I follow the Volvo Ocean Race. Currently, they are on Leg 2: Lisbon to Capetown.

The video below is of Scallywag, a 100' super maxi race yacht (monohull) out of Hong Kong. In it, you see a 100' boat come about as close to capsizing as you can get. The image looks like they are doing 20-25 knots in 10 foot swells.

When I was a teen I used to single hand small boats and drove them that hard until I broke the centerboard in our Thistle. I backed off after that.

ETA: Scallywag heeled to 54 degrees.



Leg 2 start.



That is hard sailing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sig2340,

That is incredible. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for posting this. Amazing boat speeds now days, it’s hard to believe how fast their mid ocean speeds are.

Those things are hauling butt,wow

I follow the VOR as well and have been to the Boston and the Newport stop overs. That was a great start to leg 2 yesterday. I watched it on the VOR app. They do a great job making it accessible to people.

Are you planning on going to Newport for the stop over?

Wow!
What are those boats like in heavy seas?

quote:

Originally posted by LoungeChair:
Wow!
What are those boats like in heavy seas?

Wet.

Inside and out.

These boats provide spartan accommodations for the crew. About what a second century galley slave got. Everything absolutely necessary is onboard, and of the lightest weight practicable, so the crew doesn't get anything not needed to row well, and live.

It looks like the hull is actually on plane on the water. Are they designed to do that?

Aside from that, I don't see any fun for those crews. Looks like brutally hard wet work.

RMD

Ocean going dinghies!

It's like a 505 on steroids.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Ocean going dinghies!

It's like a 505 on steroids.

Yep, 100 foot Lasers! What a ride! Skipper won't stay dry ducking behind crew on those rigs.

The Volvo museum in Göthenburg has a large exhibit with a racing yacht and all sorts of related items. I didn't even know Volvo was involved in such a race until I visited their museum. Those boats are pretty cool.

I had the opportunity to compete in several ocean races against some of the super maxi's at the time ( The series was known as the Whitbread at the time) in our relatively small one ton a few decades ago. The speed of those boats were phenomenal and pales in comparison to the maxi's now...

Interestingly, as noted above absolutely anything that was not crucial to the performance of the boat was left off...including the head... we had a setup that allowed us to strap in and hang our asses off the stern and do our business. As you can imagine you tried to time your business when the weather was a little calmer but that wasn't always possible!

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
It looks like the hull is actually on plane on the water. Are they designed to do that?

Aside from that, I don't see any fun for those crews. Looks like brutally hard wet work.

RMD

Yes, they are planing and they are designed to do it. There's some really amazing designs with keels that come up out of the water completely to reduce drag and foils on the leeward side of the boat that provide the lift the keel did to allow the boat to sail upwind.

Didn't they say the boat was running 30 knots and the winds were 20 - 25knots? How can they run FASTER than the wind? Just thinking about that makes my head hurt... Is it because they're not running directly with the wind, but rather quartering across it?

Yes. Quartering across the wind which is a point of sail called a reach allows the boat to exceed wind speed. Sails work as wings to generate lift which is the energy that moves the boat.

quote:

Originally posted by sreding:
Didn't they say the boat was running 30 knots and the winds were 20 - 25knots? How can they run FASTER than the wind? Just thinking about that makes my head hurt... Is it because they're not running directly with the wind, but rather quartering across it?

The short answer is yes. On a reach (where. The wind is perpendicular to you) you can indeed sail faster than the wind..
If you want to see crazy fast sailing Google Americas Cup Racing...that is truly insane!

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by sreding:
Didn't they say the boat was running 30 knots and the winds were 20 - 25knots? How can they run FASTER than the wind? Just thinking about that makes my head hurt... Is it because they're not running directly with the wind, but rather quartering across it?

The short answer is yes. On a reach (where. The wind is perpendicular to you) you can indeed sail faster than the wind..
If you want to see crazy fast sailing Google Americas Cup Racing...that is truly insane!

But those aren't real boats any more.

Multi-hull hydrofoils... They are basically low flying aircraft. Bleh.

Give me a gaff-rigged topsail schooner.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

I got half seasick just watching the videos.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by sreding:
Didn't they say the boat was running 30 knots and the winds were 20 - 25knots? How can they run FASTER than the wind? Just thinking about that makes my head hurt... Is it because they're not running directly with the wind, but rather quartering across it?

The short answer is yes. On a reach (where. The wind is perpendicular to you) you can indeed sail faster than the wind..
If you want to see crazy fast sailing Google Americas Cup Racing...that is truly insane!

But those aren't real boats any more.

Multi-hull hydrofoils... They are basically low flying aircraft. Bleh.

Give me a gaff-rigged topsail schooner.

Besides being hydrofoils, they also use a rigid carbon fiber wing as their main sail instead of a piece of fabric.

They do make impressive speed though, they sometimes hit 40+ knots in 20 knot winds.

If you wonder about the difference between displacement yachts and the modern multi-hull hydrofoils, watch this video.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/dBKcSIK4dBU