Shannon Falcone keen to make up for lost time on Puma

by Volvo Ocean Race media on 9 Apr 2009
Shannon Falcone is keen to make up for lost time when Puma Ocean Racing set sail for Boston on Saturday.

The Antiguan switched places with Jerry Kirby for the leg five marathon from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro, but the duo have since swapped back ahead of the sixth stage.

In between, the 27-year-old sailed with BMW Oracle in San Diego and rested at home, but he is now itching to return to Ken Read's team.

'I had other commitments and had good fun doing those, and then I had two weeks at home before coming here,' he said. 'I ate well, trained hard and got ready because I knew the other guys would be tired. I'm feeling refreshed and I'm just really looking forward to getting back on the boat.

'This next leg I am looking forward to because it should be a pretty fast leg. We'll be passing by home so that should be pretty cool.

'If we get within 200 miles of Antigua my dad said he will take out a boat and try to catch us but I'm not sure they'll stand much chance.'

He admitted he does not entirely know what to expect from the 4,900-nautical mile trip to North America.

'In the past the straight forward legs have been tough and vice versa,' he said. 'I think all the legs in this race are tough because it's so tight between the boats. This leg I think will be tough. The conditions will be good apart from the last few days when we cross the stream and head towards Boston. I heard it can get pretty nasty and cold. We'll be alright.'

In skipping leg five, Falcone missed out on the opportunity to round Cape Horn, but he confessed he was not too disappointed.

'The fact I knew from the start that I wouldn't be on the leg meant it was okay,' he said. 'A lot of people said ‘you're going to miss out on the Horn' but mentally I knew I wasn't doing it anyway so it wasn't a big thing.'

The last stage was the second Falcone has missed this race after sitting out the leg one opener, but he has experienced few problems re-integrating into the team.

'It's fine,' he said. 'I've chopped and changed a bit but this is a good campaign and it's not hard to get back into it. I sailed with the guys before the start so that helped a lot. When I landed in Cape Town after missing the first leg, there was stuff I hadn't been involved with and I had to catch up. You find out what your responsibilities are and learn from the guy you change with on the boat.'

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