It sounds like a blast. A 24-hour run of 527.8 nautical miles has earned Rhode Islander Ken Read’s PUMA team the IWC Schaffhausen Speed Record Challenge award for Leg 4 of the Volvo round the world race. And it helped them to a 2d place finish on the 5,200 mile, 19 day Sanya, China to Auckland, NZ Leg 4. But in a Bangor Daily News syndicated piece Read spoke candidly about the price his team paid for their northerly run to high winds and a good sailing angle. Pounding for days in close reaching conditions is like living inside a drum as you try to rest in your pipe berth. And then you get to go topsides to a firehose plane. Read - 50 years old - has been through hell. Dismasted in the South Atlantic, loaded aboard a freighter at Tristan DaCunha - the most remote inhabited island on earth - Read's Puma team is 4th out of six . How competitive is this race? Approaching Auckland the top three boats were in sight of each other. A week's rest and then they head for Cape Horn. I'll keep you posted. - GWC
Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 | PUMA claim second 24-hour distance award:
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