Rooting for Sam Davies on this one, great start already…

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http://www.saveol-samdavies.com/?titre=saveol-with-sam-davies—teasing&mode=multimedia_photos&id=254#!prettyPhoto

Ohhhhhhh yes, most definitely.

Good call.

I think Alex will retire in about 18 mins.

Would be nice to see Sam do well, I do feel Mike will be in the top 4. In years gone by I would have been down there seeing them off..
😀

Golding is a good shout as is Davies.

I reckon The boss boat will get half way around…but 18min isn’t a bad shout!

I’ve done a fair bit of sailing on lots of different sized boats back in the day, but I’m stumped to what the poles are coming out sideways from near the base of the mast, are they for the stays? Look like they’d snap off in a broach.

Yeah, called ‘deck spreaders’ they just seem to put rig loads back into mast foot area, while also adding some extra lateral support. Means a lighter mast, lower loading and in a place you can put some extra strength in.
I do hope Golding does well too.

Was at the race village on Thursday and Friday, it’s a stunning event. The place was absolutely mobbed. The skippers looked remarkably relaxed.

Probably one of the most competitive races for some time. It would be great to see Sam do better than her 4th place but it will be tough.

Just back from a 400 mile delivery of a Class 40 through the Raz de Sein and Channel du Four – glad to be back ashore after 40 hours, these guys and gal will be out there for 90+ days on these incredible racing boats alone. Just stunning.

If you want to follow the event you might like to check out Sailing Anarchy

Beware if you go into the forums it’s not the polite nimby pamby stuff of stw 8) – there is a vendee thread in ocean racing anarchy

Cheers matt, that makes sense! As a teacher there are a few things on my ‘to do’ list when I retire (still some way to go) and can have holidays whenever I want. Taking part in the Cape Argus sportive is one and seeing off the Vendee is another.

Guilemont one of the favourites on Safran which was regarded as one of the most advanced and most tested boats has retired with keel damage, he heard a loud crack when the boat came off a wave.

Arse. Sam has been dismasted and is out 🙁

There you go see, sticks break.

And keels fall off..

Isn’t there a One Design coming into the class soon?

I was lucky enough to get a ride on Boss, we went around the Island and as a hardened sailor used to beating upwind in 12-14 true, this thing was hitting 25knts.. downwind behind the Island over the lumps in Freshwater Bay and it was creaming along doing 28knts and it felt like you could just hop off..

Astonishingly powerful.

There is *discussion* about a one design, to reduce cost and reduce breakages(!) issues.

Ohhhh, jealous of a ride….any big monohull/cat/tri would be great fun…

Averaging over 20 knots for 24 hours…incredible.
http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/article/5073/a-broken-record.html

Heading for a close finish – Brit Alex Thomson is trying to catch the third place…Sub 80 days for monohulls is amazingly fast.

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/

Live finish for anyone watching….