This leg, which had so much to look forward to, has a bitter sweet ending.
First let us get the bad news out of the way. We were inconsistent this leg. We didn't sail our best. We think we made some decent speed gains in some conditions that in the past have not been one of our strengths, but in the end you are what you are, and we were fourth best this leg.
With a chance at third, we had a great day yesterday, actually using our Stealth Card to our advantage and arriving at the Whale Zone literally overlapped with Telefonica Blue. It was a pretty good comeback seeing that they were 150 miles or so ahead of us not too long ago. We had a very solid power reach across the first leg of the exclusion zone and about five miles from the end of that leg, the wind literally shut off and we got beat to the punch by T-Blue who got organized and tacked for the northwest corner of the zone before we did. They got their bow out on us in a huge right shift- and then came the conditions where T-Blue excels. Light and mealy conditions played to their hands and when we tried to break for the land side of the final channel home. We were literally becalmed and they sailed away on the seaward side of the channel- disappointing to say the least.
But, this is about so much more. We are now arriving at the place where it all began. 11 days short of one year ago, this boat was christened by Salma Hayek at the ICA [Institue of Contemporary Art] dock next door to where the Boston Fan Pier Stopover is being held. Sailing offshore on il mostro, heading up here for the christening seems like forever ago. In the beginning, a lot of work was done to get this boat in the water. But nothing compares to this- the culmination of this boat and crew and shore team and operations folks sailing around the world. A very long way around the world I might add. In our Boston to Boston journey we have sailed exactly 48,182 miles on il mostro- in less than one year, and obviously we still have a few miles to go to reach Russia, where we complete this race and the total overall journey.
We are back with our families, friends and supporters who have been critical in making PUMA Ocean Racing what it is- a first class operation. We’re an operation that holds its head high in victory and defeat. I am very proud of this program and the amount of people it has touched to date. That is the goal of the PUMA Ocean Racing campaign. To reach as many lives as possible, in a positive way, all while masquerading as a sailboat race.
Boston, we are back. It has been a very long journey to get back to where we feel so familiar, but worth every minute of the joy and hardship along the way.
- Kenny
