All News & Thoughts
France moves into lockdown tonight till Dec. 1st. The Vendee Globe Village will close. The Race will go ahead without the crowds. BRAVO to the Vendee Globe organisers and Les Sables d'Olonne..Keep the spirit and the world still watches!! The #GGR2022 Press conference planned for the 5th NOV will probably Jean Luc Van Den Heedemeetings today to discuss it. Jean Luc Van Den Heede #GGR2018 yacht Matmut ( now owned by GGR 22 entrant Graham Dalton) is at the village and today we were about to put up a huge GGR banner on the boat and flags etc for the crowds. Still a crazy world hey!! but the Race is ON!!
Vendee Globe and GGR have got to be the ultimate social distancing sport.
But would we allow it in the GGR?? maybe...maybe not? but some parts probably! as the cheap satellite time will open many more opportunities :)..will they system be available in 2022..Maybe? #GGR2022 ..what do you think??
www.starlink.com/?fbclid=IwAR3yHX7vBBVbt-SnUxBHUNivYzPhQvaT1ZiJIZ2w_rZbcqPdnUkbnmb3rbQ
It's a great idea to have this kind of coverage available all over the planet. Good for emergency backup with both the GGR and OGR.
I loved the first ggr and the spirit of being able to do it without millions in equipment and boat. That said, 50+ years later, some pedestrian, cheap technology should be allowed following a strict budget for gps and communication. Allowing for say, under $3-$5000 total for electronics would not raise the entry bar in any real way while allowing for greater safety and entertaining us with better updates. Some racers were already getting weather and position reports by radio it seemed so that cat is jot going back into the bag.
The ability to communicate our story, video, photos tremendous opportunity, weather safety!!!!
Et combien vont-ils en mettre sur orbite? 10000? 20000? Plus ? Apparemment 42000 Ajouté à tous ceux qui traînent déjà...
Moitessier n'en avait pas besoin. Avec ces systèmes, ce ne sera plus la GGR.
I wouldn't like to see it in the GGR nor in the OGR, but it could be interesting in the Class Globe 5.80 events... (just my two pence)
Personally I do not wish to live in a microwave, which is basically a world completely covered by internet access. And no I am not sitting here typing away with an aluminium foil cap on 😉 Big fan of technology when it is appropriately used and not controlled by mega corporations whose ethics and motivations I question. Sure internet access is important these days and yes I run a small on-line business myself, but if the internet is a little slow it's not the end of the world. Just go make yourself a cuppa or stand outside for a fresh air break. This is an unnecessary use of technology whose potential dangers outweigh the benefits, and is basically being used so huge corporations can sell more crap to more people in more parts of the world. Apparently, where the satellites will be sitting will cause disturbances in the part of the earths atmosphere controlling the weather (?) Considering recent weather events and the increasing severity of storms I don't think we need any further disturbances, do you? Ok, sure, will make for a more dramatic GGR and other sailing events, but also dangerous for the sailors, no? The heat generated by the frequencies emitted would be having an effect on the warming of the climate, think Arctic, and now the Antarctic melting, etc. Pollinating insects are particularly at risk of such electro magnetic disturbance, humans too, and I could go on but no-one is probably still reading anyway. So it's a no from me...🤔
GGR Entrant Live interview NO. 22 with UK Entry Ertan Beskardes.
Thank you Don, Jane, Aida, GGR team and everyone for joining us this afternoon.
How about having some of the last ggr18 skippers being interviewed over the next few weeks :)
Good luck with the preparation, Ertan , it was so good to hear about you ! ❤️
Very nice to watch Ertan Beskardes!
You've come a long way since the ramshackle row boat we used to go out on every other weekend that you built in the front garden!!!
I hope this time i will be at the start to support and see the wonderful event
Round manholes...so they cannot fall down the hole.
Another great interview, thanks Don.
ertan... the nicest man around!
Hi from Bournemouth/Southampton 😁👌🏽
👋hello Ertan. Bonjour à tous.
The girls are watching you 💞
Certainly a lot of people following and enjoying vicariously
Stock answers!!🤣🤣
Tnx again.
Yeah I think a “tastefull” pattern like the Australian jacket Bob Hawke wore when Australia II won the America’s Cup would do the trick!
Can you also cover how you manage to talk your wife into letting me enter ??
If you already interviewed all the GGR entrants , you and Jane should answer next week ! 😊😇
Super interview Don and Ertan!! I'm all in for the Blazers 😊
My vote for next week - Old Salts again please!🤣👍
Thank you for the enjoyable interview! All the best !!
Good to hear Ertand!
Good to be enjoying this live for a change
Damn ! I forgot that we changed hour in France last Saturday.... Long live the replay ! 😃
Great interview!
PUMPS are very important! #GGR2022Hi Team,
More plumbing progress this week again thanks to our friends at Whale.
We have 3 new shinny electric bilge pumps now installed, with a Gulper "high and dry" for the small bilge area created by fitting the new water tanks, a high volume Orca model in my upper bilge area (this will also have an alarm fitted) and in the forward bilge, a rather smart yellow Gulper IC model which is also "high and dry" having a water level sensor fitted to the pick up head. All very cool kit.
Like Istvan Kopar Solo Circumnavigator in the last Golden Globe Race, I'm also relying on Whale's classic Mk5 manual units (which I believe have been around since the 60's) for hand pumping, following Istvan's design we will have 2 below decks, one in the cockpit and dare I say one in the heads ;).
Finally to make sure we can get all that water out of the boat we've rerouted and updated all the pipework and added two additional seacocks on the transom.
Thanks again to the Whale Pumps team, David Arnaud for his technical support and Scott Orr for pulling it all together for us, I think we're going to be in good shape on this front!
*Note: This work was carried out before the local lockdown in the area.
Weeks flies... We almost met all our #GGR2022 Entrants, this week Tuesday Facebook Live we will have our old friend Ertan Beskardes and his Rustler 36 "Lazy Otter", don't miss out 😉😊
Two weeks to go!! Vendée Globe 2020... #GGR2022
Embarquez pour 2min de sensations fortes à bord des IMOCA du Vendée Globe. Un avant-goût d'un tour du monde unique, en solitaire, sans escale et sans assistance. 🌍
Rendez-vous dans 1 mois aux Sables d'Olonne pour le grand départ ! 🏁
[#VG2020 M-1 🎥 Official teaser]
Embark for 2min of adrenaline rush aboard the IMOCA of the Vendée Globe. A preview of a unique, solo, non-stop, and without assistance round the world sailing race. 🌍
See you in 1 month in Les Sables d'Olonne for the big departure! 🏁
c'est un truc de fou ! comme ça va vite !et moi avec mes 6 ;7 nds ahah
Joao Vitor Machado Cabral
WOW! I admire Alex Thomson Racing greatly and want him to win the spectacular Vendée Globe. I like this video too as it shows life onboard for the sailors with the latest generation foiling enclosed cockpit yachts. When the French sailing magazine Voiles et Voiliers posted it on Facebook, I was surprised and a little shocked to see that around 75% of French comments had a common theme about the loss of romance in sailing now and less human element. . Here are some of those comments...The #GGR2022 is certainly different. You decide....Go Alex!!!!
# Where is the pleasure of navigating? I'll follow the performance but I don't want to!
# Finally, with the 5 G, we can do the Vendée, ′′ boat ′′ empty, from the Palavas campsite, the floods... It will be the same and meta telemetry, IA, etc...
# If power outage, maybe he'll get his head outside? I don't wish him because Alex is a super sailor!
# Feeling speed is summed up by noise and speed indication, to observe the slide is behind a porthole, and through a camera, the pleasure of performance is summed up more than computing inside a drum of washing machine... he must be much happier on his kitesurf or kitefoil, or one can enjoy the very essence of the pleasure of speed on the water
# Basically you're computer scientist, you're good for the wind of (sell) globes
# What a horror sailing like this!
# Looks like Chaplin in modern times!
# Very little for me!
# And when I often say it's not veil anymore I think I'm right! This is mechanical sports! Some kind of terminator on the water!
# The anxiety of electric black out!!!!
# it must be way better outside than inside don't you have to be depressed? before the sailors it was 70 % outside??? and they even had time to write books, to contemplate.....
# Looks like a gym with screens!
# Ah what a horror, his eyes are continuously fixed on screens!!
# It's true that it doesn't make you want! Under the equator it will heat up in there.
# It's not piano anymore, it's a conductor, but soloist...
# It becomes the 1st oceanaut!
# It's not sailing anymore it's Formula 1 highly high tech!
# This vibe is really weird. Very, too far away from the sailing. He's running a machine. How to body with your boat and the sea in these conditions. He only feels his boat through the screens and stats of these settings. It breaks the dream, even if the discipline remains enormous at the sporting and adventure level.
# Thank you, we agree. With all these help it loses the whole side of the sport
# I was thinking the same thing! I prefer my hobycat 100 times!
# I admire but I don't envy it!... technology is impressive but reliability on a world tour questions me! Driving such a 100 % machine seems superhuman!
# Who did he kill to be locked in a black cell like this for 3 months? Not to mention the noise...
# We're far from pleasure and family cruise, not tempted at all.
# It's very impressive but it doesn't sell dream. Is this still sailing locked in a box to pull on ends in front of screens?
# In any case, the all-black atmosphere is really depressing, it will take a steel mind to keep psychological during this world tour.
# A horror? a maso thing.. I understand less it's sailboats far from the golden globe and its human boats... where is the pleasure in there???
# Cash on the water it destroyed the state of mind a bit all over the world with charters, rented locals boats and I'm going on
# This doesn't make me dream. What does Jean-Luc VDH think of this casino?
# Oh the resonance box.... something to go crazy especially with this black color
# What are sailors doing in this struggle? this type of navigation doesn't make me want at all....
# but this is actually horrible
# it breaks the dream!
VIDÉO. Alex Thomson à l’action dans le bunker d’Hugo Boss. Voici comment il fera son Vendée Globe
voilesetvoiliers.ouest-france.fr
Alex Thomson à l’action dans son cockpit, cœur nucléaire de son Hugo Boss futuriste. Cette vidéo fera sans doute date dans les écoles de croisière et au sein des grands teams de course. On voit tout, on comprend tout ou presque. On comprend en tout cas comment se déroulera son prochain Vend...Ahh just wait another four years... my guess is that most of the new boats will use a similar concept all these people complaining right now will hail the new designs
The ‘romance’ of sailing for me is contemplating, with looking for a gentle balance between waves and wind, always looking for elegant progress. Listening to comforting noises, needing patience to overcome the ‘in betweens’. I guess in that sense the Vendee Globe is like a selfchosen torture of body and brain. Nevertheless, exciting! Who will be the winner? Of course someone who deserves it, anybody.
Alex Thomson mérite de gagner, car c'est un grand marin, qui n'a plus rien à prouver. Avec ce projet, nous sommes entre modernité et passé, avec toutes ces ''ficelles'' à tirer. Alex est un précuseur de la voile, une sorte de Jules Verne avec son monstre marin...
J'espère bien que Alex va gagner. Cela fera aussi du bien a cette course
beautifull , allez Alex !
Most of the boats have gone with a more enclosed cockpit, and they all have an array of computer screens. Most of the time is spent plotting and trimming, not at the helm as that is mostly auto anyways. Frenchies are just upset that they may lose the title to a foreigner
Wonder how easy these boats will be to fix during the race when things go a bit wrong which they inevitably will? They have to be high tech but also very robust too. A race of attrition? Awesome boat!
It’s all the same comments you get across all of the high tech sailing now. “This isn’t sailing” blah blah blah. Every sport moves forward! IMO this new boat is epic.
It's just the NASCAR version of boating. Similar fans, similar amount of money dumped into the sport, lots of camera angles and broadcasting, lots of advertising. Sailors transitioning to technicians. Reading instruments instead of the wind. I wonder how far we are away from most of it being automated. Where are the "Sailor" it's only really need it when something goes wrong. Alarms go off, they get up out of their bunk, they read the print out, and then they go fix the problem and reset the computer error alarms. 😉
‘Sailed’ a Class 40 from the Azores to the UK and it was bizarre to hardly touch the tiller. The auto helm was immaculate but it did rather take away something from the adventure!
It's state of the art and hopefully alex will come home in 1st place as is so capable and a fantastic sailor
To me the difference between these boats and those of 25 years ago, is like the Formula 1 cars today driving an oval track and driving a Triumph TR6 through the mountains. I'll take the Triumph you can have these boats
He made his choices because he knows what he wants to achieve... He is very experienced... so he should win... but there's always a part of luck in these things, and the opponents are strong too... About the comments, it's all good news for events like GGR, OGR and MGR, people want stories, you can't feel the speed of a boat looking a screen...
Pourquoi êtes vous choqué par les propos des français ? Libre à certains d'entre nous de ne pas aimer ce type de navigation et de préférer celle des marins de la GGR. Nous n'avons jamais dit qu'Alex Thompson n'était pas un grand marin. Je suis d'accord avec vous il mérite certainement de gagner et nous suivrons sa performance avec intérêt. Que le meilleur gagne et peu importe sa nationalité ! :-)
What’s it going to be like in there in the doldrums when it hot and humid and no air movement?!
Bon, c’est pas vraiment ma tasse de thé mais il faut reconnaître que c’est assez impressionnant !
I wonder what Moitessier would think?
#GGR2018 can get you into HOLLYWOOD!!! 🤪🤣 #GGR2022
Hénaff
La célèbre scène de la célèbre cuisine du célèbre film Les Tontons Flingueurs parodiée par des navigateurs célèbres.
Réalisation : Romain Mullard.
Merci au festival du polar d'Annecy, qui nous a laissé utiliser leur nom : www.lespontonsflingueurs.com
ahah depuis que Jean Luc a parlé du pâté Hénaff, j'arrête pas d'en acheter , c'est sur j'aurais mon pâté hénaff pour le Horn ahah ,Merci Capt Jean Luc Van Den Heede
Excellent ! Les 2!
Hénaff : the best long long life shelve steak onboard . Thank you Hénaff Finistère Brittany France.
Today's Weather for the virtual #GGR2022 fleet now headed to Cape Town film drop! Thanks Mike! :)
Mark McCarthy ... :)
I only do the real thing!
#GGR2022 at the Vendee Globe Race village.. :)
Les Sables d'Olonne Agglomération
🎥 Replay " Les Invités du Jour " édition spéciale Golden Globe Race avec Don McIntyre, Jean Luc Van Den Heede et Aïda Valceanu.
Vendée Globe Département de la Vendée Région Pays de la Loire IMOCA Globe Series
Super ! ça fait toujours plaisir de vous revoir , ,non on a pas oublié l'émotion de la GGR 2018, ça c'est sur , bien au contraire ,
pourquoi votre masque n'arrête pas de tomber , il est trop grand ou quoi ,
It may look like we were having fun at the Vendee Globe village in
Les Sables d'Olonne...but actually Yannick Moreau Jean Luc Van Den Heede Aida Ogr and me were actually working... ( having fun!) Watch the video...very cool! Bravo Jean luc VDH... #GGR2022
Well done, you lucky guys ;)
😀
A place to call HOME!! Les Sables d'Olonne the world centre of solo sailing :) #GGR2022
Haha, I have a video for you 😊
You need a flat 😊
Aida Ogr who worked with us in #GGR2018 will again be part of our #GGR2022 team and has created her own, very popular LLes Sables d'Olonne. Here is part 2 of this weeks show talking about the Vendee Globe Film Festival in Les Sables d'Olonne to include an 8 minute segment of the GGR 2018 Documentary.
La télé des Sables
Vendée Globe, festival du film de mer, Golden Globe Race, photographie avec Nathalie ... le Mag de la semaine, deuxième partie , c’est parti ! 😊
Great interview Don and Aïda 👍👍💞 And i am so happy to hear that Abhilash Tomy may be back again!!🙏👍❤️ I was so worried 😔 😱 for him until he was rescued by the Osiris team 💪. Such an emotional time/part of the GGR⛵️ 2018!!! 🙏💞
The Vendee Globe has a lot of fast flying footage...but even here many are starting to realise the human story is more powerful that the latest designs and Euro$1mill foils. Make no mistake, the #GGR2022 is a Race and 220 days Solo, Non-Stop and Unassisted is serious! but without technology, in complete isolation not able to call home, is UNIQUE in the world. The Golden Globe is the longest, loneliest, most extreme competition in any sport on the planet....it's that simple and it is "All about the stories". We still have places available for entrants :) ..In search of a challenge, a record, or an adrenaline rush, the sailors participating in the Vendée Globe are constantly testing their boundaries and pushing ...
That is why with the know how from various crewed races, install cameras 24 hour coverage, above force 7, that is what the crowd wants to see, if a yacht reports damage on that camera, super ill automatic on that camera, if the skipper wants to tell a stupid story on that camara, make the electricity available and get some sailing juice on our screens.
GGR Entrant Live interview NO. 21 with Australian Entry Captain Coconut Mark Sinclair.
Ask Coconut if he is touring South Africa this time around.
Question for Mark - how do you plan to deal with the Battle of the Barnacles or will it be top secret ! Yvonne in Falmouth ☘️⚓️☘️
Love the rawness that is GGR, even off the water!
If our "fat lady sings" we will be at Le Sables in 2022!!
Thanks guys, always entertaining
Well done again guys!! Thankyou..
.shackles??? I thought the GGR was a solo effort. Haha, not sure what the shackles will be for. Maybe he means Shackleton?
Slow circums are good!!
Hi from Cape Town Don.
I'm here!!
Coconut!
lol, that pronunciation was horrible :)
Hi Mark a nd Don! Wishing you all the best!
We need more Aussies :)
Hello, I'm ready for a good laugh ;)
Hi Ertan u looking good
Hello from Oslo😊
Hi Capt’n Coco-nut
Hello from Uruguay. Good luck. God bless you. Abrazo.
Nottingham here
Good day mate
Hi folks, greetings from sunny Falmouth
What are you passionate about? Sailing I hope...🤨😂
Afternoon Ertan! Looking well!
Hey Capn Coconut!!!
Our only Italian entry is finally out training in his beautiful and potentially fast Vancouver 34!! with plenty of time between now and the start of #GGR2022 ....looking good indeed!Last week Hannah and I finally took to sea after long months and years of hard work and yard sessions, only interrupted
by sporadic sailing stints of some hours around Punta Ala in very benign summery breezes.
The time has finally arrived for some serious sailing in conditions which promise to be testing for both boat and skipper given they will take place in the Autumn, Winter and 2021 Spring seasons . A lot of work remains to be done, but the major projects have been completed and it's time to refine the details that only spending time on the water can solve.
The original plan was to start sailing Hannah at the beginning of September to gradually build up training to the more trying conditions of the Winter months. Unfortunately COVID 19 had set us back three months and only the brilliant and untiring work of the whole team has allowed us to make up for most of that lost time.
Now it's time to have some serious fun on the water and do a bit of constructive damage to understand the limits of boat and skipper, overcome them and push onto the next phase. Let the games begin !
Looking great Guido
Yeah, it's him, Captain Coconut Mark Sinclair, no need to say too much for now🤣 Don't miss out this Tuesday Live😉
This’ll be a good ‘un for sure!
Today is all about the Vendée Globe race village official opening..I was happy to be invited and Aida made a great walking live before the public crowds, just for official guests and you if you feel like it. All the skippers were present. You will see our GOLDEN Globe "Gold" office in the background!! 😉😁 #GGR2022 Bravo Les Sables d'Olonne and all organisers and entrants for making this event happen in tough times!!...
La télé des Sables
Inauguration village #vendeeglobe2020 . De bon matin 😅
Oh, comme ils nous rappellent de si bons souvenirs de la GGR, ces pontons ... 😊
mais non Aida , merci c'est génial ( non ça va it is perfect
magnifique!!! un peu d air enfin!!
magnifique!!!
MAGNIFIQUE!!!!!!!
merci ,oh que j'ai hâte aussi et surtout la GGR 22 , mais là c'est aussi extraordinaire , merci pour la vidéo , pour les passionné(e)s qui sont loin des sables , faite que la météo se maintienne ,
Welcome to Les Sables d’Olonne to all sea lovers !
With the masked skippers waiting on their boat to meet the public, I have a strange feeling of visiting a zoo ... Anyway I'm so happy that all of this can happen... 😃 Congrats to all the organizers...
In case you have not seen them..the entrants of the 2020 Vendee Globe, starts NOV. 8th. #GGR2022
Exciting two years ahead... Vendee rolling into America's Cup & Sail GP building us up for Golden Globe and Ocean Race 🙌
merci , ça fera un beau tableau
So excited..
Latest estimate and weather conditions for the #GGR2022 fleet if running today!! ...Thanks Mike!
