video production unit to cover the GGR and follow the fleet. They will utilize the latest equipment and talented editors to process among other things, entrant onboard vision passed across and live footage shot at the three film drops. Instant Video News Releases will be distributed to all international media. GGR will release these and many other comprehensive video productions on various social media platforms. Previously this was a challenge. Many entrants in 2018 were focused more on surviving, than filming, absorbed in their challenge, so with limited footage, a small management team and smaller budgets, we did our best under pressure. In 2022 the entrant requirement to provide comprehensive vision is compulsory and all have embraced that as part of the new challenge.

    Sailing around the world is personal...... it is man (or woman) against the elements, not a made for TV / Facebook..."reality TV" event, and reducing it to that level is utterly contemptible.

    I'm still an avid follower of the Jester  Challenge..............  One of the few sailing challenges that remains "real".    Real sailors........ gentlemen.... competing informally for NO PRIZE.......  Pitting their skills and judgment against each other, barely recognized.......  It really encompasses what REAL sailing is about.

                                                                              H.W.

disclaimer:  If Facebook is involved, or even taken seriously...........my automatic reaction is one of contempt!!