Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 - Day 10

Black clouds almost bring down PUMA

It has been a long, hard night for PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA), who have been fighting to stay in pole position on Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race to Miami. As the leading trio of PUMA, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) fought against black, wind-sucking clouds in the midst of the Doldrums, PUMA bled miles continuously throughout the night.

PUMA’s lead of 30 nautical miles (nm) from Telefónica at 1300 GMT on Monday was eroded painfully when, at 1900 GMT, CAMPER swept into second position, 26 miles astern. Throughout the night, hard-pushing CAMPER and Telefónica continued to apply the pressure, closing to within seven nm at 0400 GMT this morning. By 0700 GMT, the margin had narrowed a fraction more to just 6.2 nm, with third-placed Telefónica just a mile astern of CAMPER.

As the squalls rolled through, bringing rain with them, the crew of PUMA tried every sail they had on board to keep the black boat moving, but to no avail. A final squall brought CAMPER and Telefónica within sight, while PUMA lay becalmed with only the mainsail hoisted. There was not enough breeze even to unfurl a headsail. With the keel canted to one side to prevent the boom from sweeping uncontrollably across the deck, the PUMA crew could do nothing.

“We still hate clouds. We hate them – even the pretty ones. They ruin our days and plague our nights and they’ve just done it again”, wrote Media Crew Member Amory Ross. “One massive, unavoidable green glob on the radar and an ominously dark splotch on the horizon indicate imminent doom. Nothing can prepare you for the gut-wrenching conclusion once its run its course and stolen your wind, hopes and in this case, your hard-fought lead.”

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) have been able to bring their deficit back under 100 nm and at 0700 GMT were 82.7 nm adrift of the leaders. Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA), who have also been struggling for much of Leg 6, are poised to break through the 100 nm barrier too, as both teams continue to make good speed while the leaders hit the wall in the Doldrums.

The leading pack is 290 nm southeast of Cayenne in French Guiana, making a miserable average speed of three to four knots. Today is set to be another painful once as the fight to reach the steady northeast trade winds continues.

Position Report at 7:05:27 UTC:

www.VolvoOceanRace.com

Update from the Helm (by Ken Read, Skipper, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG)

Wall to wall. That’s our goal here. We want to be leading this race from start to finish. So far so good, but we have a long, long way to go.

Leading out of Itajaí was very cool. That first night we hung on in some breezy, tight reaching conditions. Two competitors split low to the coast and probably had less mileage to Miami at a few points, but we were certainly always in what we believed to be a more dominant position on the track. Then two days ago we hit a couple of very light air walls and CAMPER and Telefónica came on strong, but we have fended off their charge and re-opened up to a 30-mile lead. We are pretty pleased right now, but all understand that the game is just starting.

From here to Miami we have the doldrums, light trade winds, the Caribbean Islands, Jamaica and Cuba, the Bahamas and finally the Gulf Stream leading into Miami. What could possibly go wrong?

On board, we have just crossed the equator for the fourth and final time this race. I have to admit that it seems like about a month ago we were crossing it for the first time, heading south from the Mediterranean Sea to Cape Town, South Africa, on Leg 1. I have lost track of time, but I think that was the middle of November and about five and a half months ago. And, it wasn’t too far from this point that our mast came tumbling down after which began quite an ordeal in the life of this crew. So we have proceeded with caution ever since. Not caution as far as sailing and pushing the boat is concerned, but caution with regard to superstition.

On Leg 1 we had two youngsters aboard who had never crossed the equator before. Rome Kirby and Amory Ross, both who had to take the wrath of King Neptune and the traditional rookie crossing ceremony. Both were great sports, confessed their crimes to the King (played by Tony Mutter, complete with a toilet paper beard) and were abused with rotten flying fish necklaces, four-day-old freeze dried food, and a large swath of hair cut out of their heads right down the middle in sort of a reverse mohawk pattern. All in good fun. But there was one thing missing. Nobody remembered to bring a libation to give to the King, give to the sea, give to the boat and of course one slug for each member of the crew. A sailing superstition that ranks right up there in importance. And sure enough, the King apparently brought our mast down about two days later out of spite.

Lesson learned. Don’t mess with King Neptune.

Since then, we have certainly gone well in the other direction. Large bottles of rum stashed for equator crossings and other landmark events like around Cape Horn or Christmas on board, or a birthday. No messing around. To the point of making sure, the King knows we are here to offer him as much alcohol as he wants – “have another” just for safety’s sake. Better be safe than sorry, right?

So around 5 a.m. in the morning local time, right at the break of dawn, we crossed the equator for the final time in this race. One for the King, one for the sea, one for Mar Mostro, and one for each of the crew. Or in our media crew member Amory’s case, a few sips to the point that he woke this morning from a brief nap exclaiming that he might have a little hangover.

A bit exaggerated, but certainly worth it if the King is happy!

- Kenny