Francis Joyon Hits The Route Of Discovery: Supersailor Joyon got underway from Cadiz this morning. He’s got 3884 miles to go, and 9 days, 13 hours to get there. That means an average speed north of 16.92 knots. Along the way Joyon hopes to take a crack at the solo 24-hour record, which stands at 540 miles. You can follow Joyon’s progress on this position table. Once Joyon’s on the western side of the Atlantic, there’ll be nothing left for him to do except take a crack at the west/east record from Ambrose Light to the Lizard. I love this guy…
Flying Francis Joyon: “Why do I sail? Well, it’s obvious I wasn’t going to be a movie star…”
(Photo: Fabrice Thomazeau)
Vendee Update–First Damage, Leaks And Collisions: A broken bowsprit on UUDS, a trip up the mast for Alex Thomson, and collisions with tree trunks and underwater objects unknown. No one ever said the Vendee would be easy, even when it’s supposedly on the easy part of the course. Check out the latest report here. Through it all Vincent Riou, on PRB, continues to lead as the boats head out into the open Atlantic past Finisterre (rankings here). Next landmark on the way to the Equator: the Canary Islands. Our man Alex Thomson is in second, despite a trip up the mast to retrieve a running sail that had wrapped itself in knots. Mike Golding is in 6th, biding his time and conserving his boat and energy. Special feature of the day comes from Nick Moloney, on Skandia, who managed to transmit some video. Definitely check out “Aft Camera at 20 Knots,” and “Mast Camera At 20 Knots.” Not so sure what the video ambiguously titled “Morning Number 2” is, but I’m not sure I want to find out…
Reality Racing On Skandia?: “Damn, all that freeze-dried fiber is really kicking in. Better flip on the autopilot and fetch the video camera…”
(Photo: DPPI)
Annals Of Adventure–Francis Joyon Hits The Route Of Discovery: When we last checked in on French solo sailing supremo Joyon, he had just smashed the solo round-the-world record, and had become the first multihull sailor to complete a circumnavigation solo and non-stop. Now Joyon is gearing up his 90-foot trimaran, IDEC, for a run at the east/west transatlantic record, from Cadiz, Spain to San Salvador, The Bahamas. Joyon says he will be setting off Wednesday morning, and the time to beat is 9 days 13 hours 30 minutes and 18 seconds. That mark was set by Steve Fossett and the full PlayStation team in February 2003 (with yours truly as chief bottle washer and grinder grunt; see my story about the run here). For Joyon to beat this record alone, on a smaller boat (PlayStation is 125 feet), seems ridiculous. But Joyon’s solo round-the-world record also crushed many a crewed multihull time, so you can never count him out. He’s one of the most formidable racing sailors out there, and TWC will have to monitor this one closely…
IDEC At Speed: “Fossett has a two dozen world records so I couldn’t care less about relieving him of this one. But that pathetic Zimmermann guy. This is his only one…”
Sandy Point Speed Week–Final Results: No new records, but some incredible sailing in monster winds. Check out the daily summaries here, and the final results here. Top run was 40.3 knots, but everyone is still talking about the Big Wednesday, when the winds were a steady 40-50 knots. Here’s a taste of what it was like:
“10.00am. James is running. 5.7m and Missile. Ian grabs 5.8 and S-Type but hesitates. This is not what it seems. James on the course and the SW wind is here. Big time. 40-50 kts and solid. Sand hurled across the inlet in Mars like clouds. Chop develops immediately. Water sucked away in clouds. James makes it about 500 massively overpowered metres, then “parks” it in the face of a rampant waterspout that charges across the sandbar and threatens to tornado him off the course. Ian on the course now with 5.0m but getting totally worked. Gets the run in but it’s all over the shop just staying alive. A few others decide to give it a try but it’s not looking real good. Nor safe. Andy McDougall tries a run and his boom has a serious disagreement with his face. That was close. And that boom again. Chris tries a few runs on his 5.6m and custom 50cm, holding on but struggling in the low 30’s. Wind pulls hard S and course becomes unworkable. Gear starts flying in the launch area and most run for cover. No serious damage or injury. That might have been a portion of luck.
3.00pm The action starts in earnest. Chris (5.6m), Andrew/s Daff and McDougall (3.7m) Craig Hollins (3.2m then 4.7) and Ian (5.0m then 4.2) all start to make some tentative runs. Chris is the only one looking anything near comfortable at speed. Andy Mc takes a massive overpower wipeout on his windup onto the course. James goes for it again on 5.7 and Missile but eats it big after just a few hundred ugly meters. Chris really starting to fire and opening up big on the bottom end of the inlet, the increase in speed visible as he turns broad and cranks it on. Even from spectator area, the speed at a distance of up to nearly 2km’s away is clear. The guy is on fire and each run gets better. Flying back up into the launch area on reverse tack each run, he yells new higher peak speeds to the appreciative crowd. There’s definitely an atmosphere of excitement on the beach, those present can feel something special (other than the 40-50 kt windchill). This is a new Australian record going down here, and we’re not sure where the action will stop…Ian tries a 4.2 wavesail in desperation but results aren’t worth the effort. Back on his S-Type, he ejects big time in a gust coming back up the course, board and rig cartwheeling outta sight in the wind and leaving him to swim for it and a rescue boat ride to recover his gear. Some gear is working here, some is clearly just not right for these conditions. Chris is getting more and more wound up. His times clock on up to 41, 42 then even a 44 peak. But more impressive are the runs – once he gets that throttle open he just holds it and each run became really visibly consistently fast thru the sand fog that clouds the Inlet. Daffy comes back modestly proud with a peak over 40, but complaining he can’t stop at the end of the run. Craig chugging away in the mid 30’s but surviving (!!) and getting down the course, winds it up to a solid 34.9 over 500 and even decides to throw a few chop hops on the way back up. It’s on ! Few can even get down the course, and many others (maybe wisely) decide to not even give it a try. Sand blows in constant clouds over the course, making sailing with your eyes shut (!!) essential. Chris arrives back in the launch area his face completely caked with sand. Holding rigs and boards down at the bottom end of the course becomes impossible, they suck off the water and flail horizontally while riders struggle simply to hold the mast tip. Ok, now it’s windy.”
Sounds like a wild, wild time. Now it’s up to Finian Maynard and his Masters Of Speed, halfway across the world in France…
Big Wednesday Wind Chart: Holy cr*p! They went sailing in that…?
Vendee Globe Underway…: No drama yet, with the fleet arrowing toward Cape Finisterre in moderate winds. Check out the latest news, and the latest positions. Our man Bruce (Schwab) is in 15th, about 40 miles behind the leader, Frenchman Vincent Riou on PRB. But TWC’s other favorites, Alex Thomson and Mike Golding, are in second and third, just a few miles behind Riou. Golding checked in with race HQ and you can hear him talk about his first day at sea on the Vendee audio page. He’s very happy to be sailing along. During the last Vendee, Golding dropped his rig on the first night out. He returned to the start, scared up a spare mast and set out again eight days later, sailing the entire course while knowing he never had a chance. That’s guts.
Coolest feature found so far: Conrad Humphreys’ Flash console, which provides real-time physical data (heart-rate, calories consumed, total sleep) and race data (heading, speed, web cam shots, etc). Humphreys, on Hellomoto (and currently in 10th), is one cool cat. His heart rate hasn’t cracked 110 beats per minute yet. Can’t wait to see it in the Southern Ocean…
Humphreys Chillin’ On Hellomoto: “Damn, it’s too rough for Tai Chi today…”
Annals Of Inanity–Hold The Starch: I can’t really explain it (and I don’t really care to), but the sport of extreme ironing just keeps getting more popular with every shirt pressed in an odd place. Five-time British Olympic medalist Steve Redgrave has even gone so far as to suggest that extreme ironing to be made an Olympic sport. Meanwhile, a German extreme ironist (sounds like a radical philosophical sect) named Alois Laumer has taken the sport to new heights, doing a bang-up job on a shirt from the seat of his microlight. Laumer’s only comment was that “The difficulty of ironing in an open aircraft is that you need both hands to fly properly.” Hey! That’s why it’s called EXTREME, baby! Here’s his pic:
Not to be outdone, a group of Australian ironistas have gone in the opposite direction, and set a new extreme underwater ironing record, somehow convincing 43 scuba divers to waste, I mean spend, an afternoon ironing in the murky waters of Port Phillip Bay. Don’t get overexcited, but you can see their video here. Hooked yet? Then it’s time to start buying your friends and family the gift they never expected: the 2005 Extreme Ironing Calendar. What a world. What a sport…
Underwater Ironing Record: “Let’s make this really, really extreme…and start plugging the irons in!”
(Photo: Paul Selwood via DiveOz)
Have A Wetass Weekend…:
Annals Of Extreme Adventure–Vendee Globe: This Sunday, the world’s most intense, dangerous and difficult yacht race will set off from the French coast. The first Vendee set off in 1989, and thirteen sailors had the guts to sign on. This year, the race’s 5th edition, there are 20 madmen, I mean skippers, including American Bruce Schwab. Bruce is a rigger from San Francisco, who has managed to get his radical unstayed wingmast design–Ocean Planet–to the start on sheer determination and hundreds of donations from fans all over the world. I went sailing with him once when I was writing a story for Sailing World on solo racing in the US, and he is a great guy. He will be TWC’s official entry, and we’ll follow his race closely despite the fact that he is not favored by the odds makers. Other skippers to keep an eye on are Brit favorite (and Vendee veteran) Mike Golding, on Ecover, and Vendee newcomer Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss. Thomson set the solo 24-hour record in race across the Atlantic last December, sailing 468 miles, and is known for his aggressive, take-no-prisoners sailing style. Which is exactly the sort of style that gives sailors in the Vendee Globe, who first want to survive and next want to win, heart palpitations.
To follow the race yourself, check in with the first-rate Vendee Globe website. You can read up on the race’s history, read skipper profiles, and check out some great video (make sure you watch the one of Thomson screaming along on Hugo Boss). This race always produces heroics, tears, soaring moments of jubilation and dark moments of frustration. It has ennobled sailors and killed sailors. It’s a classic and I can’t wait for the start…
Hugo Boss: “Holy sh*t! I wonder if I remembered to bring the periscope…”
Speed Sailing Odds And Ends…: Still no full report on Sandy Point Speed Week, but it doesn’t sound as if any records were broken. It did blow like hell, though, and if you want to see what that looked like check out this video, and this video, of a windsurfer whipping down the course in a near-sandstorm.
A little late…but here’s a report on the new kiteboarding speed record set last month by Namibian Olaf Marting. He blasted down the 500 meter course at Walvis Bay in winds up to 40 knots to set a new mark of 41.67 knots (besting old record-holder Manu Taub’s 39.79). The kiteboarders are coming on strong…
Olaf At Speed: “Just a little more kite refinement and I’m going to kick Finian’s ass…”
The Earthist Chronicles 