The Times story on Puma is great. I didn't even know the Volvo race was starting. The fate of one-time obsessions.
Three boats of the six starters retired from the first leg (Spain to Cape Town). Two were dismasted. They expect to start leg II.
NY Times Puma slide show HERE
from the Volvo Ocean Race website
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, who set off from Alicante with the rest of the fleet back on November 5, made it into the Cape Town port late on Tuesday night, 6 December.
The boat was lifted down from TEAM BREMEN, the container ship sent to pick them up, and the team motored her round to the shore base at around 1am for a raucous welcome from friends and well-wishers, whooping and cheering and wearing 'The Show Mast Go On' T-shirts, and more tender moments with family.
Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 | PUMA reach Cape Town after epic journey:
The
'via Blog this'
Roald Amundsen - the great Norwegian explorer and navigator took the short route to the south pole. He got there on December 14, 1911 - and back safely. Robert Falcon Scott - burdened by the weight of British science - knowledge, not adventure was the goal - did not get there and did not get back. This slideshow tells some of Scott's story, which is brilliantly told by law professor and historian of science Edward J. Larson, in his recent book “Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science". John Wilford brings us up to date. - GWC
Maggie has returned to New York and Richard and Issuma are sitting in limbo, making repairs as winter sets in on the edge of the Tongass National Rain Forest - Sitka Alaska. A town of about 10,000 on Baranof Island, it was colonized by Russians in 1799. At 57 degrees north and 135 degrees west, I estimate it is an 800 mile run to Vancouver at 48 North, 123 West. Alaska coastal winters are pretty moderate (in the 30's, now) but underway the windchill and the freezing spray counsel staying at the dock, making repairs. 
