Coastguards in England and France are co-ordinating the rescue of three yachts in severe storms.
Two trimarans capsized about 280 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. A third lost its mast about 170 miles off the islands on Tuesday morning.



see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4416828.stm

I've explained it to them so many times! Take the righting line, stand of the stern, pull, and wait for the bow to come up!

The official name is Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV), its a bi-annual event that runs from Le Havre to Salvador-De-Bahia.

See also: Transat Jacques Vabre (TJV)

Two pictures of capsized and broken boats at:
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00337/SAILING_TRANSAT_JAC_337205h.jpg
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00337/SAILING_TRANSAT_JAC_337204h.jpg

Even one of norways largest newspapers found this worth a story: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article1152257.ece


It's amazing how well they float after being broken and pounded by the sea. Good move to paint the foils bright-orange.

The paper, Aftenposten, writes that non of the monohulls had any problems in the high winds, but that must be a gross understatement. As I have understood it, several monos have gone to the nearest harbour to do repairs.

I think that because the monos started a day before the multis, they were in a different weather system and not hit as badly.

You know, after looking at the picture, team Foncia doesn't look damaged. Maybe they could have benefitted from the "Hobie Bob" concept, or even the inflatable one...

the mono's got out into the open water off the continental shelf before the storm hit. When the tri's came out, they were facing some pretty fierce wave conditions.

In real bad wind, wouldn't you be better off turtled than sideways?

GARY

From the TJV Website:
"Medivac by helicopter for injured Franck Proffit.
At approximately 1750 GMT tonight, the 60ft multihull Groupama-2, skippered by French sailors Franck Cammas and Franck Proffit, capsized in a sudden squall 40 miles to the North East of Palma, heading towards the Canary Islands. The prevailing conditions at the time were classic Trade wind 25 – 30 knots from the North East. The trimaran was sailing downwind and it is presumed that therefore the hull pitchpoled on capsize but this is not confirmed. What we do know is that Franck Proffit was at the helm and was thrown violently forward, and has possibly broken his ribs. A helicopter has been sent from the Canaries to the zone to pick up Franck Proffit from the boat in order to give him immediate medical assistance."

IMHO pitchpoling a 60ft trimaran at 25kts in the middle of the ocean is about as bad as it gets. Maybe ledsleds are not so bad after all. (Maybe they should wear a chickenwire or a seatbelt or somethn).

I don't think we can put this down to being a trimaran or a monohull. This has far more to do with the individual class rules that are governing the ORMA 60 foot tris and the Open 60 foot monohulls. The ORMA boats are FAR more extreme because their rules allow them to be. The open 60 foot mono's have plenty of rules in the way of safety. ORMA boats are really designed for a race cirquits with day course and full complement of crews. Over the last years they have been increasingly used for ocean pasages, but in basis that was not their game, while it was for the open 60's. A reverse example would be to do an ocean pasage with Americas Cup mono hulls. How well would they stand up ?

Remember guys, that these ORMA boats are as wide as they are long and they are heavily overpowered in sailarea. If tri's or cat for designed from the bottom up for ocean pasages then I'm sure we will see less accidents. Of course the cats and tris of Peyron (orange etc) and Kerkauson have proven that but nailing the round the world record many times.

Wouter