Sport-heute: Sailing - PUMA ON THE DOCKSIDE CAPE TOWN

02. November 2008, 23:38

PUMA ON THE DOCKSIDE CAPE TOWN

Ken Read - skipper

I don't know where to start. I am so proud of our design team and our build team for putting together the boat. Honestly, I think all the guys on our boat have never pushed a boat that hard before.

Cap Town (mk) Hats off to the Ericsson guys. They showed us clearly that there is might be another level that we need to get to. But, that said, I've never gone airborne off the waves before and lived to tell the tale. It's quite a comforting feeling, from here on, knowing how hard you can push. Now we can sit down as a group and figure out where that next speed button is. We are pretty comfortable with where we are at.

I thought we paced ourselves pretty well. It's pretty rare that we had to get guys completely out of their sleeping patterns. A couple of guys got pretty taxed in the windy stuff, because we were down to a smaller group of drivers. I think right now, most people are pretty refreshed. We are ready to go tomorrow. We're ready to go.

We had a few little issues. We had our primary water maker go down when we were off Brazil. That was a little nerve-racking. We actually talked about going into Brazil for a while, but Casey Smith put together a new water maker using a bilge pump. We had some hydraulic keel problems, but structurally we think that the boat is in really good shape.

Seeing where we've come from - there was no such thing as PUMA ocean Racing a year ago - so second place is great.

I am very proud of our sailors, our team as a whole, from the boat builders to the office staff.

Andrew Cape - navigator

I haven't sailed into Cape Town for 11 years, it's a great place to arrive. It was a good leg all-in all. Happiness all round.

There were bad conditions and most people got through it well. It's a good sign.

We still had a lot of light air in the Med, then the running and then a lot of reaching and then the hard stuff getting here, so it was mixed bag. Because we haven't two boat tested against a new boat, we were learning all the time. We've learnt a lot and I'm very happy with what we have learnt and where we ended up here.

Ericsson 4 did a good job to sail through us when it was windy, but we were finding our own way there, and we were happy with what we were doing. I guess we were second best, but all-in-all, happy.

It was a great race, with a great team. We are still learning, and for us this first leg was a learning experience.

We had a good leg but Ericsson was lucky to ride that front all the way here. They made it look easy.

It was tight out there, but that is what racing is about. No boats were mega fast or slow, it was a great race.

The next position report will be issued at 1300 GMT or as soon as the next boat finishes, whichever is the sooner. Positions are available every three hours on www.volvooceanrace.org. Click on RESULTS at the top of the page to go straight to the points table and onboard data.

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PUMA PRESSES ON

After Ericsson 4's leg one win this morning, the final stages of leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race are being played out in the approach to Cape Town. The remaining seven boats in the fleet still to finish the leg continue to fight it out to the end, but it will be the black cat, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) who will be the next to finish in approximately three hours time. She has just 54 nm to go.

'This leg has been fantastic for us. It looks as though, barring any disasters, we will be second,' said Ken Read today. '

Meanwhile, 164 nm further back, the battle for third place between Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) still wages.

'We are now moving OK, but still 10 per cent slow due to whatever damage is under the boat,' says Ian Walker. 'Without our collision, we would be comfortably holding on to third,' he added.

Onboard Ericsson 3, everything is on edge. 'We are still battling the Green Dragon and the situation feels close and stressful. Yesterday, we had a couple of bad sail changes. That was not good from our side, but today we have been purely unlucky. First, we had a rip in our A4. We had to take it down, repair it, and as soon as possible, hoist it again,' explained MCM Gustav Morin.

Following the ripping of the spinnaker, the boat felt sluggish and the crew were mystified. After inspecting the keel, it became obvious that a big plastic bag had wrapped around it. The crew prepared to dive over the side into the freezing water to free it, but instead they successfully backed the boat up and the bag became free.

'The guys did a great job and everything went smoothly, but it is extremely frustrating that something like that happened now. As if it wasn't exciting and nerve-racking enough already,' Morin said.

Telefónica Blue is currently playing her Stealth card, but reported suffering spectacular Chinese gybe last night. The boat was heeled at 57 degrees and although there were a few nervous moments, when the rig 'moaned and groaned' under the load, the crew were able to sort everything out and give the boat and rig a thorough check over. 'We were back up to a modest pace in very little time,' said navigator Simon Fisher, adding:'lesson learnt and quite enough excitement for one night!'

Leg One Day 23: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to leader)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) FINISHED
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) DTF 54
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +164
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +202
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +330
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) +458
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +515

Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) StealthPlay

The next position report will be issued at 1300 GMT or as soon as the next boat finishes, whichever is the sooner. Positions are available every three hours on www.volvooceanrace.org. Click on RESULTS at the top of the page to go straight to the points table and onboard data.

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PUMA LEG ONE DAY 23 QFB: received 02.11.08 1324 GMT

Dealing with Jerry Kirby is like dealing with a little kid in the back seat of the family wagon on the way to summer holiday.

Jerry: "How much longer?"
Kenny: '200 miles"
Jerry: "How long will it take?"
Kenny: "I don't know, about 14 hours?"

5 minutes later

Jerry: "How much longer now?"
Kenny: ""two miles less than the last time you asked"
etc etc

There is some serious angst to get off this family wagon. And it is interesting, for 20 days, I haven't looked at the date, the time, the distance to finish but, all of a sudden, we all have a time clock that switches on that says--"ok, enough is enough and it is time to go now". It could be the Block Island Race or the Bermuda Race or the 22-day first leg of the Volvo Race. When you can smell the finish, it is time to get off. I would also like to officially follow up this thought by announcing that by no means does my admitting to wanting to have this leg over with as badly as the next guy, does it mean that I'm not going to punch Kirby hard if he asks one more time "are we there yet?"

In a nutshell, this leg has been fantastic for us. It looks as though, barring any disasters, we will be second. On a tough leg that saw all ranges of conditions. We like our boat, that hasn't changed. We got faster thanks to a lot of sailing near other boats. We know that there are teams better polished out there and we need to get better to beat them. We understand the rigours of
what it will take to win this race better. And our pre-race view that the race will be close and the boats will be pushed harder than ever has rung very true.

Congratulations to E4. They hung around long enough to stretch their legs when they had the chance. They are the proof that "pushing hard" now has an entire new meaning. Many of the Volvo vets from the last race aboard our boat said that we pushed this boat in the rough conditions tons harder than any of the boats were pushed in the last race. Much of that has to do with a bit of trepidation of the unknown and the fact that the keel structures were a new concept and a bit fragile in the last Volvo.

Well, I think that all participants and sponsors alike are pleased with what we have seen so far. These boats are tough and can get pushed harder than most of us ever realised. Will make for a fascinating race I hope. Sure, we all have our snags aboard, but hopefully the trend for the entire fleet remains that the boats are dependable. Go ahead and race hard.

Finally, as all the crews get ready for their families and friends and relatives, a good meal, warm shower and cold beer- it is time to begin concentrating on leg two and what it takes to step up to the next level. Long race this is, but it is nice to have this long first leg under our belt.

Hello Cape Town. But we can't get too relaxed by your hospitality because in two weeks we will be saying 'India- here we come".

Kenny Read - skipper

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GREEN DRAGON LEG ONE DAY 23 QFB: received 02.11.08 1339 GMT

The Green Dragon has 260 miles and a couple of gybes to go before arriving in Cape Town. We are now moving OK but still 10% slow due to whatever damage is under our boat. This should be enough to hold off Telefónica Blue who is 100 miles back, but you can never be sure of anything I am told approaching Cape Town.

Things have calmed right down on board and attention is now focused on getting job lists sorted out for Cape Town and on looking forward to some days off. Our shore crew on the other hand will go from having had some time off to working every hour that God sends.

It has been an amazing leg with something for everyone. Four or five boats have held the lead, we have had tight tactical battles and then, of course, a week of battering by strong winds including a record 24 hour run (or several I suspect).

The strangest thing for us is not actually knowing half of what has gone on. We are not allowed news of the race so we have no idea why Telefónica Blue stopped in Gibraltar, or why Telefónica Black is so slow now. Others must be wondering why we are so slow now. Without our collision, we would be comfortably holding 3rd place.

I hope there have been no serious injuries but I am sure there will have been some bumps. Guo Chuan's nose is nice and swollen and bruised now and we have told him to tell everyone that Tom Braidwood punched him.

There is only one thing for it in Cape Town and that is to get in the bar and trade some war stories as sailors love to do. My story will be of our nighttime collision and the ensuing panic-stricken thoughts and of a multitude of nosedives from which I saw no escape. Somehow, we did escape and the rig is still up.

The last thing our sponsor said to me in Alicante was to 'not sink the boat' and I have a feeling we came closer than we intended but so far so good. If we can get 4th with the stage win at Fernando, this will have been a very good leg for us. It has certainly been an amazing experience and makes me wonder what lies ahead. If anybody reading this is already in Cape Town, I'm the tired looking, balding bloke with a beard and mine's a pint of lager please.

Ian Walker - skipper

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ERICSSON 3 LEG ONE DAY 23 QFB: received 02.11.08 1312 GMT

Everything is getting to its edge now. We are still battling The Green Dragons and the situation feels close and stressful. Not the least after a few tricky situations today.

Yesterday we had a couple of bad sail changes. That was not good from our side. But today we have been purely unlucky. First, we had a rip in our A4, had to take it down, repair it, and as soon as possible hoist it again.

A couple of hours later we are getting really frustrated with the boat speed. It just doesn't feel good. That feeling has been bugging us for a few hours and now someone thought we might look in the stethoscope, from where you can se the keel.

It turns out that we have a big plastic bag wrapped around the fin. We can't get it of just by swinging the keel, so we have to take the gennaker down, stop the boat and try to go backwards. A risky manoeuvre that will cost us a lot of time and distance to our close opponent. But, we have to do it.

Anders Dahlsjö prepared for a swim to get the bag of, but we managed to solve the problem just by backing the boat.

The guys did a great job and everything went smoothly. But it is extremely frustrating that something like that happened now. Like it wasn't exciting and nerve-racking enough from before.

We have also made a few gybes today, which take quite an effort on these boats. You can really start to see tendencies of tiredness now. The big psychological part of the game has reached its peak.

Some of the guys are tired and it's easier to make mistakes and to get grumpy about things you wouldn't even think of if you were rested. Add to that the big stress level it is to be racing closely for days and days and when you are only one day from finish. The game is still close and you can't afford to do anything wrong.

Now we are in good pace again and hoping that the next position-report will be good. In any case, we will fight to the end. Keeping the mood and pace up.

Gustav Morin - MCM

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG ONE DAY 23 QFB: Received 02.11.08 1030 GMT

First of all congratulations to Torben and his boys. They sailed a blinder of a race from the scoring waypoint to the finish. Well done.

Yesterday we just managed to sail officially in the southern ocean, but luckily the wind direction changed and we could gybe, to bring us back into warmer waters. It will show if our tactics will pay against the ruskies, who have been gaining slowly but steadily against us.

If our predictions are right, we will gain a couple of miles back again, by taking advantage of the wind shift to come over the next couple of hours. The only thing what we don't know, is if this will work out since they have gone into their invisible (stealth) mode. Time will tell.

The breeze will slowly drop on our way to Cape Town and not having our big spinnaker anymore will be a disadvantage in these conditions, since it blew apart again. And we have run out of repair material, so we have to use smaller sails.

For the rest, the boat is in good shape, of course we have a job list for our shore crew, but we could have easily carried on for another leg. The other good news is that we will just manage with our fuel. We have gone through a massive power reduction, switching even things off like the GPS and as well a minimum usage of the media equipment. We have 135 litres of emergency fuel onboard, but any usage of that and it means the hassle of explaining that to the jury. So better this way. But the best news is that none of the guys are injured, and that we all learned a heck of lot more about our boat.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG ONE DAY 23 QFB: received 02.11.08 1012 GMT

Hi everybody
We are 600 miles away and back to the penguin's land. As we get closer south, it gets chilly. Hope in the next hours we head up north - it is a little bit warmer up there! Still going fast, under the circumstances, so everything depends upon what might be waiting for us off Cape Town, weather slowing us down or not. Incognita? Weather changes so abruptly down here that you never know.

The crew is in good condition and spirit, and the comment is the size of the meat loaf each of us is eating in Cape Town! And about the dressing and wine! It seems we don't like very much the delicious and tasty food on board! I do not understand it! Such delicious food! Eaten in doggy's plates! Yummy...

Well. Just 600 miles to go.

Kind regards and tomorrow more
Mikel Pasabant - MCM

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PUMA ON THE DOCKSIDE CAPE TOWN

Ken Read - skipperI don't know where to start. I am so proud of our design team and our build team for putting together the boat. Honestly, I think all the guys on our boat have never pushed a boat that hard before.

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Ken Read - skipper

I don't know where to start. I am so proud of our design team and our build team for putting together the boat. Honestly, I think all the guys on our boat have never pushed a boat that hard before.