March 2012
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Skipping and Slamming Waves
Leg 4 Day 11 blog from Amory onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro:
We continue to careen around the Pacific Ocean like an angry New York City taxi driver delivering a very-late passenger. One minute we’re skipping down the face of a wave only just on the edge of control, the next we’re slamming into a wall of water on the bow, bringing the boat to a head-jerking and body throwing halt, before...
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February 2012
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Sailing Fast
Leg 4, Day 10 blog from Amory Ross onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro:
523 miles in 24 hours is a lot of miles for a sailboat. That’s averaging 22 miles per hour over the last day, and it’ll likely improve over the next few hours too. Not so bad for close reaching in 20 knots of breeze and an awful sea state. It’s also the most our Mar Mostro has logged this race (we were unfortunate to miss the...
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Changing Conditions & Moving Gear
Leg 4 Day 9 update from Amory onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro.
Yesterday’s sunrise brought strong winds and positive results, but today’s brought light winds and negative ones. After two days of consecutive gains, it was a stinging reminder that we are very vulnerable out here on the corner, and that there is still a very, very long way to go to New Zealand.
It was tough sailing for a few hours...
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“I hope you guys [Tom and Ken] take us somewhere sunny soon because all of my...”
– PUMA watch captain Tony Mutter.
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Knocking on Wood
Leg 4 Day 7 blog from Ken Read onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro:
I don’t remember doing my last blog from the boat. To say it has been an emotional roller coaster the last few days would be a vast understatement. I think I have a splinter in my right hand as well. The term “touch wood” has been used more times than I have ever heard. The little piece of wood mounted in the...
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Not The End Of The World
Leg 4 Day 6 blog from Amory Ross onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro:
Two things were certain of 2012: The world was going to end, and PUMA Ocean Racing was going to sail north on Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race…f o r e v e r. Well, the world lives on and we’ve turned east! Incredible.
Mar Mostro’s compass reads near 90 all the time now and we’re taking advantage of some consistently flat-and-fast...
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“I suspect there is a lot of time for the race order to be shaken up yet and now...”
– Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker on PUMA’s radically different approach in Leg 4 to Auckland, New Zealand.
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Happy Thoughts Onboard
Update from Amory Ross, Leg 4 Day 4 onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro:
There is a lot to be happy about onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro.
First and foremost, we finished the outrageously horrific batch of Chinese “coffee” we had in the galley jar. It’s a true proof of this team’s toughness that we managed such a feat. It was downright undrinkable, but we well know it’s better to agonize and stay awake...
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“I reckon we could race around the world the opposite way, the upwind way—the...”
– PUMA watch captain Tony Mutter on the lack of downwind sailing in the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race
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Slow Morning Start
Leg 4 Day 1 onboard blog from Amory Ross:
We eventually made it across the morning zephyrs and we’re now going upwind in about 20 knots of wind and an unnecessarily violent wave set. The sea is making life unpleasant for the time being, and nobody expects it to do anything but worsen. We’re all trying to adjust to the ocean life in a hurry, but in the incessant and unpredictable pounding there’s...
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