The crew has learned a lot about the boat on the sea, and on the shore, we know the realities of what we need to improve on as well. By comparison of what we have seen arrive in Cape Town in past races, il mostro has come through very well. This is due to the fact that a lot of us in this team have brought experiences from the last race with us, and I think we had a very good build period and lead up to the start. That is not to say that we are not issue free- that's just not going happen! Even without the standard breakages, leaks and new developments, the basic service list off the top of your mind would comprise of over 150 jobs divided between the boat building, rigging, sail making and electrical departments. Not to mention the keel service which always brings a smile when "finished."
We have pretty much cornered the market on local boat builders by adding a bunch of guys to our team to help us get through the list. In the last race we had four weeks in this stopover to get the boats turned around and sailing again, this time around we only get 12 days due to the tight race schedule and only eight of those can realistically be out of the water. Our shore team, as usual, has stepped up into another gear. We had the boat out of the water, stripped down, and the rig on the ground within 12 hours of the boat arriving to port. From here the boys know that until the boat is tied back to the dock and ready to go for its shakedown sail, life is "all about the boat." They all handle this very well although Spider Read (Adrian Gray) (who we call Ken's lost son!) may not make the model boat racing regatta this week, as there's just not enough time in the day. The pressure is on, but the light at the end of the tunnel is that the boat must leave.
Cape Town has always been one of the best, if not the best, stopover in this race. This is due to the quality and access of everything we need to keep a boat like il mostro together. Also, most of the local suppliers go out of their way to help us and have worked with several of us before. I think we are in a very good position to give this race a real shake from a boat and sailing perspective. It will always be a cruel race with a lot of miles but we know that from within we have great people on both sides of the fence.
From here we head to Kochi, India. This is the stopover we are all talking about. I'm looking forward to getting our base and boat there and really seeing what the next set of challenges will be for us all.
-Neil Cox (Shore Manager, PUMA Ocean Racing)
