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Thoughts on what constitutes 'serious damage' and other issues

Orange's progress compared to that of Jules Verne Trophy holder Sport Elec has prompted lively debate about how such tracks should be compared.
Andrew Bank offers us this insight:

Christian Fevrier explains quite clearly why the way Orange's progress is being reported is misleading. Whilst to some De Kersauson's complaint may seem like the bitter grumblings of someone who has had to leave the party early, so to speak; it's worth considering that if they had used this contentious reporting method in The Race, Innovation Explorer (ironicaly the boat that is now Orange) would have technically won The Race, as they sailed around the planet faster (ie with a higher average speed) than Club Med.

Jesse Deupree advises:

Treat Cape Horn as a mark and calculate distance to finish after identical elapsed times from the starting line.

At madforsailing we have stopped comparing Sport Elec and Orange's day by day data because, as Olivier de Kersauson has pointed out, it is not a fair comparison, Orange's distance sailed figures come from her log rather than distance down the track. We are attempting to bring you some more meaningful figures in due course.

SEB's collision with illbruck at the start of leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race has also prompted some healthy debate.

From Sandringham, Australia Paul Maroney writes: Reading the interesting comments by John Greenland about SEB in the Volvo Leg 5 and the issue of whether the damage constitues 'serious damage', he equated 'serious damage' as 'serious damage to a person is something like a broken bone? Could a man with a broken leg still run the 400 metres and not come last? Could a car with a puncture still win the Grand Prix ? The answer is probably not."

Perhaps if a broken bone is to be used as an example a broken rib might be more apt. Not critical in itself but to ignore it could be fatal if further trauma occurs. SEB made it to Miami but ask yourself if the collision had occured in Auckland would you be prepared to face the stresses of the Southern Ocean with such damage? I think not! The same therefore applies to Rio as one can never eliminate the possibly of extreme weather on any leg. Hence there seems to be a prima facie case for the Jury to rule on.

Good point. Apparently during his testemony to the international jury Gunnar Krantz said that during leg five they experienced 40 knot winds. Grant Dalton, who also attended the hearing, later commented that he wished he'd seen 40 knot winds on leg five.

Denis (whose full name he never seems to send us) at West Marine writes: The rules aren't there to just penalize a boat after an infraction, they also serve to avoid such things as collisions up front. There was no reason for SEB to be in a close tacking duel with illbruck at the start of an around the world race leg. I say throw the book at them, but they will probably just pay a fine, as that seems to be the solution for blatant cheating and rules violations in the Volvo Ocean Race.

We couldn't agree with you more about the collision aspect. The international jury could easily be accused of being lenient on the verdicts they have doled out on this race.

J Bates writes: Don't know if SEB should be disqualified but perhaps illbruck is not protesting because if SEB were to be disqualified that would give Amer One another point and keep them slightly more in contention?

I'm sure you're right.

On the subject of Sam Davies leaving the bow spot on Shirley Robertson's Yngling to join Tracy Edwards' Maiden II project her sister/mum/auntie/granny Jenny Davies writes:

A great choice for Sam! She has been waiting for this for the past 4 years and will put her heart and soul into it!! (as well as a lot of womanpower). Bon Voyage and Good luck for all the record attempts!

Linda Johnson gives us her thoughts on Sam's replacement on the Yngling: I think Shirley has made a great decision. I saw Shirley and Sarah working together in Sydney 2000 and it was really good to watch. Sarah is happy, pleasing and a hard worker - everything that is needed to be part of a crew. It is very different to sailing alone.

Make of that what you will...

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