PUMA Ocean Racings stay on the island of Tristan de Cunha
by Amory Ross, MCM, PUMA 2 Dec 2011 09:52 GMT
1-2 December 2011
Sunset at the anchorage where PUMA Ocean Racing wait © Amory Ross / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race
Don’t lose the faith. Don’t lose the faith, no matter what. That’s been the message around here.
We think we know what caused the rig to fall and end our leg, which brings some degree of comfort to the situation, but nobody is dwelling. Our rescue ship is getting closer and we’re gradually putting the tourist gear away and donning the PUMA sailing hats. Everyone’s buckling down now on the work lists and we’re sorting our lives for the next step towards the Cape Town starting line and Leg 2, so that when the TEAM BREMEN arrives Friday afternoon we’re ready to get PUMA’s Mar Mostro up and go.
It’s not to say we haven’t enjoyed our time here, because we really have. The last few days have been loaded with activities and Tuesday was downright epic. On Monday, we visited the Tristan lobster processing center, and overseer Eric Mackenzie gave us a tour that concluded with a complimentary box of local lobsters for 11 hungry customers; it didn’t last long… Eric then took us to see the four massive Volvo generators powering all of Tristan, and very impressive they were. Next came a presentation at the school and a bigger one that night for the locals. Tristan da Cunha has served as a maritime haven over the years so they’ve seen their fair share of visitors, but they have never seen a boat like ours, and the PUMA story was one of great curiosity. It was the least we could do for a place that has absolutely embraced us all in the kindest of ways. We owe them a lot more.
Tuesday a group of us decided that waking up at 6 AM and climbing a 6,700-foot volcano (roughly 2,000 meters) was a great idea. Not only did we do it in PUMA sailing shoes, we did it fast: nine hours top to bottom. Our local guides Simon and Matthew claimed it to be a record for visitors. After lunch in the crater by the pond – snow still clinging to the walls – we summited, and were rewarded with a rarely seen descent down the back (the long way), a technically challenging but scenically stunning slope. Jono carried his walking stick, Kelvin spent much of the return trip sliding on his bum, and Tom and Tony walked down backwards to give their crushed toes a break. They might have been the fastest. We passed groups of nesting Yellow Nosed Albatrosses, giant cliffs, sheep, bogs, volcanic rock, red sand dunes, and finally met a waiting Land Rover at the bottom. The drive back was a quiet one – a whale breaching just offshore – but we were already fantasizing about the cold beer in the fridge. Getting to Queen Mary’s Peak was maybe a little more full-on than we were expecting!
So now the entertainment is over. A formal BBQ at Sean Burns house to cap it off, he’s the governor’s administrator from England, and then we’re in 100% boat-mode. But, no matter what we’ve been doing, nobody has ever – not once – hung it up and looked down. Don’t lose the faith… As I wrote just before we dropped our rig, we’ve got a good boat, a great team, and if we sail smart and safe, we’ll be in great shape. Nothing’s changed, not one bit. I speak for everyone when I say we’re looking forward to getting back on the race track soon and proving what we’re made of, making good on what we’re here to do:
Sail fast, and faster than everyone else.
Update from the Helm
By Ken Read, Skipper
It appears that our ship will be arriving today (Friday) about noon time. Perfect timing, we hope – enough time so we can get prepared during daylight, load during daylight and be off. Knock on wood, everything goes without a hitch.
But of course, as with everything that we have done over the past, lets say 5 years, nothing comes without risk. Our friend or foe will certainly be the weather. It is forecast to get windier as the day goes on, but the big one is the ocean swell. How big will the swells be?
We have certainly been thinking about the loading of the boat for over a week now, and I think we have a plan. Obviously a wave going past the boat at the wrong time creates a very good chance of breaking something if the boat suddenly violently jerks on the cranes lifting cable. We are very wary of this and are coming up with a system that will serve as a bit of a shock absorber for the lift. Fortunately, our Tristan friends are going to assist with two of their RIBs which can help position PUMA’s Mar Mostro and help create this shock absorber. It all has to work perfectly. Fingers crossed.
I know Amory has been sending photos and video and blogs of our activities here on the island. It has been nothing short of an amazing experience. We have had time to acclimate into island life. We have seen first hand how this group of people on the island live off the land and the sea, as well as off of periodic shipments coming from South Africa. We have seen industry (lobster) and culture. We have spoken to kids and adults alike. We now appreciate the access we have to basic communication when on the mainland more than ever. Cell phones are a non-entity here. The internet café’s three computers get you emails at their own pace. And don’t even think about downloading an attachment no matter how small. Community communication happens with pieces of paper posted in certain key locations around the town.
I was sitting in the internet café alongside Brad yesterday getting our emails when all of a sudden a cow walked up to the narrow front door and stuck in her head. After looking around, she backed out and walked away. Brad suggested she was checking to see if a computer was free (which it wasn’t) to check her Facebook page. Welcome to Tristan.
Our team has really fallen for this place and its people. They have been nothing short of exceptional hosts. We owe them more than we could ever repay. They have given us hope as well as comfort in pretty trying times.
One thing that has really stuck out is the fact that they have very strict rules and abide by them without exception. It is what makes this place tick, I would imagine. It would be easy to simply have loose rules and much more of an anarchistic society given what they have to work with and the small number of people. But they don’t, and they stick to their governing authorities and rules and it solidifies a society that simply works.
To say thank you and goodbye to Tristan da Cunha will be difficult. It will be a bittersweet moment – a moment in time that we have been looking forward to because it means that we are off to hopefully rejoin the race that we are meant to be in. But, it will also mean saying goodbye to our new amazing friends most likely forever. But you never really know. Hope is a strange bedfellow. Hope that we can stay on schedule, and hope that someday our paths will cross again with some or all of Tristan’s wonderful population.
Thank you friends. May your cows get fat and your lobsters be plentiful. And, may your internet get speedy, but your culture never change.