Golden Globe 2018 - 50th Anniversary

[Norman]

Here is a challenge for the do it your selfers here.

Can you match Are Wiig?



A day and a half ago, with broken vane steering, for the second time, and hove to, Are was rolled 360,  lost his mast in 20+ foot waves, and cut it free except the fore stay, for a sea anchor.  Nothing wasted!

No matter what has happened to date, he simply reports it, then reports that repairs were made. He notified that he needed no assistance, and would build a jury rig when the sea conditions eased.

Today, he made a 133 mile run, and speed of 5.5 knots average .

That is the 4th most miles for the day, and 4th fastest average by the whole fleet! With his jury rig, he is fast enough to stay in the race, but without vane steering, no one can continue. Sorry he took a bad wave, he is a fine seaman, and Norway tough.

This is the sort of story that keeps me logging in to see what has happened, and if the skipper has what it takes to fix it and keep on going like the energizer bunny.  Are did for the first 4 failures.

Gregor McGuckin just passed him, and is 8 miles ahead, now 3rd place behind Mark Slats and Van den Heede.

Norman

[Bubba the Pirate]

Wiig is a new hero for me. I really, REALLY respect his seamanship and grit. I am super happy he his taking care of his boat, jury rigging and heading to port while disavowing the EPIRB.

[Norman]

It has just dawned on me that he may be motoring, but that does not diminish the coolness under stress when he reported his dismasting.

His vane failure was two broken couplings.  He only had one spare.

[SeaHusky]

  That is a part of racing, you must always strive to overtake the competitor ahead of you.

I have learned the opposite when it comes to long races (mushing but I think it applies here too), you must do your race and not somebody else. The moment you try keeping your competitors pace and not yours you will fatigue your self, your dogs or your equipment.
Trying to catch the boat in front of you this early in the race may be what stresses your wind vane to fail. There are still 7 months of "events" to happen.

[Norman]

"Trying to catch the boat in front of you this early in the race may be what stresses your wind vane to fail. There are still 7 months of "events" to happen."

My impression was that Are was sailing his own race, but he was familiar with severe conditions.  I am puzzled that he was rolled while hove to, as that normally protects a boat.  In that region, though, there are several sources of waves, and the wave that rolled him may have been from a different source than the wind waves, and did not approach from the slicked direction.  This is the region and wave condition that Moitessier considered the most dangerous of the whole circumnavigation.

His good spirits seem undamped.  Commenting on his slow progress toward Capetown, "I had planned for a longer trip".  He initially started with the storm jib rigged, then added part of his main.  Piece by piece, he is getting his boat back into proper condition for a safe sail to Capetown, and maybe evencomfortable.

The leader continues to drive steadily on, and maybe he is lucky on the weather he has sailed through, or maybe a better prepared and equipped boat.

Slats is beginning to suffer from forgetting his gloves, and that is accentuated by using hank on sails.

McGuckin is trailing warps under bare poles for similar severe conditions, so far with success.  Like Slats, he has moved from near last to the 3rd position by good route choices.

Much further back, Suzie Goodall has had an important loss about a month ago, loosing her spinnaker pole to the ocean.  That is half of the standard jury mast, so if dismasted, she must do a much more difficult rig.

Uku Randmaa in 4th, is not veryinformative in his reports, so who knows?

Abhilash Tomy, in the Suhaili copy is up to 5th, and seems to be in good shape, in spite of reporting continuous repairing to keep everything working.  He may not be having more troubles, just reporting more.

Mark Sinclair, way back in last place, seems to be enjoying the cruise more than any one else.  Who knows, if the others drive too hard, he may have a chance "Mushing along slowly" in the sled dog analogy.

I previously quoted Robin that when he found himself driving Suhaili too hard, "You have to finish to win".

[Owly055]

I previously quoted Robin that when he found himself driving Suhaili too hard, "You have to finish to win".

That's a priceless quote and should be prominently posted in any racing yacht............. It of course applies to all racing.

                                     H.W.

[SeaHusky]

"Trying to catch the boat in front of you this early in the race may be what stresses your wind vane to fail. There are still 7 months of "events" to happen."

My impression was that Are was sailing his own race, but he was familiar with severe conditions. 

Yes, I wasn't implying that Are was doing that.
I have a naive hope that his boat isn't structurally damaged and that he can re-rig  and continue. He did sell his house to be able to do this adventure.

[Norman]

The latest news from the GGR

Those preferring hanked on sails should read carefully, but remember these skippers are in much worse conditions than we are likely to experience.

Wind vane failure continues to be the critical factor in the race, followed by foul wind.

Amazing the gains made by Abhilash Tomy in the recreated Suhaili.  Technically, as a wooden boat, he is in a class of his own.

Are wiig remains in good spirits, and completely independent of outside help, as he sailed his structurally damaged boat to Capetown.  He even salvaged his broken mast.  I suppose that he thought that if his initial jury rig broke, he might need the pieces of the old one for a new rig?

This is long, but is the official update to Sept 3rd.



Day 65: Dateline 3.9.2018 – Les Sables d'Olonne, France

Are Wiig safe in Cape Town

Antoine Cousot arrives in Rio

Francesco Cappelletti also heading for Brazil – another casualty of wind vane failure

Race leader Jean-Luc Van Den Heede predicts October 3 as ETA at Hobart Gate


Are Wiig, the Norwegian GGR skipper dismasted 8 days ago after his OE 32 Olleanna was rolled through 360° in the Southern Ocean, arrived in Cape Town at 21:06 UTC on Sunday, having sailed the 400 miles under jury rig with no outside assistance

Peter Muller, one of the Capetonians to have waited up to welcome Wiig when he docked at the Royal Cape YC yesterday reports: "His boat took a heck of a beating. The mast had broken in at least two places and the pieces were lashed down on deck. She had a cracked deck and popped porthole. Are said that the cracks and damage on the starboard side went right through the boat. He had only seen this type of damage before in his work (as a yacht surveyor) when boats had fallen over onto concrete when stored on land.

Recounting the fateful episode, Wiig said he was hove-to at the time and had just started repairing his self steering for the second time in two days. He was standing in the companionway working on repairing a part in the vice mounted on the top of the companionway. There was no warning. The boat got lifted up on a big wave and then dropped down.

Olleanna also suffered a bent pushpit and had only partial steering. Wiig managed to fix the self -steering and used it with his jury rig so that he could get some sleep. His main fuel tank was contaminated and he only had 15 litres of diesel in day tank, which gave him 20 hours of slow motoring.

But Are was well, with no complaints, was very factual and friendly. What a person!"

Wiig also said that he was very glad that he had built and trialled his jury rig system utilising two spinnaker poles before departure – a race requirement for all competitors – and praised the Yellow Brick satellite tracking system which gave Race HQ his position each hour and was used to send and transmit text messages between the boat and Race officials. "It was good to know that people watch out for us" he said.

Another useful piece of compulsory kit was the emergency Echomax inflatable radar reflector, which Wiig set up at the back of the boat after the dismasting. This helped a passing ship locate Olleanna a few days before her arrival in Cape Town. Wiig politely declined the Captain's offer of support, and made it to port unaided.
"This was a great display of seamanship" Don McIntyre, the Race Chairman said today, adding: "Harbor Master Steve Bentley has been extremely helpful in monitoring Are's progress and arrival, and The Royal Cape Yacht Club has been very welcoming. Many people are looking forward to hearing a report from Are about his experiences."

Another to make port safely yesterday, this time on the opposite side of the South Atlantic, was Frenchman Antoine Cousot who arrived in Rio de Janeiro under full sail but nursing shoulder and foot injuries sustained while attempting to change headsails on the bouncing foredeck of his Biscay 36 ketch Métier Intérim. The indication is that if he does this again, it will be with furling headsails rather than hanked sails.

Carozzo sailor Francesco Cappelletti who missed the start of the GGR by 21 days and has been following the fleet for the adventure, is now following in Cousot's wake to Brazil after the Italian reported last week that the self-steering wind vane on his Endurance 35 007 had broken. He has the same Beaufort Lynx wind vane that cost Palestinian entrant Nabil Amra and Frenchman Philippe Péché their races after weld failures on the vertical articulating arm proved unrepairable at sea.

At the front of the fleet, French veteran Jean-Luc Van Den Heede continues to belie his age (he turned 73 last month) as his Rustler 36 Matmut continues to steam ahead of the fleet. This morning she has a 900 mile lead over Dutchman Mark Slats rival Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick. In an area of the Southern Ocean where you expect westerly winds, Slats reported this morning "HEADWINDS AGAIN 20 [knots from the] EAST. UNREAL THIS. WHERE ARE THOSE WESTERLIES?

In his weekly conversation with Race HQ, Slats, like Cousot, said that he rued not having roller furling headsails. Now down to 38°S and on a SSW heading, the wind chill factor takes air temperatures well below freezing. Without gloves (Slats realised he had left them behind two weeks ago) hanked sail changes have to be performed with bare hands. Head winds apart, this could be why he has been losing ground to 3rd placed Irish skipper Gregor McGuckin's Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance and Uku Randmaa's Rustler 36 One and All. During the past week, Gregor has closed the gap by 160 miles and the 4th placed Estonian, who found that he set sail without tea, coffee and a hat, is 86 miles closer.

By contrast, this morning's tracking data shows Jean-Luc Van Den Heede making 7.1 knots in the right direction and a run of 128 miles over the last 24 hours. Jean-Luc is now predicting October 3 as his ETA at the BoatShed.com film drop off Hobart.

The other big winner today is Indian Abhilash Tomy sailing his Suhaili replica Thuriya. He was making a remarkable 10.1knots having covered 194 miles during the same period. This is the best distance recorded so far, helped by a 3.1knot westerly current.

If there are winners, there have to be losers too, and this week that award goes to Britain's Susie Goodall sailing the Rustler 36 DHL Starlight. Caught up in a high pressure system west of the Cape, she has lost almost 800 miles on boats that 10 days ago were quite close. They went south while she went NE. At least she is back in the game now, having made 116 miles in the right direction overnight.

American Hungarian Istvan Kopar sailing the Tradewind 35 Puffin, will also be buoyed with his performance of late. He dropped to the back of the fleet after stopping in the Cape Verde Islands to repair his wind vane self-steering. Last week, he overtook last placed Australian Mark Sinclair and his Lello 34 Coconut and today is challenging 7th placed Frenchman Loïc Lepage in his Nicholson 32 Laaland. Lepage looks to be heading straight for Cape Town to replenish his water supplies and repair his SSB radio before heading into the Southern Ocean, so Kopar, trailing just 9 miles behind Laaland today, could be in mid-fleet position by this time next week – if he can fix his self-steering again. In a message received today, Kopar texted: MY SELF STEERING LEFT ME ALONE AGAIN IN A NASTY STORM DURING THE WEEKEND!

Latest positions at 08:00 UTC today 03.09.2018
1.Jean- Luc VDH (FRA)Rustler 36 Matmut
2.Mark Slats (NED)Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick
3.Gregor McGuckin (IRE) Biscay 36 Hanley Energy Endurance
4.Uku Randmaa (EST) Rustler 36 One and All
5.Abhilash Tomy (IND) Suhaili replica Thuriya
6.Susie Goodall (GBR) Rustler 36 DHL Starlight
7.Istvan Kopar (USA) Tradewind 35 Puffin
8.Loïc Lepage (FRA) Nicholson 32 Laaland
9.Tapio Lehtinen (FIN) Gaia 36 Asteria
10.Igor Zaretskiy (RUS) Endurance 35 Esmeralda
11.Mark Sinclair (Aus) Lello 34 Coconut

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'm still a hank-on guy -- but a cruiser not a racer.  :-)

I'll remember my gloves and I'm a pretty conservative sailor.

A suddenly chafed-thru furling line, or a sail un-twisting in a gale would be just as bad or worse than getting body-slammed on the foredeck.

[CharlieJ]

Agree - for me, hank on is the way. I have reef points on my jib to take it to storm jib size.

[Norman]

When I posted with the comment about hank on sails, I did not intend that the focus of the whole long post would settle there, just a view of the impact on the sailors in the conditions and personal strengths seen so far.  The overall successes and failures of the various skippers and rigs compared.  I might add that I believe the race organizers prefer furling sails, from their various comments, from the very start.

I believe that Are has decided that his boat is beaten, even if he is not.  He is expert in analyzing the structural damage in boats, and has decided that it is not safe to continue the race, but is adequate to sail to port.  He also made the part necessary to repair the vane steering, and retired below for some sleep.  He has his priorities in the right order.  The boat must be in safe order, then the skipper must be refreshed to be prepared for the next failure.

He is a wise man, not a quitter.  The sea has beaten his boat.

Looking at Are's rig reminds me of a sail on the Chesapeake bay many years ago.  I tied a loop around the mast, and hoisted it about to the spreaders.  The tack of a jib was tied to the loop, and the clew was tied to the bow cleat.  After it was up and tight, the head of the jib was brought to the stern, and sheeted in.  With this arrangement, I could sail slowly with a heading close to the wind, and a track that was just little to windward.

The purpose was to teach my son how to build a compromise and sail after a dismasting, and we did succeed.

The embarrassment came when a power boat some distance away came to my rescue!  I did express strong appreciation, and explained my reasons for the sail in such a ridiculous arrangement.  They were sailors too, and understood.

The assumption was that we had erected the boom, or a long oar that I had on board for sculling, as a mast, and then raised a sail supported by the jury rig.  This would also simulate the loss of the top half of the mast due to upper shroud failure.  Performance was very poor, but in such a condition, any performance at all is way better than none.  Our polar diagram would have been from 85 to 180 on reach side of the wind, but that was a guess, it might have been as bad as 120 t0 180 if I had checked with a GPS to see what our true track might have been.

Mark Sinclair chose to do his jury rig with a stubby substitute mast of the same sort, but Are's is much easier to raise single handed, and provides a very strong support for his sails.  I had not even thought of such a configuration until I saw it on his boat.  If I were planning a long cruise, I would now consider two similar size jib poles to combine as Are did.  They would store where my present pole is secured below deck, taking the same room as one does.  Such a rig requires much less lines and other tackle than erecting a mast, and would provide adequate support for one or two small sails, such as a storm jib and a 90 % jib.

There is a lot to learn from studying the actual jury rigs used in real life equipment failures.

[SeaHusky]

To get the "green card" the sailors had to sail a distance with their intended jury rig. Are these shown somewhere on the site?

[Norman]

Sinclair and Wiig were the only ones that I noticed with pictures of the jury rig in the skippers pages.

Goodall could be at risk from the loss of her spinnaker pole early on.  It may have been a key part of her jury rig.

Robin had a hard knock down before turning the cape, which shifted his cabin top and broke 2 of his 3 water tanks.  He was thankful that he did not get rolled.

Norman

[SeaHusky]

The southern ocean is no joke.
The Irishman McGuckin has rolled 360 and is dismasted but "ok", riding out the storm battened down trailing lines.
Indian Tomy in the wooden Suhaili-copy has rolled 360, lost the misen mast and has a serious back injury. Red alert is stated! Closest vessel is the dismasted McGuckin who will turn toward Tomy's position when the weather eases and if his diesel is uncomprimised.
Others report several knock downs.

[Owly055]

It appears that Tomy is the object of a Major rescue operation involving ships from Oz, France, and the Indian Navy, and a number of planes and helicopters, as well as McGulkin making best speed to assist in his dismasted boat under jury rig.   Having problems with the jury rig due to gusts flexing the spinnaker pole.   The back injury is severe enough that he is bed ridden and more or less helpless.  He can wiggle his toes, though he has considerable numbness.

    With international rescue efforts running probably in the millions will there be pressure not to repeat this?   Who knows.  It's really rather amazing when you think about it that offshore boaters are not required to take out insurance against the costs of rescue already...............   

                                                                  H.W.

[Owly055]

Here's a photo taken of Abhilash  Tomy's dismasted boat Thuriya in the Southern Indian Ocean by a P8 Orion overflight from the GGR site today.     Rescue ships are suffering heavy seas delaying their progress, the nearest from Reunion making only about 5.5kts.  It looks like Gregor McGulkin may be first on the scene, and may be asked to abandon his own boat to render aid until the ships with full medical facilities arrive..... possibly as long as 4 days.  The situation sounds dire, with Aghilash only being able to take liquids, unable to leave his berth due to his back injury, and vomiting continuously.  Both boats are dismasted, but Gregor is under jury rig and moving ever closer.
                                                                H.W.

[Bubba the Pirate]

As of this morning, Tomy and McGuckin are both aboard a French Fisheries Patrol Vessel. Tomy is conscious and talking. No mention of their boats. Hopefully, they've done the right thing and scuttled them.

[SeaHusky]

STATEMENT ON Scuttling GGR YACHTS.

Gregor McGuckin Empowered by Hanley Energy

During the controlled evacuation of Hanley Energy Endurance, McGuckin was instructed to leave the vessel afloat. The French fisheries patrol vessel Osiris instructed McGuckin that scuttling the vessel would be in breach of International Maritime Regulations. Hence, McGuckin removed all debris from the deck that could become separated, secured all equipment on board, and ensured the AIS beacon was active. The power source to the AIS device is solar panels which should remain active without any outside assistance reducing the risk to other vessels. Precautionary steps were also taken to ensure the relatively small amount of fuel onboard is secure.

Abhilash Tomy's Yacht THURIYA "MAY BE" towed to the anchorage in St Paul Island by the Indian Navy to attempt a salvage operation

[Bubba the Pirate]

I read that today too. Apparently it is against some Int'l reg. I respect that but it doesn't make any sense logically or from a seamanship perspective.

https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping/disposal-vessels-sea

On the linked page it says "Fiberglass vessels are not be suitable for ocean disposal because fiberglass (fiber-reinforced plastic) can degrade or break apart, contributing to microplastic pollutant load and furthering marine pollution."

What do they think is going to happen if you leave it to float around in the southern ocean?!? Just a slow motion scuttling that will also be a hazard to navigation in the meantime.

Earlier on the page it also says:
"Vessels may be disposed at sea only under specified conditions in the MPRSA general permit published in the federal regulations at 40 CFR 229.3. Ocean disposal of a vessel that would not meet the general permit's requirements would require a special permit."

It seems like in addition to requiring $5 million in "Public Liability Insurance" GGR would require permits or some other contingency for dealing with an abandoned vessel.

Regardless of the Regs, I don't think it is good or proper to just leave a boat floating around in the Southern Ocean.

[SeaHusky]

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?