LinkedOut , averaging 17 knots, still leads by 8 miles from Maître CoQ. Apivia has dropped further back and is now 160 miles from the lead, averaging 13 knots. The damage to the port foil appears to be in its housing and Charlie Dalin has taken his foot off the throttle at the moment. There is a large area of high pressure south of Australia which will move eastwards and south in the next day, right into the path of the leaders before it disappears on Friday. In a completely different weather pattern Pip Hare holds on to 18th position and Miranda Merron is back in 23rd. Sébastien Destremau, lying 26th, has auto pilot problems and may have to pull out of the race. Without his auto pilot operating reliably he cannot continue.
One of the questions that needs to be addressed is that the Ocean Race, ex Volvo Race will include these Open 60 yachts in 2022. Since they will be crewed It is likely that they will sail even harder than the solo sailors are doing in this Vendée Race. Looking at the retirements through damage so far, is the engineering of the current boats going to be able to cope with even harder pressure when the boats are crewed? We can all understand the quest for speeds and lightness to reduce resistance, the Open 60 class has always been a development class since we produced its first rules back in 1983 after the first BOC Challenge. So we must expect failures as sailors, designers and engineers push the boundaries. But has strength been sacrificed too much in the search for speed?
The Vendée has been fortunate so far. The only real danger to life was dealt with by Jean Le Cam picking up Escoffier after his boat folded. The remainder of those who have retired so far have realised that they cannot race effectively any longer and have damage that could be a threat to their lives and their boats. They have been able to make a safe port and not needed any assistance from the nearest rescue services. That is a credit to the sailors themselves. But with the Ocean Race there are going to be 5 lives at stake in each boat. Can we always rely on other competitors to rescue the crew from a damaged boat?
Sailors, whether we be solo or with crew have a responsibility to take care of ourselves so we don’t need to ask for assistance.
Yes, of course it was simpler 50 years ago when we did not have the communications that are available today. If we got into trouble it was difficult to ask for help anyway. It’s a different world today. If we have problems we can make instant satellite calls for help, (there were no satellites 50 years ago) and that assistance will be forthcoming. But surely we have a responsibility to ensure that we have the right boat, strong enough for the extreme conditions you experience in the Roaring Forties, and properly prepared so we don’t need to call on outside assistance? There will always be exceptions, and the rescue services will understand that, but they should always be the exceptions. We sailors who take on these challenges have a duty to make sure we are not an exception.