VENDEE GLOBE 2008-2009

This edition is a success It saw a great number of participants and does not have to deplore any human drama.

Many researches , more rigourous ship building and a good preparation led to faster boats, but also to a doubling of the price and an increase in the reliability of the details, not necessarely of the reliability of the main points (keel, rudder, mast).

Moreover, in the future, human and financial efforts invested in this race should take more into accounts the present worries :
- Economic austerity
- Ecological changes
- Progress of safety and technics
_ to improve the image of sailing by giving it an image universalist and useful.

Conclusion of the last Vendée Globe

With regard to the breakages there are proportionally more breakages on the most recent sailing boats and more with the leading boats.
The origins are : bad luck, lightening and the contraints imposed by the runners.

1. How to improve?

A) The architects Works
The architects, the calculators and the manufacturers must progress to increase the resistance of certain parts of the sailing boat.
This had already been evoked when the stability of the sailing boat was increased.
This necessary minimum increase of stability caused the lightening of the sails, keel and masts.
It is not desirable to set up additional rules, on the other hand it would be well to share the experiments of all the actors especially when they are unhappy. That would allow to see what holds, what breaks, and to discuss to understand why these accidents occured.
It would be better that the plans of the sailing boats, as well as measurements taken to check construction (tests, controls, etc…) deposited at the beginning of the race, should be public and discussed with the other participants on arrival.
One could study only the sailing boats who had problems, but it would be unpleasant for the actors concerned , and that would encourage to hide the problems.
But it is necessary that at least the contraints and the safety margins taken into account on departure by each one should be known, so that all can progress and especially that the sailing boats would be safer.

The big problem is to overcome the ego of the architects and of the calculators. The architects are very reserved to expose the little they know and are convinced to have a technical superiority on the others, whereas their knowledge is limited and that work of each one are very quickly known by their competitors, unfortunately partially without knowing ins and outs. However this exchange would be beneficial to all of them.

In the scientific research, the exchanges are the main key of progress for two centuries.

These exchanges should be done with the support of the insurance companies, which are recipients in the savings made thanks to a greater reliability of the sailing boats.

If one does not make progress from a point of view of safety these sailing boats, in the long term, this type of race will disappear.

B) Work of the runners

The behaviour of the keels is linked to the study, the safety margins and construction. On the other hand, the behaviour of the masts is also due to the use which is made by the runners.
Only a very good knowledge of the limits of its sailing boat by the runner makes it possible to avoid such events. This training of the limits of the sailing boat should be done before the race.

During the race, to support this knowledge, measurements in real time (Accelerator???, strain gauge) permanently inform the runner about the limits of the sailing boat and its state of strain.
Moreover, recorded measurements allow to better know the contraints to have a better design and better construction of the sailing boats .
The installation of these measuring instruments has been already practised at the time of previous races, but the results were not enough exploited or discussed.

2) To fall under the great turning of the ecological change

It would be logical
- that these sailing boats should be nonrenewable energy savers
- that the rules of Vendée Globe authorizes and supports, or imposes sailing boats without any external energy. The energy on board comes from wind and sun.
- that one authorize the electric propulsion with one or two hours of autonomy
- that one favours energy saving (automatic pilot system, electronics on board, transmissions…).

These points are a mine of research for the sailing boats of tomorrow.

Jean Marie Finot,   le  20/3/09