29.11.2008
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LEG 2 DAY 15
It's like running a marathon, you have four or five miles to go to the
finish and you can see two runners in front of you.....one about 150
meters and the other about 400 meters. The road to the finish is straight
with no corners or turns and right now has a slightly downhill gradient,
so everyone is running smooth and loose with not many passing lanes. Right
before the finish there is a hill and there may be some opportunity for
passing boats there but for now you have to just try and run a little
faster than them both without hitting the wall and at the same time hoping
that they a) run out of steam just a little bit sooner than you or b)
have the misfortune to break a shoelace or experience some other minor
mishap.
Obviously the four miles I'm referring to is the 400 miles we have to the
finish in Kochi, India, and the two other runners are Green Dragon and
Ericsson 3 and the road gradient is the wind.
So it feels like no-one's talking about Pirates anymore, and I'm guessing
it's because the news cycle has a new story. I wonder if we'll be doing
phone interviews along the lines of "what does it feel like to be sailing
towards a conflict zone" in the same way that we had questions regarding
pirates at the start of this leg. We have been getting snippets of
information about the dramatic situation in Mumbai and although I make
light of things we know for certain that sadly a number of people have
died in horrible circumstances. It's a bit worrying knowing that your own
and other people's family members, friends and shorecrew are there waiting
for us in Kochi, not a million miles from Mumbai, but we mustn't let it
get to us, as that's what those people want. We're looking forward to
getting to this new and exciting port and all of the adventures it brings.
Rick
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
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