Dick and Peyron win the Barcelona World Race

From VendeeGlobe

Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron have just won the second edition of the Barcelona World Race, the double-handed race around the world starting and ending in the Spanish port.
This win rewards an experienced, solid duo, whose combined skills enabled them to sail an exemplary race aboard Virbac-Paprec 3.
Unless they suffer some last minute damage, the Spaniards on Mapfre and Renault Z.E are likely to complete the podium in a race marked by the retiral of four crews that were expected to do well: Président, Foncia, Groupe Bel and Mirabaud.

We look back today at the key moments in these past three months of racing.

By winning the Barcelona World Race on Monday, Jean-Pierre Dick has achieved his second victory in this event, while Loïck Peyron adds another line to his remarkable list of achievements.
The magic certainly worked between these two experienced sailors, enabling them to dominate the race almost from start to finish, in spite of two pit stops in Recife and in Wellington.
But winning was no easy matter, as Jean-Pierre Dick stressed on the eve of this win by Virbac-Paprec 3 : “The competition was tougher this time (tougher than in the first edition three years ago, editor’s note) with a playmate to keep us company from the outset (Foncia). Then after New Zealand, we had to fight it out with MAPFRE right up to the finish. It was only when we were in the Indian Ocean that we really found ourselves alone.”

Duel at the front
Barcelona, 31st December 2010.
Fourteen duos crossed the starting line of the Barcelona World Race.
Very early on a duel developed between Virbac-Paprec 3 and Foncia, who were the first two boats to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar.
The start of the race was marked by the forced retiral of Jean Le Cam and Bruno Garcia, following on from the dismasting of their Président.
At the front, the duos of Dick/Peyron and Desjoyeaux/Gabart stuck with each other and both put into Recife in Brazil for a pit stop.
The battle continued until Foncia was dismasted in the South Atlantic a few miles from the Cape of Good Hope.
Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart were reluctantly forced out of the race.
Virbac-Paprec 3 began to tackle the southern ocean with a comfortable lead over the boats chasing after them, MAPFRE, Groupe Bel and Estrella Damm.
Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron were all alone at the front in the Indian Ocean and were the first to cross the longitude of Cape Leeuwin.
But when they were forced to put into Wellington for a pit stop, the suspense built again.

MAPFRE manages to keep up, while Groupe Bel retires
The pit-stop lasted 48 hours and they set off again just 128 miles ahead of Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez, who achieved a remarkable recovery on board MAPFRE, the boat aboard which Michel Desjoyeaux won the last Vendée Globe.
Constantly on the attack, the Spaniards clawed back the miles and almost grabbed the lead.
Behind them, Estrella Damm and Groupe Bel carried out a pit stop in Wellington.
This situation benefited Pachi Rivero and Pepe Ribes, who took third place aboard Renault Z.E.
Still at the front, Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron extended their lead as they approached Cape Horn, and went on to round it with a good lead.
On board Groupe Bel, Kito de Pavant and Sébastien Audigane rounded the Horn too, but were forced to retire with a damaged keel. Kito de Pavant would not complete his first round the world voyage.
“This was a difficult decision, as we have completed the hard part of this Barcelona World Race, “ he explained, before adding, “It is of course very frustrating, as we just had the Atlantic left and we had hoped to continue the fight to earn our place on the podium.”

Dick-Peyron a winning duo

Dick and Peyron in control
A few days later, Mirabaud was dismasted after rounding Cape Horn.
The adventure was over for Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret, after their third place in the first edition of the race.
At the same time, Dick and Peyron were continuing their climb up the Atlantic.
But stuck in the Doldrums that were particularly active, they saw their lead over Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez melt away as they were slowed down much less in the intertropical convergence zone.
But the French were to recover and extend their lead again.
The two crews went into stealth mode as they rounded the Azores high, but this little trick was not to change anything on the ground. Virbac-Paprec 3 could be confident of winning the race unless they suffered some damage.
With strong headwinds and boat-breaking seas, the end of the race was particularly tough on the leaders. As they passed Gibraltar, the boat experienced the worst conditions since the start of the race. After this violent episode, they were to find themselves becalmed.
The Mediterranean certainly lived up to its reputation.
Virbac-Paprec 3 went on to cross the finishing line at 10h20 GMT on Monday, after 93 days 22 hours and 20 minutes of racing.

Second place
Unless there is a major upset, MAPFRE is set to take second place today.
A fine result for this crew, who managed to make up for their lack of experience by showing faultless determination.
Renault Z.E will almost certainly take third place, thus confirming the overall improvements in Spanish sailing.
Thanks to some good strategic choices, Pachi Rivero and Pepe Ribes managed to ward of the repeated attacks of Estrella Damm and Neutrogena, respectively in fourth and fifth place on Monday.
After Central Lechera Asturiana was forced to turn back and head for New Zealand this Monday morning, four other duos are continuing towards Barcelona: GAES Centros Auditivos, Hugo Boss, Forum Maritim Catala and We Are Water.
They have all had their own problems. Only Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella, aboard GAES Centros Auditivos, have not carried out a pit stop.
With large gaps between them, these crews now only have one real ambition and that is to complete their round the world voyage.

Links :

• TheDailySail : Well earned victory
• YachtPals : Barcelona World Race winners
• Marine GeoGarage blog : Barcelona WR, second edition for the two-handed world race

Deep-sea volcanoes don’t just produce lava flows, they also explode!

Underwater volcanic eruptions and magma flows on the sea floor have been seen
for the first time ever thanks to video captured by NOAA

From McGill University

McGill geology researchers’ discovery of high concentrations of CO2 at mid-ocean ridges confirms explosive nature of certain volcanic eruptions

Between 75 and 80 per cent of all volcanic activity on Earth takes place at deep-sea, mid-ocean ridges.
Most of these volcanoes produce effusive lava flows rather than explosive eruptions, both because the levels of magmatic gas (which fuel the explosions and are made up of a variety of components, including, most importantly CO2) tend to be low, and because the volcanoes are under a lot of pressure from the surrounding water.

Over about the last 10 years however, geologists have nevertheless speculated, based on the presence of volcanic ash in certain sites, that explosive eruptions can also occur in deep-sea volcanoes.

But no one has been able to prove it until now.

By using an ion microprobe, Christoph Helo, a PhD student in McGill’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has now discovered very high concentrations of CO2 in droplets of magma trapped within crystals recovered from volcanic ash deposits on Axial Volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of Oregon.

These entrapped droplets represent the state of the magma prior to eruption.
As a result, Helo and fellow researchers from McGill, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, have been able to prove that explosive eruptions can indeed occur in deep-sea volcanoes.
Their work also shows that the release of CO2 from the deeper mantle to the Earth’s atmosphere, at least in certain parts of mid-ocean ridges, is much higher than had previously been imagined.

Given that mid-ocean ridges constitute the largest volcanic system on Earth, this discovery has important implications for the global carbon cycle which have yet to be explored.

Links :

• Nature : Explosive eruptions at mid-ocean ridges driven by CO2-rich magmas
• NOAA : Scientists discover and image explosive deep-ocean volcano (video)
  
• YouTube : Undersea volcano eruption 2009 (Tonga )
  

Fat Irish barrels at Mullaghmore Head

Shambles "A day in the life" from Peter Martin

Mullaghmore Head 05/10/2010 from Peter Martin

Mullaghmore Head "Tow in Surf Session" from Mully Productions

-> localization with the Marine GeoGarage

Why geography matters

A look behind the scenes into why Geography matters, as students around the country prepare for the 2011 National Geographic Bee.
Learn why it's important from an Ocean Explorer, Global Rower and Adventurer.

Thomas Coville : close, but no cigar

Solo round the world sailing record attempt : Sodebo's 'Etch-A-Sketch' finish

From TheDailySail

After setting out on Saturday 29 January at 11:07:28 GMT on his attempt to break the solo round the world record, Thomas Coville and his 105ft maxi-trimaran Sodebo crossed the finish line off Ushant today, Thursday 31 March at 12:15 GMT) after 61 days, 7 minutes and 32 seconds at sea.
This was 3 days, 10 hours, 43 minutes and 26 seconds longer than the time of 57 days 13 hours 34 minutes and seconds Francis Joyon managed aboard IDEC when he set the record in 2008.

Ironically now the numbers have been crunched Sodebo's latest lap may have taken longer but was actually carried out at a faster speed than Joyon's.
Sodebo covered 28,431 miles at an average of 19.42 knots, or 2,031 miles more than that sailed by Joyon, who covered 26,400 miles at an average of 19.11 knots.
This was because due to less favourable weather conditions, Coville wasn’t able to follow as direct a route as the record holder.

Today on the water conditions were similar to when Sodebo departed two months ago, but the maxi-tri was kicking up plumbs of spray from her damaged starboard bow.
On finishing, Coville spun his giant Irens-Cabaret design south for her homeport of La Trinité sur Mer, SW Brittany.

Pulling alongside at La Trinité, Quai des pêcheurs, Coville commented:
"When you see her here, you say to yourself that ultimately it’s a simple feat: this boat which was my companion for 60 days. You transfer human qualities onto her, but when you’re far away from land, she is your shelter, your survival, above all else."

A few minutes earlier, the skipper had raised his head, looking at the crowds along the quay.
With tears in his eyes, he exchanged glances with the anonymous faces, who had come to listen to what the sailor had to say on his return from a two month solo circumnavigation of the globe.
He accepted the ritual champagne, even though he admitted that “this is really something that is reserved for victories.”
The cork wouldn’t budge and ended up being cut with a knife; the same knife the skipper had with him aboard at all times.

“This is for those who attempt things… in life you have to attempt things guys!” Coville proclaimed to those who had gathered at sunset to see him in.

He sprayed the support team and took a mouthful before giving the bottle to the members of his team.

“When we arrived off Ushant this morning, the timekeeper hadn’t even seen me.
It was me that gave him the final time,” he began.
“On arriving at Trého earlier (the channel into La Trinité), it was like an Etch-a-Sketch, you know, the kids’ toy where you can do some doodling and then erase the whole lot with a sweep of the stylus! It suddenly takes you right back to scratch. Today, that Etch-a-Sketch is you! It’s also my wife, my kids, this Sodebo family, this business with whom we’ve built this adventure. There’s a major human element in all this. Even though I’m showing off in front of you, I’m a competitor at heart and this hurts”.

Coville recounts his voyage to the assembled crowd and tells of the Saint Helena high and the moment when he considered returning home; the beat up towards Kerguelen, saying that “going there close-hauled is crazy”, followed by his route south of the ice zone “my pride… even if those routes are there, you shouldn’t take them.”

In what is now a dark night, the scene is reminiscent of a comfortable living room where tales of the sea are told by the fireside.
A voice asks, “and the moment where you buried all three bows at Ushant?!”
“Ahhh, there, if you turn back at Ushant, you’re certainly going to look like an idiot! But I also recall another moment of ‘freestyling’, where the boat reared up till she was completely bolt upright. I was standing on the winch pedestal and there, deep in the South Atlantic, if you turn back, you don’t look like an idiot, you’re just in a very awkward situation.”

So, yes then, “you have to accept the law of Mother Nature as the Anglo-Saxons say. She didn’t want to give me this record, but I’m here this evening so I reckon she’s been kind to let me return. She didn’t keep me.”

After struggling to better ‘the perfect course traced by Francis Joyon” for the third time, the skipper of Sodebo tonight paid homage to the sailor, who remains the fastest man around the world, singlehanded aboard a sailboat.
“I haven’t beaten the record set by a very great gentleman! A sportsman’s main focus is to be an athlete, to respect your adversary and to respect this reference time, which was set by an exceptional man who goes by the name of Francis Joyon. I think that perhaps I am one of the only people to respect his true value because I’ve played with him and against time. This guy, who slogged it out for years to attempt this record, I saw him here in La Trinité. The exceptional guys are those who are in the right place at the right time, and this gentleman performed a perfect circumnavigation of the globe. This evening, I’d like to pass on my hearty congratulations to Francis Joyon.”

Another voice shouts out “Next time Tom!” The sailor replies that “it would be arrogant to look at you here and tell you that I’ll make another attempt at it. Today, it’s such a commitment that I can’t answer you now.”

Joyon, a neighbour of Coville's just outside La Trinite, himself sent this message:

“In a world where oil escaped from the sea bed for weeks on end offshore of New Orleans, a world where nuclear power stations are throwing out radioactive clouds and where seawater has been irradiated to the extent that it has damaged life for generations to come, Thomas Coville has proven, through his journey around the world under sail, that natural energies aren’t lacking in strength. The fact that he hasn’t beaten the round the world record isn’t the most important thing. The key to this journey is that our circumnavigations of the globe, in crewed as well as solo configuration, have been more effective under sail than under power.

"Right now, no boat powered by an engine has managed to circumnavigate the globe as quickly as we do under sail, due to their weight and range associated with the massive amount of fuel required aboard.

"If our sail boats could influence the upcoming decisions about energy, which are both vital and urgent, they could help us understand that the only way forward is free of pollution, CO2 and radiation, using natural energies: the wind, the current and the sun...

Congratulations to Thomas for this fast, damage-free journey across the ocean.

"Francis Joyon”

Links :

• YouTube : Sodebo passing the Cape Horn (other video : Neutrogena fiming Sodebo)