A Back and Forth Battle

Position: 38,41.73S , 47,12.70W

Speed: 11 knots, Course: 27 deg

It has been a back and forth battle with all the boats during the past 24 hours. Each has his moment depending on where he is positioned and the shift of the moment. We have improved out position a bit passing ABN2 and moving into second. The over all picture is for very light wind all the way to the finish which could still be five days away even though we have less than 950 miles to go.

It is pretty easy sailing cruising along at 10-12 knots of speed. The water temperature took a big step up today jumping up to 22 C. So all the cold clothes are now stuffed into one of our old food bags to keep them tidy and smelling just in one area. But there is plenty of other smell to go around. Thanks to one competitors objection, we were not allowed to launder the sleeping bags in Wellington. We are really appreciating that now. It smells like a kennel again all the wet and musty now being “cooked” a bit. NICE!

The forecasts (GRIBS) are proving to be a bit less accurate lately so Jules and I have been spending about 4 hours out of every six just on weather together trying to figure out what is really going to happen. We are dealing with a decaying low pressure system right now and then heading for some decent southwest gradient along the coast over the next 24 hours. After that is looks bleak.

I am sitting in the nav station watching the radar and waiting for the 000 weather. We sure waiting for the wind to lift just a bit more then we will gybe onto port and head toward the shore. The game here is to try to get the biggest shift without getting so close to the center of the low that we loose too much wind. This is made trickier by the fact that this low pressure system is decaying and possibly spreading out. So we could gybe safe and it could spread over us. This is the game of the navigator and skipper-to figure this out better than the others. We watch the barometer,

satellite pictures, the wind the others have on the skeds as well as the GRIBS of course. We tacked a bit too early a few days ago when dealing with a high pressure ridge so we want to make sure we are in this one solidly.

Other than that, life is good. We have plenty of food and diesel so that is good news. If it takes forever to get there, so be it. We just want to win this leg and we are prepared to stay out here for how ever long it takes to get the job done.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean

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Pelloni Parmigiano Reggiano on board The Black Pearl

The adventures of Paul Cayard and the Pirates of the Caribbean in the Volvo Ocean Race continue with the upcoming finish of Leg 4 later this week. As the team races from Wellington to

Rio de Janeiro, the Pirates have had an advantage over the other teams. Thanks to Pelloni Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan), the team benefited from having the finest and most famous

cheese in the world onboard.

“Racing around the world is very demanding both physically and mentally,” commented Paul Cayard, Skipper of The Pirates of the Caribbean, “Parmigiano is a great food as it is easy to eat

and provides a great amount of protein and energy. We are fortunate to have Pelloni as our exclusive supplier of Parmigiano.”

Pelloni has produced the new single-dose Parmi Fit snacks especially for The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Cayard and the Pirates will have these on board for the rest of the Volvo Ocean

Race. Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) is a fundamental food for any diet, as it is rich in protein and easily digestible. Its characteristics make it a basic food in the diet of all sportsmen who are

aiming for the best possible performance. It is no coincidence that also the astronauts from NASA use it during their missions into space.

One more novelty from Pelloni is Parmi Kid, a single-dose snack for children. Pelloni will be providing samples of Parmi Kid at the events organised by Pescanova, the Team’s Official

Partner.

“We believed in this project from the very beginning,” say Athos and Aurora Pelloni, the company’s owners. “We’re thrilled to be supplying such an energetic and natural product to the

Pirates. We’re certain that we’ll be able to give an extra boost to their performance. The opportunity to introduce Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) to children is also something we’re

very proud of, as it’s important to learn that a healthy diet is fundamental for a healthy life.”

ENDS

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Paul Cayard

was the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race, in 1998, on EF Language. He is a seven-time sailing world champion, a five-time America’s Cup veteran and a two time Olympian. His accolades include election to the Sailing World Hall of Fame in 2002 and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 1998. For more information, please visit www.cayardsailing.com

The Black Pearl

entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 is the result of a unique film marketing partnership between The Walt Disney Company and the Volvo Ocean Race. The Pirates of the Caribbean team, skippered by Paul Cayard, combines experienced sailors from six nations with five previous wins of this demanding race. For more information on the team, visit: www.blackpearlracing.com

The Volvo Ocean Race

takes eight months, covers 31,250 nautical miles of the globe

/by

Pelloni Parmigiano Reggiano on board The Black Pearl

The adventures of Paul Cayard and the Pirates of the Caribbean in the Volvo Ocean Race continue with the upcoming finish of Leg 4 later this week. As the team races from Wellington to

Rio de Janeiro, the Pirates have had an advantage over the other teams. Thanks to Pelloni Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan), the team benefited from having the finest and most famous

cheese in the world onboard.

“Racing around the world is very demanding both physically and mentally,” commented Paul Cayard, Skipper of The Pirates of the Caribbean, “Parmigiano is a great food as it is easy to eat

and provides a great amount of protein and energy. We are fortunate to have Pelloni as our exclusive supplier of Parmigiano.”

Pelloni has produced the new single-dose Parmi Fit snacks especially for The Pirates of the Caribbean, and Cayard and the Pirates will have these on board for the rest of the Volvo Ocean

Race. Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) is a fundamental food for any diet, as it is rich in protein and easily digestible. Its characteristics make it a basic food in the diet of all sportsmen who are

aiming for the best possible performance. It is no coincidence that also the astronauts from NASA use it during their missions into space.

One more novelty from Pelloni is Parmi Kid, a single-dose snack for children. Pelloni will be providing samples of Parmi Kid at the events organised by Pescanova, the Team’s Official

Partner.

“We believed in this project from the very beginning,” say Athos and Aurora Pelloni, the company’s owners. “We’re thrilled to be supplying such an energetic and natural product to the

Pirates. We’re certain that we’ll be able to give an extra boost to their performance. The opportunity to introduce Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) to children is also something we’re

very proud of, as it’s important to learn that a healthy diet is fundamental for a healthy life.”

ENDS

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Paul Cayard

was the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race, in 1998, on EF Language. He is a seven-time sailing world champion, a five-time America’s Cup veteran and a two time Olympian. His accolades include election to the Sailing World Hall of Fame in 2002 and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 1998. For more information, please visit www.cayardsailing.com

The Black Pearl

entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 is the result of a unique film marketing partnership between The Walt Disney Company and the Volvo Ocean Race. The Pirates of the Caribbean team, skippered by Paul Cayard, combines experienced sailors from six nations with five previous wins of this demanding race. For more information on the team, visit: www.blackpearlracing.com

The Volvo Ocean Race

takes eight months, covers 31,250 nautical miles of the globe

/by

Headline News – WEEKEND EDITION

BREAKING NEWS

Reports are trickling in that the Black Pearl has been carrying a serious mechanical calamity since Cape Horn. At this stage information is sketchy due to the sensitive stature that these grand prix crews have about the proprietary aspects of their technical systems.However it is understood that they have been dealing with a ram failure which is potentially disastrous on these boats.

The on board Trauma Unit for Ram Damage(turd) consisting of Merino Master J “gumboots” Smith LeicesterLover Williams Corriedale Satterthwaite and FlyBlow Ferris have been working trielessly around the clock to rectum-fy the problem. Noticably absent from the unit is former chairman Ram-Rod Ardern who has stepped down in order to pursue similar study om reindeer. His position was offered to Julian Salter who respectfully declined as he prefers cow(e)s.

It is understood that the boat was sailing fully canted in a average Cape Horn Triple overhead seaway and a very loud squeak was heard from the interior and upon rapid TURD inpections it was found that the backup ram on board had baa baa’d its last breathe.

Initial diagnostics have revealed a split in the main casing which has rendereed the unit “unserviceable” The TURDs are still optimistic that the unit can be partially restored to a limited capacity.

It is still unknown as to the racing status of the boat but it is believed that there are several crew members from the LAND of the WRONG WHITE CROWD who are emotionally distraught. It is hoped that technical descriptions may finally be released by the team in the near future.

E.R.

In this episode there are several plots playing out.

The show open with a dishevelled and demented individual (played by Juggy Clougher) wandering aimlessly around la-la land (foredeck) and he is struck

by lightning probably from God (paperclipped around babystay on a 30kt surf) He is found alternately wailing in agony and muttering unintelligably and brought to the E.R.where he is de-rided and scorned by the personnel (whole boat crew) for being a grubby untidy hill-billy of questionable morals and dubious character. Still in such injured state he is tended to by a mysterious Euro(played by deRidder) who is actually a total faker masquerading as MedicalProfessional to satiate his sick pleasure to inflict pain on others.

In another scene we see a sorry citizen with a obscure sickness emerging late in his life. In his first guest starring role we see exciting new talent Jeremy Smith play a poor bloke in a tormented and drugged state (nicotine narcossis from choofing hard on Cape Horn cigars) try and commit suicide by diving onto a lamp post ( drilled into grinder on another 30 kts surf) and incur shocking chest injuries. He was treated for psychological dis-orders as well as rib contusions and kept in over night for observations (confined to bunk) but made a miraculous recovery and discharged himself from the ward upon seeing deRidder sicko doing his morning rounds and gloving up with a DOUBLE BUNGER suppository in his hand!!

Also doing his rounds we see the cool suave new intern surgeon suture specialist (played by Ferris) who is actually never yet seen to put a stitch in anything despite his alleged credentials !! Interestingly enough there is NO nurses in this ward ????? What’s up with that??

In a side plot beady eyed lawyer ambulance chaser and his partner (Salter and Cayard) are plotting to catch ABN EMS VOR70 Inc vehicles somehow but they haven’t figured out exactly how yet!

Innocent bystander (Pearl Williams) is hit and run by a bus (massive wave in 30 ts surf while steering and sustains debilitating leg injuries( hyper-extended knee joint) but amazingly manages to make his own way to the clinic where he is given a comprehensive order of anti-inflams and painkillers from the dispensary. The team tried to give him a hug as well but he doesn’t seem to go for that sort of thing ??

The tea lady (played by Anthony Merrington) does a brisk business around the ward and the cart is always empty before closing time. Merrington actually trully skinned his own finger in order to gain access to the set and the crew liked his commitment so much they kept him there. Funny thing is his finger is still skinned and hurts like hell HAHA. Orderly (Ardern) is leaving the show at the end of this episode sadly as he has a new part in another simply titled show…the A.C.

SPORT NEWS

The open ocean keel sea weed casting world series participated by Williams (defending champion says he) Ferris and Juggy. The conditions were ok and there was weed to be got but the 3 contestants were ABSOLUTELY h-o-p-e-l-e-s-s and couldn’t catch JACK. What a woe-full display to be seen at this level !! The spectators we treated to an extremely colourful dialogue of vulgar expletives and got the full jist of the deal by all the EXPERTS methodology (of clearly what NOT to do)

I don’t think there will be much interest in this sport in the near future.

ENTERTAINMENT

Tonight we are going be treated to a special running of the previously never released DIRECTORS CUT of Erles Exciting Adventures on Flyer

Lost souls on board the Black Pearl

Even more important …

….this is TOP SECRET !!

I do NOT have the faintest clue what PBO is either.

Lost Soul POTC racing and wrecking crew.

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A Piratey Puzzle

Today has been an interesting as well as frustrating day on the Black Pearl. We are sailing parallel to the Argentinean coast in a drag race with our competitors who are all within 50 miles of us. We are reaching with the wind from the north west all heading the same course as we speed for the next weather obstacle in our path to Rio, a ridge of high pressure that we will negotiate on Sunday.

As all the boats are heading in the same direction with similar wind speeds and angles it is a good time to assess our boats performance in these conditions. We have not been able to do much of this on the Pearl so far so we are learning a lot but some of the lessons are harsh. Our guide to performance as the boats are not in sight of each other is the data we glean from the six hourly sked or position reports on how the other boats have gone- we have been taking a few hits in mileage losses as we try out sail combinations to see what gives us our best speeds and sweet spots with each sail. As these boats are so fast the difference in being well set up with the right sail can be measured in whole knots which can translate to miles in a 6 hour period. This is a non stop around the clock activity – as the pirates are working hard on deck trimming and tweaking theses massive sail aerofoil’s for each gust of wind below decks we are also analyzing the data we record on board to deduce what set up works and what does not. We compare this with our previous performance data and relative gains and losses on the fleet to make our judgments. This is a scientific process in that we apply some sophisticated software and measuring tools but becomes a more holistic affair when we add in the many variables we cannot measure. There are rarely clear cut answers just degrees of fast and slow. We note down what we think increases performance sail by sail. Everyone has an opinion so there are some interesting discussions. The sail chart which is the quick guide or map to our sail selection started as a theoretical neat and ordered color coded sheet but now looks like something Jackson Pollock would be proud of. The blue coded sail has been making gains in areas we did not first envisage and light green is proving itself to be a costly item with a very small range.

We cannot just change sails as you would on a small keelboat to test them, we are 10 pirates who have been at this for 2 weeks now so you can’t just call a sail change every few minutes because the one you have up is not quite right. Changing sails is hard work an also costs miles. The reaching sails weigh 100 kilos when wet on the rail so take some manhandling. It is no coincidence we refer to ourselves as ‘dung beetles’ as we roll and push these things around. When not flying these sails fulfill a vital role in helping trim the boat fore and aft which is another one of the many elements to setting up one of these complex beasts to be fast. Each sail change takes about 20 minutes to set the new one and drop the old one and needs the 4 on watch and ideally the 2 guys coming off or on plus skipper or navigator to do efficiently.

The day ends a bit better than it began with a small part of the sail crossover puzzle solved on this vessel and a few miles gained rather than lost to our competitors. The process will roll on through the night as subtle changes in wind, waves and angle will open up more of the conundrum to making this machine go fast.

Jules Salter

Navigator

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Just passing east of the Falklands

Position: 51,55.95S , 56,10.24W

Speed: 7 knots, Course: 33 deg.

We are slipping along at 7 knots in 4 knots of wind thanks to our Code 0. These powerful sails make light air incredibly less painful. We are just passing east of the Falklands. Our router has us staying quite east for the first two thirds of the leg to Rio.

The five day forecast shows a very tricky leg to Rio. We will have about 5 transitions.leaving one weather system and entering or being over taken by another.. to deal with. The first was yesterday after rounding the Cape, ABN1 and Pirates sailed into a stalled bit of cloud that was hanging off the land. The both of us parked pretty firmly while the others sailed up in the 30 knots of wind around the Cape. We took a huge hit on one sked..50 miles to Brasil and about 0 to each of Ericsson and ABN2. Then as Brasil got to the area that we parked in, the cloud band moved off to the east and they were able to slip in along the coast and go through the La Mare straight, all the while enjoying more wind and more lifted direction. They paid a bit back today as they had to come down east to go around the Falklands like the rest of us. Tonight we are going through a small bubble of high pressure. The wind has dropped steadily all after noon and now we are literally coasting along. There appears to be no wind on the water, it is a clear night and you can see the reflection of the stars in the water like a plate of glass. Really a pretty night and the stars are so bright when you are out here away from the loom of any city. Again, and experience few ever get.

Tomorrow and Sunday should be good mileage days as we pick up westerly’s again early in the morning. Sunday night we will sail through a high pressure ridge. This could be another moment of reshuffling. After that we pick up southeasterly’s on the west side of a low pressure cell that is forming right now near Buenos Aires and will drift out to sea over the next 48 hours. Don’t know if you are that much into weather so sorry for the information over load if you aren’t. But that is basically what I do. I, along with Jules have to analyze the information we get, decide if it is accurate, if not, adjust the models, then run the right weather through the routing software which then spits out a bunch of numbers. We then take all that and make a strategy that includes the location of our competitors what they are likely to do or be able to do from their position with the weather that they will have.

Apart from all the work, I caught up on some sleep today, 24 hour sessions and worked on my sail cross over chart, making notes on what we have learned about our sails and when to use them, angles and wind speeds.

I also treated my self to my other, fresh, pair of base layer. Yes, that’s right, I have been wearing the same clothes for 12 days. I gave myself a shower of sorts, lots of baby wipes, then I slid into the fresh smelling long johns and top. Man, what a difference that made. I still have the same socks because I have a complicated sock system and I have only one set up. That is a wool inner sock, a gortex sock, and then another wool sock. I had to run light weight boots on this leg as the really heavy duty boots, which are made of rubber, are too small for my feet and the cold was going right through them. So I took a bit of a gamble wearing my Musto goretex inshore boots in the Southern Ocean, but I made it!

We compile our work list onboard the boat as the leg goes on so today I sent that off tour shore team so they can get prepared before our arrival. There is all the normal maintenance plus a few bigger jobs. I want to mentionthat none of the major repairs we have had to do on this boat have ever come back to bother us. Our shore team long with the builders at Green Marine who have constantly looked after even though our boat long since left their yard, and our designer at Farr Yacht Design, have down a very good job of identifying the problems and solving them in a proper way. Thanks to everyone for that!

I am looking forward to getting to Rio. Rio is one of those cities that has an exotic image. I first went to Rio in 1977, the same year I graduated from high school. The Laser World Championship was in Cabo Frio, just up the coast from Rio. I met many nice people like the Bruns and the Adler’s who helped me and looked after me. I really like Rio. I have been there several times since, but the memories that I have of the Yacht Club, the city, Sugar Loaf, Copacabana and Ipanema from 30 years ago, have left the strongest impressions in my mind. I am looking forward to visiting all those same places and probably some new ones and seeing all my friends who live in that great city.

Torben Greal and his team are staging a great comeback in this leg. You can almost feel Brasil pulling them in like gravity. For the Volvo Ocean Race to have an athlete with Torben’s record, participating, putting his name on the line, adds a great deal of quality and stature to the event. Brasil knows how to celebrate and I am sure they will turn out in droves to welcome home their team after this long race from New Zealand.

We haven’t sailed much in these very light conditions so I am going to go up on deck and sail the boat for awhile to try to learn something.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean

/by

Heading North!

Position: 56,3.22S , 67,6.61W

Speed: 25 knots, Course: 56 deg.

Ten happy Pirates heading north!

More later.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean

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Magnificent Day Rounding the Horn

Teen Happy Pirates heading north but parked. We round Cape Horn in 33 knots of wind and now just 47 miles east we have 5 knots of wind and a huge sea . Very strange turn of events but I remember parking here 4 years ago with Dalton on AMER Sports. Eventually the wind fills from the northwest and we take off. At least we are headed directly where we want to go.La Mer Straights.. which is the water between the very bottom of Argentina and Island called Staten Island. Patience for now.

We had a magnificent day rounding the Horn. The day started with the very slow lightening of the sky that you get at high latitudes. I was on the helm from pure darkness through to daylight. That is my favorite moment out here. It was particularly windy last night so we took the spinnaker down just to play it conservative and make sure we did not have any major issues. Still, it was on the edge steering the boat at 25-30 knots of speed, down large waves, without any visibility. In those conditions, just the slightest bit of additional light helps tremendously and the fact that the light is coming so slowly, tantalizes you.

As soon as we could see reasonably, well before actual sunrise, we put the spinnaker back up. I was trying hard to make sure we did not have to gybe at the Horn but in the end we did and that cost us a bit. But it also did set us up to come very close to the Cape and enjoy the spectacularly rugged terrain of the Cape area. There are several islands other than Cape Horn, which is also an Island. I enjoyed this one much more than the previous two. We took time to absorb the moment. Plenty of photos with the Horn behind us: the “first timers”, the “three timers”, the whole crew, the skipper and navigator, etc.

We are just moving along ever so slowly no, wondering what the others have.is someone screaming along at 20 in some wind we wont get? That is always the worry when you park. Hopefully it is something we all have to gothrough. The tough part is that this light patch is not on any forecast so we are just guessing and surmising what might have caused it.

We have completely restacked the boat to leeward now and forward, Craig did a mast check and found a screw had fallen out of a sheave so he went back up and fixed that, and now it is time for me to get some sleep.

Adios.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

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Pirate Update March 1, 2006

Position: 57,18.43S , 74,29.29W

Speed: 25 knots, Course: 83 deg.

247 miles out west of Cape Horn. 9:40 to go at present speed and a bit more wind ahead. We are reaching in with the blast reacher, genoa staysail and one reef in the main. It is dark, no moon, but it will only be dark for four hours tonight as we are at 57 south.

Movistar just sped past us today, 2 miles to leeward. That justified my thinking three days ago when we gybed away from the south and headed east to where we thought we should go. That move bought us 16 miles and it took them 3 days to get back to us. We have to continue to look for the right moves when racing both Movistar and ABN1 in these high speed conditions.

Shortly after they passed us, they took their spinnaker down and went with their blast reacher on a higher heading. The route all have us gybing near Cape Horn in 35 knots of wind. To gybe one of these things is a major project. You have to completely restack the boat and either you put all the sails below and haul them back on the deck after the maneuver, which is the safest thing to do but extremely hard work and time consuming or you gybe with them restacked already on the new windward side which makes doing the gybe a bit tricky for the skipper. We ran the router constraining it to a point offshore far enough that we would not have to gybe. Obviously that is not the optimal way to get around the horn,(the routing software calculated the optima) but I wanted to see what it was worth to go optimal. It turned out that the difference in time between optimal, which requires two gybes and there is no accounting in the router for the cost of a gybe, and sailing further offshore and against the shift, was about 20 minutes.

So we kept our spinnaker up for about 3 more hours than Movistar and kept heading southeast for a while. Just before dark, we went with the more user friendly and safer rig that we are now carrying. We are currently just making it past the Horn. I don’t think we went far enough so I think we will have to reset the spinnaker at first light to try to get a bit “deeper” or lower on the course.

So the short story is that there were two reasons for us to adopt a different strategy to approach the Horn than Movistar; one is that if we followed them they would probably beat us there, and the second which is actually a better reason is that I would really like to avoid two gybes in 35 true right off Cape Horn. Upside- a safer passage and a possible pass, downside-nothing. But with all that is to be calculated and managed, I won’t sleep until we get around the CORN-er.

We currently have the same rig and conditions that we had the first night of this race off Vigo when we ripped the keel fairing doors off the bottom of the boat. We are doing up to 30 knots at times and slamming off waves in the night as the helmsmen can’t see where we are going to land. The shuttering and slamming makes sounds like broken glass inside the boat. The keel is humming. It hums a higher pitch the faster we go. We have a leak in our rudder bearing and the flow of the leak increases the faster we go.more buckets per hour, that’s all.

But you know what, we are going to round Cape Horn in about 10 hours! That will be one of the major moments in my sailing career, even though it is the third time. Sailing from Wellington to the Horn is like a marathon or an Ironman of sorts. We put so much work and effort into sailing this thing that it is nice to reach a milestone so large. It is to be celebrated. I don’t know how, probably just in the fact that it wont ever be forgotten by each of us.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean

/by

Straight Forward 24 Hours

Position: 56,47.66S , 94,41.67W

Speed: 23 knots, Course: 87 deg.

Another pretty straight forward 24 hours. The wind has been between 20 and 22 knots for that past 24 hours and hasn’t deviated in direction more than 7 degrees over that period. We are riding along in the same location on the front because we can travel at the same speed as the front. That is a new game for me as the 60’s were slower than the fronts so you always had to “look over your should” to see what was coming net wind wise. This is another reason that positioning is so important. Once you set up in a good lane you can ride it for days. No sail changing no stress, less chance to make mistakes, don’t screw up the watch system.the snow ball rolls in the positive sense.

Yesterday was particularly tame and we took advantage of the situation to make some repairs. Erle Williams repaired the pump handle on the toilet (this item had the highest priority) that poor thing gets yanked around 10-12 time s a day by ten 200 pound guys who don’t really want to be there as it is forward of the mast. I think I am going to tell the shore team to make one out of titanium. After that, Erle fixed a leak in our ballast tankcover as we were sailing for some hours with that empty. Jules repaired the GPS main antennae which suffered a “whip-saw” shot to the head on one of our sail changes. A “Whip-saw” shot is like when you used to snap your towel at some guys butt in the locker room in high school. In our case, a loose spinnaker sheet “whipped” the antennae and KO’s it so we had to go to back up number one. I think we have four of those things so no real alarm there. Then Jules fixed our intercom system; our means of communicating from the nav station to the deck.

I made a few phone calls yesterday to a few important fans to let them know how we are doing out here. I have decided to splurge on the crew and allow them each one 5 minute phone call from the boat as we approach the Horn. Rounding the Horn is a big achievement for any sailor. These are moments one never forgets; the first sighting of the Horn, a very distinctive shaped rock that you watch grow in stature as you approach. It is scheduled to be daybreak on the 2nd when we pass the Corn. We have four first timers; Justin Ferris, Anthony Merrington, Jeremy Smith, and Jules Salter; 2 who will round for the second time; Justin (Juggy) Clougher, and Craig (Saturday) Satterthwaite, and four three timers; Erle Williams, Rodney Ardern, Dirk DeRidder and myself. “Three must be enough.surely.” I am just writing that in for my wife as she was not here to write in herself and I know that is what she is thinking as she reads this.

Weather wise, we are setting up a bit high for the approach to the Horn. We expect 25 knots of wind in about 12 hours times and maybe 35 knots of wind in 24 hours time all from the northwest. We will need a little runway with these rockets so you don’t want to get caught low. Movistar has now come up from the south and they are 15 miles behind us. So the net outcome of the decision we made three days ago; to gybe toward the Horn and leave them go south, paid of to the tune of 15 miles.at least. ABN1 is staying down there as they don’t worry too much about getting caught low as they have much more stability than the rest of us so they can just rock up across the fleet whenever they want. Brasil1 has been making nice gains to the north of our line and I think that was another reason Movistar changed course and headed north. We are all starting to “cover” our opponents a bit as we near the scoring point at the Horn. The points are awarded on the basis of who crosses the longitude of the Horn first, independently of what latitude.

The forecast show that the increase in breeze is coming from the northwest so Brasil1, ABN2 and Ericsson should make some gains on us approaching the Horn. Looks like good breeze for the first two days after the Horn.reaching in westerlies,,,so we will make good mileage there. After that, this leg normally has a very difficult part off the coast of Rio de la Plata or Buenos Aires. The warm south flowing Brazilian current meets the cold north flowing southern ocean current and it is a very tumultuous piece of water. If it is windy there, we will have to be careful with the boats.

Just got the latest sked, 2200 on the 28th, and see that Movi gained four miles on us and Brasil gained too . Movistar must have a fractional kite on as he is sailing 3 degrees higher than us and just as fast. He had a bit more wind as all who are behind do. He is going high to get set up for the big breeze tonight and tomorrow. I have to go now.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

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