Vendee Globe on a Painted ocean

 

Start day

The Vendée Globe race began today 10 Nov 2024 at 12:02z from Les Sables-d’Olonne in Vendée.

40 solo sailors compete in a non-stop race around the world. The ships are 60-foot (18.3-meter) IMOCA class racing boats. 

You can follow the race live online, and join the competition in several online sailing simulators, but I’ve chosen to sail the virtual race in "Painted Ocean" a unique, unfinished alpha simulator featuring a square-rigged frigate. While the simulator doesn’t provide real-time weather updates, I’m using windy to determine the actual wind, and manually adjust these into the simulator.

I keep a log of trip in Excel and use Google Earth to plot the tracks, of myself and a few favourite boats in the real race.

The Vendée Globe is a race to be won by the best of the best, but such a race is also a test of endurance. Not all skippers will make it to the end. Let's see how far we can keep up with the fleet..

Day 0 +6 H 18:18z

Night has set in, conditions are still calm with 4 knots wind from the east. I only made 17 track miles and drifted 47 degrees of course to the south.

All 16 sails are set, and I'm on a broad reach to make the best speed out of this calm zone.

With the high pressure in the south, I expect more winds in the northern parts of the Gulf.

Day 0 +9 H 21:45z

A small course change before midnight.

Winds have picked up to a moderate North Easterly; Very favourable, although I have to make a southing as well, at the cost of a fraction of the speed I set course 260 for now.

Day 0 +14 H 02:35z

The wind is unchanged in direction and decreased 2 knots to an average of 12.

Day 0 +21 H 09:43z

The shortest course is directly downwind, however I can either go west or south to have optimum ship speed. Alternating this gives an average of south-west, although with more track miles.

Going south would get me closer to the Spanish coast, where the winds might become unpredictable and also should the wind shift to a westerly, I'd have to go north to get out of the Bay. So going West by South seems to be the best option for now.

The IMOCA fleet was very close together last night, but it seems to be spreading out slowly. You can see their same dilemma of not sailing directly downwind but stepping down the ladder downwind. The faster ships have less risk of staying behind and facing headwinds in the last parts of the Bay, so they dare sail a little more southerly than I.

The game a Painted Ocean is made by the very talented Neil Thapen.
Please download it and encourage him to continue developing this game.
https://thapen.itch.io/painted-ocean