Ken Read checks in with SAIL for a debrief after completing the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009
In May of 2007, a fledgling team called Puma Ocean Racing announced their intentions of competing in the 2008/2009 Volvo Ocean Race — a 37,000 mile round-the-world grudge match that’s fought out in the world’s fastest monohulls — in Boston, MA. As an attending journalist, I can report that while excitement ran high, expectations were fairly limited. Not because of the sponsor or the sailors, but because the VOR has established itself as an event where dynastic involvement pays big dividends, as does a lengthy design and build-up process, two-boat testing and clocking in many offshore miles prior to the starting gun. Puma Ocean Racing, led by the wildly talented American skipper Ken Read, took a different tack. Time and funding were limited (from the day they announced their involvement until the start of the race was a mere 17 months), so the team purchased the old ABN Amro Two —the monohull that held the fastest 24-hour passage until this past edition of the VOR |
clipped from sailmagazine.com
