PUMA come 2nd in Leg 10 © Sally Collison
27.06.09 It's Over
So... I really don't know what to say other than - It's over. This unbelievable adventure of a life time is over. I can't believe it. To be honest, I am a bit dazed right now.No work list for the boat. No crew briefing planned. No sail upgrade list. I am guessing the primary goal of the next few days is to get plenty of the local Vodka supply down our gullets in celebration of this extraordinary feat. We just sailed around the world. I have never uttered or written that sentence before. I never thought it would be something that was on my personal agenda. In fact I remember personally promising a few times that I would never do this race. We did it, along with an amazing team that I am indebted to for the rest of my life. A group of individuals that came together as a sailing team and shore team, and most importantly- a cohesive team- and not a moment too soon I might add. We finished very strongly, even if we were nipped by a quick Telefonica Black this morning for then final leg win. Good for them, and good for us by continuing our streak of first and seconds to six straight. Pretty nice way to finish up and nice proof that we had something good with our team and our beautiful boat.
"il mostro" took us around the world safely, quickly and in style. There has never been a boat like it and likely never will. It showed off the true PUMA colors. Fun, exciting and sport changing. I am indebted to PUMA for giving us this chance and I hope everyone at PUMA has enjoyed the ride right along with us. PUMA took a chance with us and with the sport of sailing. Hopefully we have been good ambassadors for them in our sport and in the sporting world in general. As PUMA Chairman and CEO Jochen Zeitz says, "the Volvo is the 'Rock and Roll' of sailing". Clearly PUMA is into Rock and Roll. We are of course hugely indebted to all of our team's friends, fans and relatives. You can now go back to trying to have a good night's sleep without waking every three hours for the next sched. I am sure that we were not the easiest team to follow as we certainly had our ups and downs, but for sure we knew how to keep it interesting! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. To Volvo and all the folks that keep this race going. This is a chance of a life time. It is the absolute best event in sailing and will only get better. It wouldn't happen without all the hard working people behind the scenes and the volunteers at each of the stops. You all make this really fun for us. In fact, I couldn't have imagined that the sport of sailing would have ever evolved into what this race offers. Amazing. So, for now I am signing off. Every sailor and shore crew has earned a bit of time off and I plan on having a good sleep and trying to make heads or tails of what has happened over the past nine months. It went by so fast. I for sure know that my life will never be the same. Kathy and Tory and I have experienced the world- Volvo style- and we are all the better for it. So long for now.
- Kenny
26.06.09 - A New Pitman!
There comes a point where you just cant keep you're eyes open anymore. You'll find yourself in a comfy position somewhere and that's it! You are powerless and at that point i its a simple case of what will wake you up. It happened to me about 30 minutes ago when I was woken from my perfect sleep to the sound of all hell breaking loose on deck. I must have fallen asleep about an hour before. I staggered on deck to find the guys making a change from the Masthead Genoa back to the J1. Things didn't appear to be going well, the top batten was getting caught up in the shrouds and they had to keep dropping the sail about three meters to try and clear it. Looking astern I could see that we were nicely clear of all the boats but one, but I couldn't make out who the nearest boat was because the sun was so low on the horizon behind us. Capey informed me that it was Tele-Black. We had made a nice gain on Tele-Blue and E 3, which was a relief because in my last blog we had been worried about Blue potentially crossing us. Justin is off for this leg awaiting the birth of his second child. This leaves a big hole in the trimming department that Salty has jumped into which in turn leaves a big hole in the pit area. Michi now finds himself taking care of the pit while Jerry jumps back in on the bow. I could see the frustration on Michi's face in the pit as the guys wrestled with the J1 and then once that was fixed he had to jump onto dropping the Masthead Genoa. The guys did a great job of getting out of trouble and we lost little ground on Tele Black. This crew takes boat handling very seriously- ask the E3 guys about the final beat into Sandham on the last leg- but it's never easy once you start switching people around. We had no choice but once again Michi came through with flying colors. Leg 10 is turning into a fight all the way to the finish. - Rick
The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 has finished. PUMA Ocean Race finished the final leg into St Petersburg in 2nd place, and have finish the race in 2nd place overall 9 points behind the race winners Ericsson 4.
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