Volvo Ocean Race - Puma's Mar Mostro trampled
by Amory Ross on 24 May 2012
A rare North Atlantic sunset highlights Michi Müller and Kelvin Harrap on deck. Onboard PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG during leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 Amory Ross/Puma Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race
http://www.puma.com/sailing
Volvo Ocean Race, Day 4 of Leg 7. Amory Ross, MCM for Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg, reports on the crew's progress:
'Think we have time for a few Dark n’ Stormy’s in Bermuda?' Rome Kirby.
To expand on yesterday’s horse race analogy, this part of the track was like turn 2 – the setup before the backstretch. Well, turn 2 was unkind and we got trampled. We were caught on the outside in a corner with less wind and we were locked out: we’ve had to jibe north in search of more pressure. So our setup is such that we’ll be staring firmly at the fleet’s derriere during the long drag race east. Fortunately, there are plenty of miles left to run and ample opportunity for making up on lost ground!
It’s not that we were out of phase, or wrong in being where we were, it’s just that maybe we were a bit too patient in waiting for our shift to bail out. We knew being south was riskier than being north, and sure enough we were a bit too far south. But rather than concede immediately, we tried to find a good shift to gybe north with and that took a while in coming. Now that we’ve finally got it, we’re running up in light winds and almost two knots of adverse current. Ugh.
Moving on. Everyone’s still positive and more than anything, we’re having a lot of fun. We saw the sun for the first time in a few days and the cooler temperatures have made life a little more comfortable. Put on a layer or two during the day and cozy up in a sleeping bag at night. It’s the first time we’ve done that since leaving the Southern Ocean! I’m taking some good-natured flak for publicly humiliating the gang and their food-fuss at awards night in Miami. Our meals this leg are a collection of leftovers from the Miami container set, slim pickings for sure, but last night’s concoction of beef bourguignon and rice caused particular misery… In all fairness, it tasted almost as bad as it looked.
Only 18 days or so left of cooking for these clowns!
Puma Ocean Racing Volvo Ocean Race website
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