Final Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race

Introduction

26.06.09 - Rick's Morning Update

PUMA Leads out of Sweden © Sally Collison/PUMA Ocean Racing

26.06.09 - Rick's Morning Update
We know for sure is that il mostro has poked her nose back out in front of the lead group because we can see them all. E3 is the closest- about a half mile to leeward. So there's not much in it and with about 150 miles to go we have our fingers crossed that the wind doesn't die and turn the race into a lottery.

Bob Greenhalgh just commented that the boat feels a bit like a pin ball as we bounce off either the northern and southern sides of the Gulf of Finland. It gets narrower and narrower as we get further in and the tacks become more and more frequent...ding, ding, ding. The J1 has been up since the start although the Masthead Genoa has been teed up a few times this morning only to be canceled each time requiring the guys to pack it up each time and put it back in the stack.

I spoke too soon in my last blog when I said the vessel was running ever so smoothly. My work surface in the media station just collapsed, or should I say got landed on by Salty during the last tack. I'm writing this blog at a crazy angle on top of the media desk and therefore I'm very happy with the smooth seas. Not much further to go for me on this boat.

Rick

25.06.09 - Rick's Midnight Update
There's no doubt that Leg 10 from Stockholm to St Petersburg will be well covered from a media standpoint. At one point today we had the Fleet broadband Express camera boat right on our transom about five meters away at the same time a helicopter was hovering above us with another camera team. Neither one of them was affecting us but it was pretty weird after having spent so much time out in the ocean with only (usually) E3 for company. Talking of E3, they just crossed our transom by about three boat lengths.

Currently we are tacking up the coast of Estonia with E3 up on our weather hip and the Tele-Blue and E4 down to leeward. The plan right now is to head over to the Finnish coast and then tack back onto port in about 40 miles. It never really gets dark this far north and already the sun is starting to come up on our bow having gone down about three hours ago off our transom, pretty cool.

A little earlier I was up on the bow setting up a shot. On a VO 70, its not a case of will you get dunked by a wave rather when! After taking a bit of a mouthful I came to the realization that the water is almost fresh, and this was confirmed when my gear dried out much quicker than normal, we are a long way up inside the Baltic Sea which is fed by many rivers.

We just had the first sitting of our traditional first night out meal- roast lamb and vegetables with mashed potatoes. This freeze dried meal is still the crew favorite by far. At the moment the boat is running like a well oiled machine. We have very little equipment on board so the interior is super tidy ( for a change). Everything seems to be working, and the sailing is very comfortable a few of the standby guys are sleeping like babies.

- Rick

25.06.09 - Tacking Soon
Apparently the hammering taken by Telefonica Blue the other week on the rocks outside Marstrand seems to have had very little effect on the boat. They do not have a speed problem at the moment. I'm sure they might see it differently because they just failed to get by us after coming at us hard since trailing in second from the start. A big effort by the PUMA crew and a bit of a header to 54 degrees has meant that il mostro keeps the lead for now. Howeever, despite our nice half mile lead the chasing pack of Tele Blue and the E's look particularly menacing right now. Capey is in the hot seat monitoring this expected right hander and at some point he will be making the call to tack onto starboard. In anticipation of the tack all the crew is on deck and as I write I can hear the guys trimming the runner winch. I'm not going to miss the noise it makes when they ease it.

It's quite a bit chillier out here than it was in the waters around Stockholm- not surprising really at such a northern latitude. Thankfully there is very little water coming over the decks. The current 14C water temperature and our upwind sailing, waves would be a bad thing..

Things are very quiet on the boat, I had been hoping for some type of raucous Baltic Beer cruise which would give me something to get my teeth into as a final video contribution to the race, but right now the guys seem hyper focused and no one is even saying very interesting. Maybe tomorrow when the wind dies they will relax a bit.

Next report at midnight.

Rick