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Puma Ocean Racing
www.pumaoceanracing.com - www.volvooceanrace.org - Übersicht
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OCTOBER 30, 2008 - 18.25GMT
I guess I am late in writing my obligatory-
"holy crap it is wet and wild out here"
Well, first off it is windy and water is pummeling anyone on deck. Average
speeds in the 23 knot range means high speeds in the upper 30's which we
have had. Will have to go back to the log to see if we have had any 40's
to date but I can tell you that things are moving along at a pretty good
clip…
Many things have been interesting over the last few days. We have sailed
il mostro in some pretty breezy conditions pre-race but none at this
fanatic pace. To be sure this is an inherent problem of a one boat
program - protecting the assets. I always felt reluctant to press the
boat 1000 percent in the pre-race practice because if something really bad
were to happen to this boat essentially the race was over before it even
started. Not a very good scenario. Plus there is the racing vs.
practicing mentality. You can "think" you are pushing a boat hard when you
practice but the fact of the matter it is that with a competitor next to
you on in the same water you push much, much harder than in practice. It
is a fact of life.
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Fotos: http://media.pumaoceanracing.com
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This all leads back to where our program is at and something I have said
earlier in this leg. We are learning. How hard is hard enough to push?
How hard is too hard? Fact is the guys on E4 have schooled us all in
these conditions and my guess is they knew where there boundaries were
better than we did. We are finding them slowly, and a lot of it is
getting used to the crashes and smashes that happen all around you 24
hours a day inside this base drum called a carbon fiber boat. It's funny,
as this leg has gone on the sleeping or even the concentrating was often
interrupted by being acutely aware of new noises, loud bangs, creaks and
groans. Not to mention the occasional silence, followed by the tremendous
CRASH of a hull falling into a wave trough out of thin air. The first
thought - "Are we pushing too hard and maybe risking the boat?" Turns
out, probably not hard enough.
The human psyche is a strange lot. As I said, three days ago
concentrating was tough as we sunk into this low pressure system and knew
it was going to be a reasonably long and fast and furious ride. No lie
there. But now things are different. Three days ago what I cringed about
is now what I crave. I find that I can't sleep now if the boat ISN'T
smashing off waves or humming only as this boat hums when the boat speed
goes past 30 because all those noises aren't noises of possible problems
any more. They are the noises of FAST. And to win this race will mean we
have to get faster.
The Monster will find a way.
-Kenny
For more information on Puma Ocean Racing, please contact:
Bridgid Murphy or Kate Fairclough
PUMA Ocean Racing
Tel: +1 978 996 5155 or +44 7827 277 517
bridgid.murphy@puma.com or kate.fairclough@puma.com
The Volvo Ocean Race is made up of ten legs, finishing in June 2009 in St.
Petersburg, Russia. The fleet is expected to finish the first leg of the
race, in Cape Town, around 3rd November.
By joining the race, PUMA has entered a new premium category and is the
only Sportslifestyle company to participate in the Volvo Ocean Race
2008-09. For more information about the race, team and the PUMA Sailing
collections, please visit www.pumaoceanracing.com
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