Volvo Ocean Race - Emotional roller coaster for Puma Ocean Racing

by Ken Read on 26 Feb 2012 Volvo Ocean Race, Day 7 of Leg 4, Stage 2. Ken Read, Skipper of Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg reports on the crew's progress:

I don't remember doing my last blog from the boat. To say it has been an emotional roller coaster the last few days would be a vast understatement. I think I have a splinter in my right hand as well. The term 'touch wood' has been used more times than I have ever heard. The little piece of wood mounted in the nav table is nearly worn out. Kelvin's head has a permanent dent and bruise (because every time the phrase is used he knocks himself on the head). The sentence, 'If it works the way it is supposed to, we will be ok – touch wood,' has been used a hundred thousand times.

Every boat is doing the only thing they can. And, that is deal with the breeze they have and make the best of it. That is exactly what we did when we split to the north. I get interviewed once every couple days from a young lady named Danielle from Volvo, and she spilled the beans that Ian Walker thinks my age caught up to me and we were heading back toward Qingdao instead of Auckland. Hmmm. Looking at the last couple of scheds, 'young Ian' may have spoken a tad too soon. But, it is far too early to tell. I did place a bet with him, through Danielle... last one to Auckland buys the first round of beer for the other person's team (and in this case I believe we have 7,358 team members) when we hit the dock in Auckland. Let's see if he mans up and accepts the bet.

It has been said before and I will say it again. On this leg traditionally you have to get east in order to turn south. Will that be the case this time? We have bet on it… in a big way. Four days of horribly nasty sailing upwind worth of betting on it. We have had our moments since and look to get back into this thing, but there are no sure things out here. I wish there was believe me.

This is a quick one. Back to stressing about our current situation.
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