VOR: PUMA Fourth into Home Port of Boston

by Lizzie Green Ward

Having been the bridesmaid so often, leg six was one that PUMA’s skipper, Kenny Read would particularly have liked to win, but, once again, it wasn’t to be, and the team finished in Boston today at 2312 GMT (1812 local) in fourth place.

PUMA began leg six in the lead, after finishing second in the Rio in-port race, but quickly dropped to seventh the following day. The first third of PUMA’s leg was spent in the second division until, on day seven, they pulled up to third place.

Flirting regularly with the podium position right until the end of the leg, if Kenny Read was disappointed at finishing fourth, he certainly didn’t show it and an appreciative home crowd had gathered at Fan Pier, Boston, to welcome home their team.

“It’s good to be home,” he said. “It feels like a long way we’ve been already. This is not exactly the result we wanted, but it’s great to be here.”

Speaking about the leg itself Read said, “Nothing seemed to go our way. I wish I could say it was the boat, but we just kept tripping over little things. It was just one of those legs, but now we get to hang out with our family and friends.”
Read was complimentary about the leg winners, Ericsson 4, when he said, “They don’t seem to make any mistakes, we have to give them credit, good for them. Congratulations.“

Navigator Andrew Cape talked through their tactics, saying, “These races are never easy. With two boats in a line, it is always going to be tactical. We did our best, but it didn’t work out. You make your own luck, but it didn’t go our way. Even after the first day, we had to claw our way back. It may have looked like we weren’t positioning ourselves well, but we knew where we were going and what we wanted to do.”

The next boat is expected to finish in approximately six hours time.

Leg Six Finishing Order Boston
1. Ericsson 4: 8 points
2. Ericsson 3: 7 points
3. Telefónica Blue: 6 points
4. PUMA: 5 points

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) 77.5 points (FINISHED)
2. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) 64.5 points (FINISHED)
3. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) 64.0 points (FINISHED )
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) 53.0 points (FINISHED)
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) 42.0 points (RACING)
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) 25.0 points (RACING)
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) 18.0 points (RACING)
8. Team Russia 10.5 points (DNS)

Scoring Gate Results Fernando de Noronha
1. Telefónica Blue 19:58:56 GMT 16.04.09 4.0 Points
2. Ericsson 4 22:55:36 GMT 16.04.09 3.5 Points
3. Delta Lloyd 23:28:32 GMT 16.04.09 3.0 Points
4. Puma 23:29:31 GMT 16.04.09 2.5 Points
5. Telefónica Black 23:42:20 GMT 16.04.09 2.0 Points
6. Ericsson 3 00:14:28 GMT 17.04.09 1.5 Points
7. Green Dragon 01:27:26 GMT 17.04.09 1.0 Point

Volvo Ocean Race