VOR: Puma Leg 3 Day Two

by Ken Read, skipper

We have gotten exactly what we expected so far in the first 20 hours of this leg. Hot, light, tricky and very variable conditions.

But first, back to the beginning of the adventure. Leg 3, India to Singapore. What a send off it was.

A Volvo Ocean Race send off is becoming a bit second nature. Meet in the morning at the PUMA shore base, team meeting, weather briefing, then team walks to the beginning of the dock, but this time it was different. At the beginning of the dock there were thousands of spectators waiting to see the teams as they paraded to the boats. Just a final reminder of how hospitable the Cochin stop was for all of us. We all learned so much about a culture that we had never laid eyes on before. It was the people who made the difference, hospitable, friendly, inviting, and really, really interested in the Volvo Ocean Race. It was just a reminder that we are ambassadors for our sport in so many ways- bringing sailing to places which have never even heard of a sailboat race before- never mind this travelling circus called the Volvo Ocean Race.

This was also the first place I have been to where we chose to get towed off the dock. The main reason was all the floating weed, small trees and various other stuff in the water. And when I say there is a lot of it, I mean almost you can walk on water thick. There was no way to protect our propellers from all the muck so we decided to tow around the parade and show off the boats to the tens of thousands who lined the shores of the bay to just get a glimpse of the boats.

The parade also gave us a chance to meet our new friend, Bollywood movie star Dino Morea- good guy. He joined us with Jochen Zeitz the CEO of PUMA and Martyn Bowen who oversees PUMA India (in addition to many other regions)- all great guys. There did come a point where we finally had to hurry them off the boat just minutes prior to the start.

Bang...gun goes and we are off. A good start for the home team and an early lead, but this is becoming a bit of a theme. In the evening the lead evaporated as did the wind and all of us took turns at the front of the pack. As morning came, the entire fleet was stacked up on top of each other- a long night with nothing to show for it but a re-start.

On board life is very familiar. il mostro is really beginning to feel like home. Sitting in front of this computer, a lot of the same jokes, a bunk that always has gear underneath poking me in the back, bad food and warm water...pretty much status quo. The plus side is that for this leg at least there is no large low pressure brewing as of yet to knock our socks off as the last two legs have.

We have a fairly light and tricky beat across the Bay of Bengal after rounding the southern tip of Sri Lanka, this is all new for us- places that I never imagined I would be racing.

Should be a very interesting 10 days or so- stay tuned.

PUMA Ocean Racing

Volvo Ocean Race