VOR: PUMA LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 0745 GMT

by Rick Deppe

It's like running a marathon, you have four or five miles to go to the finish and you can see two runners in front of you.....one about 150 metres and the other about 400 metres. The road to the finish is straight, with no corners or turns and, right now, has a slightly downhill gradient, so everyone is running smooth and loose with not many passing lanes.

Right before the finish, there is a hill and there may be some opportunity for passing boats there, but, for now, you have to just try and run a little faster than them both without hitting the wall and, at the same time, hoping that they a) run out of steam just a little bit sooner than you, or b) have the misfortune to break a shoelace or experience some other minor mishap.

Obviously, the four miles I'm referring to is the 400 miles we have to the finish in Cochin, India, and the two other runners are Green Dragon and Ericsson 3 and the road gradient is the wind.

So it feels like no one's talking about Pirates anymore, and I'm guessing it's because the news cycle has a new story. I wonder if we'll be doing phone interviews along the lines of "what does it feel like to be sailing towards a conflict zone", in the same way that we had questions regarding pirates at the start of this leg.

We have been getting snippets of information about the dramatic situation in Mumbai and although I make light of things, we know for certain that sadly a number of people have died in horrible circumstances. It's a bit worrying knowing that your own and other people's families, friends and shorecrew are there waiting for us in Cochin, not a million miles from Mumbai, but we mustn't let it get to us, as that's what those people want. We're looking forward to getting to this new and exciting port and all of the adventures it brings.

Volvo Ocean Race