What after the VolvoOceanRace2017-2018 event.

An announcement has been made already that the next VolvoOceanRace will be starting in 2021. That is very good news. 

The VOR committee had come to an agreement with the IMOCA organisation to make the IMOCA 60 boat available for next VOR

The IMOCA60 is an open boat, with canting keel and foils. So we may expect some close and fast sailing again in next VOR. 


What if you can not wait 3 years?
Well, what I do and can recommend is to hone your sailing skills in the Virtual Sailing community. For me the best Virtual Sailing Player is LiveSkipper Virtual Sailing Game  

Sorry to say that LiveSkipper has ended their fantastic Virtual Sailing Game and is not longer available. 

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I have switched to a rather small, but simple and beautiful new Virtual Sailing Game called Virtualgame.
Virtualgame has a simple , but comprehensive game screen. It allows to choose from a number of sail per boat type and shows a clearn Polar diagram for each of the chosen sail, specific for the actual wind conditions. 
You can also use the auto pilot and a scheduler with 5 Marks for free and 9 Marks with a subscription. It refreshes the NOAA wind-data , twice at day at 0800 and 2000 CET (central European time)  
The community is friendly and quiet active and regular short and longer duration sailing race are organized.
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LiveSkipper is modern, does not use so much computer power as the ram hungry Virtual Sailing that was used in previous VOR's .
In LiveSkipper, you have a lot of free navigation and sailing optimization tools that makes live for a virtual sailor comfortable. All the features, like multiple sails, autopilot, scheduler, marks, wind forecasts for 7 days etc are free, such that all Boats have same opportunity of sailing same speed and win race.  

LiveSkipper Game screen

 The game screen offers:

• view of your Boat
• view of your set route
• wind information 
• wind data at the mouse
• Polar diagram and 3hrs polar projections, upto 24 hrs.
• winds forecast upto 7 days
• extensive date on the ruler, 
• clear maps and shorelines to prevent grounding
• Marks, 4 for free and optional 10 for minimal contribution
• regular short and long duration sailing races
• an easy to use Forum
• an easy to used chat box,  also for closed groups
• and an easy to understand LiveSkipper wiki, to learn all about virtual sailing and optimal sailing in LiveSkipper. 

Hope to meet you either in LiveSkipper or in next VolvoOceanRace.              


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Brunel takes Victory in the Last In-Port Race in The Hague

It was beautiful sailing weather, stable strong winds and only small waves.

Brunel made a blistering Start and got was soon in the Lead, only to take it to the Finish. Rounding the 1st buoy, was a close battle with SunHungKai/Scallywag, and though they were somewhat faster around the buoy, it is Brunel that squeezed themselves back in the lead. 

Brunel already in the Lead, In-Port The Hague

For Brunel it was important to win from AkzoNoble with at least one Boat in between, in order to get the 3rd prize overall in the In-Port race series. With Dongfeng sailing a strong race and taking the Runner-Up place, it was exactly what brought the 3rd prize to Brunel.


Another very important battle was between TurntheTideon Plastic and SunHungKai/Scallywag. Both had same scoring on the Overall VOR scorecard, and thus the standing in the In-Port serie would decide who would take the 6th and who the 7th place. 
SunHungKai, was nicely in the lead and had nothing to fear,till............. their ruder got hooked on the rope of a mark. This allows TurntheTideonPlastic to pass them and once SunHungKai got released their disadvantage was that big that TurntheTideon Plastic was long gone. 

Dee Caffari smiling already before the race, or did she know the good result to come?

Dee Caffari sailed a strong race, and was able to pass Vestas in the last leg, while Mapfre made an easy sailing and was no threat at all. 
So TurntheTide on Plastic, got a 4th place and with this won a 6th place in the Overall standings.

This was the last event of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 and hopefully in 3 years time we will have a new VolvoOceanRace. 

VolvoOceanRace last event in The Hague In-Port Race

Today is the last event of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018. It was an epic event this year and for most teams the results are fixed, except for TurntheTidetoPlastic and SunHungKai boats. 
These Boats gained equal point in the Overall ranking, and there for the results of the In-Port race serie will decide who takes the penultimate and last place . 

And there is the battle between the Dutch boats, for the final Podium place in the In-Port series. 

So we may expect some fierce battles on the North Sea coast in front of The Hague.

In-Port Race The Hague

Wind forecast promisse a 14 kts wind strengtsh , so that could bring some nice fast and sharp sailing. 

The race will start 11:30 UTC, 13:30 local time. As normally I expect a live broadcast can be seen via the VolvoOceanRace website or via Twitter. 



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Dongfeng wins last Leg in VolvoOceanRace.. AND .. Overall Victory.

This version of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 has been very compatitive with a close and exciting last Leg. The Overall Ranking after 10 Legs was even for the 3 leading Teams, Mapfre , Dongfeng and Brunel; taking into account that Dongfeng would win the bonus point for the shortest sailing time overall. 

Thus the results of these 3 Boats, would automatically rank them in the Overall accounting the finishing order in The Hague. 

In the begin, it was Dongfeng leading closely followed by Mapfre, and Brunel loosing out and on the chase. It was the last stretch over the North Sea to wards the finish, where multiple exclusion zones, gave options for different strategies.

That split in the fleet, Brunel and Mapfre choosing the middle route over the North Sea, while Dongfeng choose the more risky route along the coast into a narrow "channel" between the exclusion zone and the coast. The latter route was longer, but the High would give Dongfeng a better wind towards the Finish. 

Dongfeng wins the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018

It was exactly this, that brought the Victory to Dongfeng. Trailing the other boats till about the Island of Texel on the NW corner of The Netherlands, where Dongfeng gained a better boatspeed only to cut in front of the other boats just before the finish in The Hague and take the Win. 



The Scorecard looks like this, with now a clear winner.

There is one In-Port Race to come, Saturday 30th June at 11:30 UTC, 13:30 local in the waters just outside The Hague. This last In-Port Race is especially important for TurntheTideonPlastic and SunHungKai/Scallywag as these boats ended with equal points and the best score in the In-Port scorecard will decide the ultimate ranking. 

VolvoOcean Race fleet approaching the Last Finish line.

This version of VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 is on the approach to the Finish in the last Leg 11, Gothenburg to The Hague. 

It is a very exciting last Leg, as the 3 highest ranked Boats for the Overall win, all have the same number of points; considering the bonus point for shortest overall sailing time goes to Dongfeng. This implicates that the 1st of these three Boats will take the VolvoOceanRace Victory for this year ; the 2nd the 2nd etc. 

The most interesting is , that the fleet have split. One part sails the middle route on the North Sea in between the exclusion zones, amongst them Mapfre and Brunel, and the other part sails the German and Dutch coast, a narrow gap between the land and the exclusion zone. 
The winner of this separation battle on the 3 top boats, will take the Overall Victory; so ultimately it is a strategical decision that decide.

Some 88 Nm to go for the wWestern group and 134 Nm for the Eastern group.

The expectation is that the last 20Nm will decide the winner.

Live broadcast of the Finish , between 11-13 UTC today, is expected,keep an eye on VolvoOceanRace website , or Twitter. 

Vestas wins VolvoOceanRace penultimate In-Port Race.

It was from the beginning a hard battle between Mapfre and Dongfeng and also between Brunel and SunHungKai/Scallywag, but it was Vestas that sailed a perfect sail and took Victory. Congratulations.

Vestas wins Gothenburg In-Port race.

. There was a strong wind and Brunel made a fantastic flying start from behind, to take the lead. They could keep the lead till the 2nd Mark with strong sailing, but on the first downwind leg, Brunel had the wrong sail, too small, and somehow could not change it. While starting Leg 3 as the leader, they were in 6th at the end, never to recover, so far for the speed-kings of Leg 10.
Mapfre, straight from the start jumped on Dongfeng and prevented Dongfeng by pushing them into the wind, from sailing away from the Start . Later with a starboard-port Mapfre again fought Dongfeng , apparently Mapfre had more intentions to beat Dongfeng than to win the In-Port race; well actully by beating Dongfeng Mapfre got so many points that they took Victory inthe In-Port race series. 

Dongfeng ,, with a poor start, made an error by cutting in front of Turn the Tide of Plastic and got a deserved penalty turn,making them to end last. 

Next event is the Start of the Last Leg Gothenburg to The Hague , on Thursday 21 June at 1200 UTC,1400 local.

Short time till In-Port Race in Gothenburg

Tomorrow , Saturday 17 June, already is the Gothenburg In-Port Race, so little rest for the crews; it was also a short Leg 10. 

A parcours is set in the bay of Gothenburg as seen below. I am told that these waters do hold some rocks that could be dangerous if not located good. Remember the stranding of Telefonica Blue on Marstrand some versions of the VOR ago, with Bouwe Bekking indeed skippering that Boat.

Gothenburg In-Port parcours

With 3 Boats in the lead with exactly the same points for the Overall ranking, the results in the In-Port race ranking will be more important then ever. 
Mapfre has a healthy lead with 7 points over Dongfeng and Brunel is again 8 points behind. So I do actually not expect too many changes in the leaderboards for In-Port races

Scoreboard In-Port races

As normal, the race will be broadcasted live, via the VolvolOceanRace website, via Facebook and Twitter. 

Next event will be the start of the last Leg 11, on Thursday 21  June , 1200 UTC.

Brunel glorious Winner of VolvoOceanRace Leg 10

Brunel is the glorious Winner in the penultimate Leg in the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018, with a small margin over Mapfre.

Brunel Winner of Leg 10

Leg 10 started in Cardiff and sailed around Ireland and the UK, to finish in Gothenburg , Sweden. 
This Leg had it all, no winds, stormy winds, no waves , large wave, no currents, anti-currents and helping currents. 
Many Boats in one time at this Leg were in the lead, or close to the lead  and many position changes occured. 

Brunel did not had such a good start and half way, they were about 6th in the 7 boat VOR fleet. Thereafter , however, it seems that Brunel woke up and got chasing the Boats in front of them and one after the other was passed. Till yesterday, in a straight line battle with Mapfre , Brunel passed the red boat with spendid sailing and kept the lead till the Finish.

Now the last Leg 11, Gothenburg to The Hague, will bring the decision on podium places. The 3 top boats, Brunel, Mapfre and Dongfeng all have 65 points; including the bonus point for Dongfeng for the shortest sailing time overall, which is as good as sure.
So the ranking in the end of Leg 11, will directly translate in the ranking in the Overall VOR 2017-2018 . 

Leg 11 will start on 21 June, but first there will be the Gothenburg In-Port races on 17th June. 

Dongfeng winner in Cardiff In-Port Race

The Cardiff In-Port race was sailed in proper winds of about 10 kts. AkzoNobel and Dongfeng made both a good start, with Brunel in between them was pushed back by the foul winds. 
I was lucky to see Mapfre and Dongfeng sailing their own race, rather than match-racing each other and forgetting that other Boats are also participating. 

AkzoNobel sailed in the lead for 2 out of 3 rounds, but lost in the penultimate leg, out to Dongfeng but also Mapfre benefited from it so passed AkzoNobel into 2nd place. Brunel in the last leg, sailed a better strategy and could also pass AkzoNobel.

Dongfeng already leader in front of Mapfre

Vestas made a Start too sharp to be correct and had to make a penalty restart. She never recovered really , though could pass TurntheTideonPlastic and SunHungKai into a 5 th place.

Next event is the Start of Leg 10 Cardiff to Gothenburg on Sunday 10 June at 1500 UTC.

Cardiff In-Port Race as appetizer for the VolvoOceanRace last 2 Legs.

Enjoying an easy weekend in Cardiff with a cool Beer, that is good. Just one week to go till the Cardiff In-Port Race sets off the last 2 Legs in the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018.

The parcours is shown below and the length is about 1 hour of sailing. 

Cardiff In=Port Race parcours

The Cardiff In-Port Race starts Friday 8th June at 1300 UTC, 1400 Local.

As normal , the race will be live broadcasted via the VolvoOceanRace website and Twitter. 



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Brunel wins a nail biting Leg 9 in Cardiff VolvoOceanRace

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Brunel wins the TransAtlantic, Leg 9 in the VolvoOceanRace from Newport to Cardiff, UK. 

Brunel winners of Leg 9

And what a Leg it was. 
Brunel made a fantastic start by winning the starters parcours in Newport and leading the fleet into the Atlantic in between the different exclusion zones.
Normally the fastest route is going North as much as possible, as the winds are stronger there and the distance is the smallest. But when the crucial point came to turn North, Brunel did not, contrary to Maphfre and Dongfeng.
Brunel stayed in the storm that had good speed pushing them to the East, and later that breeze was even better than expected. Once that was over and the fleet converged, Brunel with AkzoNobel and Vestas cut in front of the northern boats and with the next westerly depression could only extend their lead. 
The High pressure ridge, that stalled all Boats was rather fair and released the Boats in order of arriving. The strong tide towards Cardiff was friendly as well, as it truned inwards the moment the leaders approached. 

AkzoNobel, was constantly close to Brunel and took sometimes the lead. In the end however Brunel won with about 4 minutes. AkzoNobel however sailed the longest distance in the Atlantic in a 24 hrs period, 602.5 Nm; breaking the old record of Torben Grael on , Ericsson 4 at 596.6 Nm. 

Fast Sailing

Now the ranking at the top of the Overall scoreboard has become very tight, promissing a hard fought victory in the last 2 legs.

Next event will be the Cardiff In-Port Race on  Friday 8 June at 1300 UTC. 
Next Leg 10 to start Sunday 10 June 1500 UTC from Cardiff to Gothenburg. 

Brunel makes a perfect Start on Leg 9 towards Cardiff, back to Europe.

Repeating their fantastic performance in the Newport In-Port Race, Brunel sailed to the leaders position to leave Newport setting sail into the Open Water to the Finish of VolvoOceanRace Leg 9 in Cardiff, UK.
  

Brunel leading the VOR fleet out of Newport

 It is an important Leg, as it has double points , so you can make big gains (or losses) depending on your performance in this Leg. Brunel, has to score good points over their revals, in order to still have any change on the Overall Victory. With their improving results in the last events, they for sure are sharp to get at Winner in Cardiff. 


This leg, will have first some influence of the Cold Stream along the East coast of the States but then will get the warmer Golf Stream that will help them sailing East. With the east wards moving Depressions these will be the main strategic elements to beat the competition. 





Fair winds. 

VolvoOceanRace continues with the Newport In-Port Race.

The rest is over, the VolvoOceanRace continues with an In-Port race in the waters of Newport. 
The Start will be on Saturday 19 May at 1800 UTC (      local).

The parcours is shown below  and it is aimed at a sailing time of about 1 Hour. 

 
 Lets hope that there is some proper  winds, such that sailing if possible and not like the Finish of Leg 8 where boats were floating on a lucky puff of wind. Add to this the current in the river and a low wind event will have the sailing strategies overruled by the luck to dice.

Normally this event can be watched live on the internet via the VOR website.


The next event will be the Start of Leg 9 Newport to Cardiff on Sunday 20 May at 1800 UTC.

Russian Roulette at terrifying Leg 8 Newport Finish.

Leg 8 in the VolvoOceanRace, Itajai to Newport, was a very interesting, fast and challenging Leg , till about 2 Nm before the Finish. A narrow approach inside a river, failing winds and a counter current, made it a lottery who would win. That had nothing to do with the skills of skippers and navigators, that had brought the best boats ahead at the coast of Newport.

A real drama for VOR to make sailing an interesting event, as this was the worst advert it could make for itself. I propose to locate future finishes in open waters just outside the river mouth.

That said, Congrats to Mapfre, who accepted the gift of this lottery to extend their points for the Overall Win. 

The scorecard after the Finish in Newport looks like this:

The next event, and I hope it is a lot better and allows the skills of skippers and navigators have some impact on the results, is the Newport In-Port race on Saturday 19 May at 18:00 UTC (14:00 Local time).

VolvoOceanRace Leg 8 Starts

On Sunday 22 April, Leg 8 in the VolvoOceanRace will start from Itajai to Newport. There will be 7 Boats on the start, while only 5 could normally finish Leg 7 into Itajai. 
Two boats had aborted the Leg 7 , came in late but were overhauled in time to participate in the next exciting Leg 8. 

As normal a starters parcours will have to be sailed , before heading into the Atlantic.  see parcours. The starting time is 17:00 UTC. I  expect it to be broadcast live, via the VOR website or Twitter. 

Parcour for Leg 8 Start

Straight away, the skippers have to make a strategical decision, whether to sail close to the Brazilian coast or further East on the Atlantic, where normally stronger winds exist. 

A Doldrums , the last one for this edition of VOR, is also part of the headache for the skippers. The region of the Finish could have some surprises with a strong depression, or not. 

Fair winds 

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Mapfre glorious winner in Itajai In-Port race.

Mapfre strenghtened its scorecard for In-Port race by winning the Itajai In-Port race. 

Mapfre was sharp at the start and first over the line.  

Mapfre took the lead during the first downwind leg and only continued to increase their advance till the Finish.

AkzoNobel, looks to improve their performance race by race and is now a very regular Podium finisher. 

Dongfeng, made a terrible start (again), and at one point they were the closing boat on the course. But somewhere they recovered and managed half way to get to the last spot on the Podium, but were never to challenge AkzoNobel seriously for the runner-up place.

Turn the Tide of Plastic sailed a strong race, just behind the Podium in the middle of the fleet to gain a 4th place.

Brunel, had also a good start and first Leg, rounding the first Mark in 3rd position very close behind Mapfre and AkzoNobel. But an error with the hoisting of the sails, throw them back to the fight for the last place with Vestas. I am a little surprised by a simple error like this, that should not occur at a Boat with a veteran skipper of 8 VOR races and more professonal sailors. For me, I doubt that Brunel is fit to win this years VOR.

SunHungKai/Scallywag did not participate as she is still under repair after a late arrival. 

The next event in the VOR is the start of Leg 8 , Itajai to Newport, on Sunday 22 April 17:00 UTC.










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VolvoOceanRace continues with Itajai In-Port race

In 2 days, the Itajai In-Port race, will be the start of a new series of hopefully exciting sailing races. The Itajai In_port race will start Friday 20th April at 17:00 UTC (1400 Local time). The parcours for this race is given below.

Lets hope that there will be stronger winds than during the arrival of Leg7, in order for the Boats to make some speed and close passing maneuvers. 

As normal, the In-Port race will be live broadcasted via the VolvoOceanRace website.

From the fleet of 7 VO65 Boats, there were 5 already inspected and ready to sail. Vestas is under repair as we speak and SunHungKai/Scallywag is close before arriving. Trust that all Boats will be ready in time such that 7 participate in the In-Port race.

Vestas arrived in Itajai under jury rig.

Vestas 11 sail a good Leg 7, till they passed Cape Horn. Once thought the worst weather and sea-state was over, just 100 Nm South of the Falkland island, Vestas lost there mast. It broke, fell overboard and to prevent damage to the hull, the crew has to cut away to broken part. 

They stopped the race and motored to the Falklands. There they got excellent support of local sailing enthusiasts. With a throw away streetlamp post, they managed to set up a jury rig,with some the left over sails and with this, a 5 men crew motor-sailed her back to Itajai, some 5 days before the start of Leg 8.

The Boat will be fully inspected and the expectations is that she will be ready with a new rig to start in time.

Only one Boat , SunHungKai/Scallywag is expected in next days in Itajai and hopefully , she will be ready in time for the Start of Leg 8 to Newport..

Brunel wins horrific Leg 7 in VolvoOceanRace

 Brunel has won the historical difficult Leg 7 Auckland to Itajai, passing Cape Horn , over 7000 Nm with a small advantage of 1Nm, about 15 minutes.

The saddest event on this Leg 7, will always be remembered as the loss at sea of sailor John Fisher form SunHungKai/ Scallywag. He was thrown overboard, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, in high waves, fierce winds and a low sea water temperature. Search efforts could not find him and the Boat had to leave the area and also Search and Resque teams could not find him.

This Leg has offered more than was feared for. Constantly big storms, one after the other, drifting from West passing the fleet  , waiting for the next one. 

Several Boats suffered damages, Mapfre has a loose rail on the mast but could manage with a temperary repair till close at Cape Horn also the Main Sail teared. A pit-stop of 13 hours, made a repair possible, so they could continue, though at some reduced speed. Vestas  demasted just after passing Cape Horn and try to find the logistics to bring them in time to Itajia for the start of the next Leg. 
Turn the Tide on Plastic, had some dislodged spreader on the mast, but managed to correct it. 
Brunel touched some ufo and got a linkage broken on their rudder. A spare could repair that.

Brunel took the lead about halfway with a clever strategical maneuver and never gave the lead out of their hands, though Dongfeng with an earlier engaging on a western wind after the Falkland, could close the distance. Never enough though to pass Brunel. It is a good gain for Brunel who took 16 points, 1 for CapeHorn, 14 for the double scoring winners place and 1 for winning the leg.    

Southern Ocean a cruel passing for the VolvoOceanRace.

This  version of the VolvoOceanRace, have seen a cruel passage through the Southern Ocean. 
This part of the VOR, is mostly the feared Leg, for boat breakages and losses in the classification if you don't sail without damage to Cape Horn. This year the double counting of points will double the losses when no escaping unscaved.

The worst this year is the lost of a sailor at sea,  John Fisher from SunHungKai/ Scallywag. During a broach, he was swept overboard in big winds , high waves and icy water temperatures. The crew did all possible to search for him and find him, but had in the end to conclude that he was lost and sail on to safe the boat and crew from an approaching Low storm. Scallywag is now going to a port on the Chilean coast.

Mapfre, damage a rail on their mast that holds the Main Sail already early in the  Leg. With some reefs set and ratchet bands they could hold all together and continue more or less, till just before Cape Horn their Main Sail teared completely horizontally. They had to stop for a repair pitstop and could resume sailing after some 13 hours.

Vestas, have lost their mast, just some 100 Nm south of the Falklands. The boat and crew is safe and they are motoring to the Falklands.

Brunel, some 50Nm ahead of the Cape, had a collision and the tiller link to the lee rudder broke, the had a broach but could recover and with some spares on board make a repair. I believe their boat is sound again.

Turn the Tide on Plastic,mentioned a slow down, to make a inspection of a spreader on their mast. They found something suspicious. Have not heard from them, till now, but on the tracker I see they are sailing some 12 hrs later, a normal speed and course, so I expect that there are no further problems.

Fair winds and safe sailing till Itajai.