VOR: PUMA arrive in Boston to a home town welcome

by Kate Fairclough

The PUMA Ocean Racing team crossed the finish line of leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race at 19.12 local (23.12 GMT) in Boston this evening, in front of crowds of waiting fans. Elated to be arriving in Boston, the team’s unofficial home after 14 days at sea, the ten man crew, led by Skipper Ken Read (USA) endured a long fight to the finish. Having moved up and down the standings numerous times in an incredibly close leg, which saw PUMA reduce a 150 mile gap between themselves and the leaders to within ten miles this morning, the team finished the leg in fourth place.

The sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Boston, USA, took the fleet 4,900 nautical miles from the Southern Atlantic, across the equator for the fourth and final time during the 37,000 mile round the world race, and northwards to the New England capital of Boston. The PUMA Ocean Racing team program was announced in Boston in May 2007, and PUMA’s il mostro (‘the monster’) was launched in Boston in May 2008. PUMA has a headquarters in Boston and has painted the city PUMA red for the stopover.

Upon his arrival at the dock, Skipper Ken Read (USA) commented: “For us, this leg had a bitter sweet ending. Fourth is not exactly the result we were looking for coming in to Boston, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. It was one of those legs where nothing seemed to go our way. I wish I could say it was effort, the boat, or the sails but I can’t, it just wasn’t our leg. In the end we were fourth best today. Ericsson 4 got a fourth before, everyone has a leg like this. However, we had some great, close, exciting racing up here from Brazil and the whole team is happy to be here in Boston, a place that we can call home.”

“With a chance at third, we had a great day yesterday, but this morning we were literally becalmed while Telefonica Blue, who finished third, sailed away on the seaward side of the channel. But, today is about so much more. We have now arrived in the place where it all began. 11 days short of one year ago, this boat was christened by Salma Hayek at the Institute of Contemporary Art next door to us right now. In our Boston to Boston journey round the world since then, we have sailed exactly 48,182 miles on il mostro. We’ve done that in less than one year, and obviously we still have a few miles to go to reach Russia, where we complete this race and the total overall journey.”

“It was a lot of work to get this boat in the water back then, but nothing compares to this - the culmination of the work of the PUMA crew and shore team as we make our way around the world. We’re an operation that holds its head high in victory and defeat and I am very proud of this program and the amount of people it has touched to date. That is the goal of the PUMA Ocean Racing campaign - to reach as many lives as possible, in a positive way, all while masquerading as a sailboat race. It has been a very long journey to get back to where we feel so familiar, but worth every minute of the joy and hardship along the way.”

The PUMA Ocean Racing team will now take a well-deserved rest before competing in the Boston In Port race on Saturday 9th May, just off the coast of the city of Boston.

PUMA Ocean Racing
Volvo Ocean Race