The Volvo Ocean Race was broadcast on OLN yesterday. OMG.
The Open 70's are pure rocket power!!!! I Tivo'd it and will undoubtedly watch it 4-5 X before erasing it. What a sight to see boats that size literally skipping across waves.
One observation though is that there is a ton of breakage. Seems a team would be well advised to overbuild and take the hit on the 20 % of the score for the inshore match raceing. Lots of Canting Keel failures.
Ok, threadkiller here with an update. The boats have left New York 4 days and 1000 miles mostly beating.
ABN Amro one is almost to the point where the wind will shift from east to west to straight south. With the lead they currently have it should turn into a sleigh ride with winds on the beam. You can see the wind flags in this screenshot if you click on it and enlarge.
This doesnt bode well for my dark horse "Pirates of the carribean, Black pearl"
(Hows that for padding my total. An entire thread dominated by me- threadkiller!!)
Go ahead make fun of the wierd kid see if I care. I was just baffled that this hasnt come up before I posted it. Thats the most exciting sailing I've ever seen.
Monohulls that can top 40 kts, 22 kt avg over a 24 hour period.
The R33 Cat comes with a standard, easy to sail 48-foot rig and an easy to slip 14-foot beam and rates a blistering -80 PHRF. At only 2975 pounds this cat offers better performance and incredible deck space and comfort that other boats can't offer...all at an extremely competitive value. Information Sheet
A sad day yesterday in the volvo Ocean race. Dutch sailor Hans Horrevoets went overboard on ABN Amro 2 and was found only after 40 mins. He died later that day on board ABN Amro 2. Incredible that they even found him again. In a pitch dark night in the middle of the Atlantic. http://team.abnamro.com/
The photo of his little one waving good-bye as they headed out of NY just about broke my heart with sweetness when I saw it the day it was taken, but then when Hans died it just set me into tears. Bless all sailors who have gone before us. For those who have not seen it...
