Zezo forum:

Post by Gonads | 2017-12-12 | 18:29:15

I have got 4 of the real VORs (southern group) in my virtual sight.
So, I guess my route (so far) cant be all that bad.
Unfortunately my ranking in VR is like 40.000th. ppppppfffffffffffffffff

10 Comments

Post by zezo | 2017-12-12 | 18:31:34

Real boats have Ice Limits. North of Kerguelen Islands for starts.

So it is quite possible that the virtual track is quite different than the real in this leg in certain conditions.

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-12-12 | 21:21:36

I think they also want to avoid the extreme weather conditions that they will be facing if they go more south!!...Our situation is more confortable !!

Post by zezo | 2017-12-12 | 21:24:56

They will go to hell and back if that gives them time advantage and does not cross the red line ;-)

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-12-12 | 21:39:00

Yes but in real conditions, they would be significantly slowed down under those weather conditions I guess. With an average of 40 knots, I would expect that they can have winds of 60 knots or more at some stage. Don't want to test actually !

Post by zezo | 2017-12-12 | 21:52:49

It depends more on sea state. Waves/swell. Wind itself is not bad when going with it.

There were few cases of hull de-lamination, canting keel failure and other problems in the Southern ocean int he VO 70 era. That was one of the reasons to introduce a monotype boat.

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-12-12 | 23:32:37

I don't know which weather conditions generate waves, etc... The only thing I know is that I won't be able to do what they are doing!! So just fascinated actually.

Post by zezo | 2017-12-12 | 23:58:04

Simply said the wave size comes from two things - wind strength and distance it has to develop. That's the reason for the Southern ocean to be so fierce - it's one continuous ring of water with no continent to break the waves (and the wind).

Post by SnowPetrel | 2017-12-14 | 20:07:55

You're right, there's no place else like the Southern Ocean. One killer with big waves is their period relative to their size - distance between crests. That defines the steepness of the wall of water. New waves building under increasing winds will develop an unsustainable pitch. Storm-force winds can literally push over the tops of these water walls. After 48 hours, the period lengthens and the waves become high but widely spaced, maybe 0.5-1 km apart. But, the other killer is the speed these mountains are moving. The crests appear to rise and subside, but the underlying cycles can travel at 20 knots, maybe more. I traversed similar high latitudes in the North Pacific on large tankers for 20 years. These kinds of storm waves can reduce a 300 m ship to a fragile skiff.

Post by zezo | 2017-12-14 | 16:16:29

AkzoNobel slowed by mast damage

Post by MichelleWhy | 2017-12-14 | 18:50:32

Yeah, and at the worst moment in time. Not funny with headsail only in that sea state and while get completely rolled by the worst of then storm, No escape for them. Fingers crossed that all goes well!