Volvo Ocean Race - Its wet and wild onboard Il Mostro

by Rick Deppe/Ken Read on 12 Mar 2009
Latest news from onboard Puma, Day 26 of leg 5 (bound for Rio) in the Volvo Ocean Race. Onboard Rick Deppe laments how the living conditions are deteriorating as they head to the second ice-gate and Cape Horn, while skipper Ken Read is upbeat about reeling in the miles on the two leaders. Read on ....

PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 26 QFB: received 11.03.09 0908 GMT

What a difference a day makes.

Constant losses to the two guys in front as they sailed away in more pressure made the mood on Puma's IL Mostro frustrated to say the least.

Well, give a group of sailors a few winning position reports in a row and the mood changes quickly. It appears to be our turn for at least a short time, to reel in some miles as the two leaders begin to sail in some lighter winds. We have a few nice sail combinations in these conditions and we are blazing off the miles. Feels good to be heading straight at the mark at an average of about 22 knots. And back to winning scheds!

We also had a bit of a milestone today. Capey (Andrew Cape – navigator) brought out the paper chart for Cape Horn! Big move, seeing it is still over 2000 miles away. Anyway, it is our next landmark and as is his custom, he has the old school paper chart on the nav station desk just in case it is needed.

It is a phenomenal place on paper anyway. Tons of islands on the Chile and Argentinean coasts. Look forward to seeing it, and having it in the rear view mirror. Until then we should have some nice sailing to the ice point then a day or so on the breeze to get to a front that should quickly sweep us to the Horn. Sounds good now, but there are a million weather variations that could happen between here and there.

On board all is simply damp. A huge amount of condensation below. All of our clothes are wet, the interior is wet, and the bunks are wet. Fortunately our friends at Puma supplied us with the layering system that keeps us warm in these horribly damp conditions. And really nice dry bags that keep unused clothing dry. Man does that feel good to peel off a damp layer and put on a nice fresh dry one. Not many of those left though. But the fact is our world is just down-right soaked. And it doesn't look like much of a dry cycle coming in the near future. But power reaching has its advantages, like knowing that you are high-balling towards the mark. And as I look up on the nav screen, we are literally pointing straight at the mark which is 374 miles away.

Physically we are all commenting how skinny each other looks and it is interesting how you can especially feel your legs getting weaker being in such a confined space for days and weeks on end. Hopefully we won't look like one of those NASA Apollo mission completions when the astronaut got out of the capsule and had to be helped just to walk. Don't think it will be that bad, but it is a fact of our lives none the less. Santi, our physio and work out guru, is going to have to do some quick magic in our short stopover in Rio.

Another hour to the next position report. It sure is more fun to report good scheds to the boys on deck than it is to report bad ones.

Kenny Read - skipper

PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 26 QFB: received 11.03.09 1019 GMT

Cape Horn doesn't exist

Living conditions onboard are once again deteriorating as we start heading back on a more southerly course towards the second ice-gate and Cape Horn.

Inside the boat, moisture and condensation is gradually creeping into the back of the boat where we live. Up to now the water has been somewhat isolated to the bow and to leeward, I’m beginning to get worried that It will soon start playing havoc with all the equipment here in the media station and I'm tempted to just pack everything up and close down operations for the next few days until things start to dry out a bit.

Of course that’s not an option. This next week of sailing has the potential to be the most exciting of the whole race. We are in a neck and neck race with Ericsson 4 and as for Ericsson 3, well anything might happen. They gained 300+ plus miles on us, so maybe they could lose them.

Right now on deck the boys have just a little more water to deal with than I do down here. It's seriously wet and wild onboard the Il Mostro and the vessel is blasting along between 18 and 24 knots, all the while jumping around and banging in the most violent way imaginable.

Capey (Andrew Cape – navigator) says things should ease up a bit tomorrow as we approach the gate and then resume once again with vengeance as we approach the now seemingly imaginary Cape Horn. To quote Jerry Kirby, ‘every time I ask it seems to be a thousand miles further away than the last time I asked.’ I told him to stop asking. We've been thinking and talking about it for so long now that I'm starting to wonder if its still there, although, having said that, there is a paper chart thrown nonchalantly on the chart table that appears to have the southern tip of South America in the lower right corner..... For the last week we’ve staring at a chart with New Zealand in the lower left. I'm surprised Capey even bothered, he's done this trip so many times you would think he knows the way by now!

I would go so far as to say that the Il Mostro crew are normal..... Particularly about what they eat! Well not any more, it seems that every scrap of food onboard is being devoured. We haven't been able to ascertain if the sudden interest in food is due to a new menu put together by Rob Greenhalgh or if it has something to do with the fact that the guys appear to be disappearing before my eyes.

No sooner are the day snacks put out than they disappear up on deck never to be seen again. I've witnessed people using a finger to get the last of the spaghetti sauce out of the bottom of the serving cooler. As Casey (Casey Smith/USA) said to me today, ‘there's nothing that two minute noodles can’t fix.’

Rick Deppe MCM

www.volvooceanrace.org