A Light and Variable Day

Position: 13,4.11S , 35,39.36W

Speed: 13 knots, Course: 34 deg.

It was a light a variable day today with winds as light as 3 knots. There is always a lot of anxiety when you have that little wind as you wonder what everyone else has. Today we had to fight our way through a large cell of little to no wind in order to hook into the trades.

We could see the cumulus clouds that mark the trades all day, but at boat speeds that we as low as 3 knots at times, it took us all day to go 40 miles. About 1600 local time we went under a cloud line and on the other side were the beautiful trades waiting to take us away.

We are now doing 12 knots of speed in 9 knots of wind at 80 true wind angle. These boats are machines in this wind speed.

All in all we had a pretty good day against the fleet today. At the 1000 sked, there was compression as we all closed in on Movistar who hit the light patch first. On the 1600 sked ABN1 and Ericsson made a nice move on the west side of the group, probably getting to leeward of a cloud that had rain coming out of it. On the 2200 sked, movistar extended 3 miles on us and ABN 1 gained one mile on us and we gained on the rest of the fleet.They still had very light wind at the time of the sked so we may have extended even more since then.

We are now kind of on autopilot for the next 48 hours. We are aiming straight at Fernando de Noronha, the island off Brazil that we have to leave to port and will count as a scoring gate. The wind will lift and head a little over the course to Fernando but there are no more major tactical decisions left to make until we leave Fernando. So it is all about setting the boat up to get maximum performance for the given wind speed and angle.

The sea is smooth so good for sleeping. And that is where I am off to next.

PC

POTC

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This a high stakes game

Position: 16,27.85S , 37,42.62W

Speed: 9 knots, Course: 54 deg.

Russian Roulette is more like it than sailing. Large clouds dominate the scene and the wind is light and variable. When it is this light, and while you are making the best of what you have, you can’t help thinking that the other guys have more wind than you do. You don’t ever really know where they are heading and you only know where they are once every six hours. So making decision about where to position your boat is tough. You almost have to just play the wind you have without regard to the fleet which makes this a high stakes game. If a cloud give you a different wind for 3 hours and takes you off the best course, you would never know it until it was too late and you can get big splits quickly in these boats.

We spent most of the day sailing on the tack that took us most north. The wind direction has been oscillating between 210 and 180 true. Also, our weather information makes us believe there is better breeze about 70 miles off the coast rather than say 150 miles off. So we have worked port tack more than starboard and maybe we have done alright.

We caught a rather thick piece of kelp on our rudder this afternoon and had to stop the boat and get Anthony in the water again. He did not mind it much.probably felt damn good. We should all volunteer for that job with 28C water temp.

We spent the majority of the day not seeing anyone. Just about 30 minutes ago we saw ABN2, Brasil and ABN1. We are pretty sure it is them but they are over 8 miles away so hard to be absolutely sure until the next sked.

The good news is that three boats are behind us and we have decent wind right now. We are slowly making progress up the cost and through the disintegrating cold front. Above 16 S we should start to feel some easterlies, light at first. The forecast is for the wind to lighten tomorrow from the 10 knots we have now and slowly creep left toward the east. The westerly position we have on the group near us should be able to be converted into distance forward as we will have a tighter true wind angle in the light winds tomorrow which generates more speed. Sounds good anyway.

Still very hot out here and hard to sleep. I went for a nap on a sail bag in the forward “hold” and woke up in a pool of sweat. I am thinking about going for a nap on the foredeck tonight. Not possible during day light but might be perfect tonight.

We have seen flying fish, Dorado chasing bait fish and a few dolphins. The water is bright blue.very pretty.

That’s all for now.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

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Dodging Large Clouds

Position: 20,13.29S , 39,21.58W

Speed: 13 knots, Course: 20 deg.

I just logged the 1600UTC sked. Like many of you, I noticed that the positions were basically the same as they were 6 hours ago. So, one could imagine that we have been just trundling along here, happy as can be.

Nothing could be further from the truth and I suspect if you log onto Virtual Spectator, and look at what happened between the two skeds, you can see what I am talking about.

Basically we are dodging large clouds which dump rain and play havoc with the wind. These clouds are part of a disintegrating cold front that has been lingering in the area of a week. We will eventually have to penetrate it and get through it.

In the past six hours, ABN 1 and our selves got too close to a cloud and parked and that let ABN2 and Ericsson get about 5 miles ahead of us. Brasil and Movistar also appeared from over the horizon as we sat there making 3 knots.

About 2 hours later, Ericsson and ABN 2 returned the favor by getting too close to a cloud and letting us get to windward of them. Sure enough, we ate up their 5 mile lead and put some on them.

It is like musical chairs out here. We are changing sails, monitoring the radar to track the speed and course of the clouds and then changing our course to try to avoid the largest potholes.

The only common thread is that ABN 1 is the fastest boat almost all the time. We got ahead of her in the park up and as soon as the wind filled in steadily for both of us, she blew by us. It was so impressive we video taped it.

It is hot down below. Sea temp and air temp are 28C. Luckily, there has been breeze for the most part. At some point it is going to go light and that will be painfully hot.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean

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It was a very friendly send off

Position: 23,8.63S , 42,22.76W

Speed: 9 knots, Course: 78 deg.

It was a very friendly send off at the dock this morning. Many fans were on hand at Marina Gloria to say good bye to the fleet. The Brazilians were great hosts and did a fantastic job with the stopover.

Onboard the Black Pearl the crew were wearing the yellow jersey’s (the official Brazilian national football teams jerseys complete with our names on them!) that the Brazilian children gave us last Monday after the conclusion of our traditional Pescanova kids day. It was our way of saying thanks to Brazil and taking a piece of Brazil onboard with us.

Maybe it was the jerseys and maybe it was us, but the Black Earl was the first boat around the mark at Copacabana and led the fleet off to the east. It is such a great way to start a leg. Even though there are 4900 miles to go, it helps mentally. Ericsson led the fleet out of the bay followed by the Pirates a couple of boat lengths back but we stayed further offshore going west up Copacabana beach and closed in on Ericsson. Then as they came out from the beach, we could not cross them so we tacked on their lee bow and they fell into our bad air. From there we just herded the fleet and led around the mark.

Initially we were very fast on the run out of Copacabana. At one point we had a one mile lead over Movistar who shortly after the mark passed Ericsson.just faster. We then picked up a large stick on our keel and tried many different ways to get it off but none were successful. So we are slowly loosing to the whole group for a couple of hours.

Then about an hour ago, all of us sailed through a cloud line and parked. Anthony Merrington dove in and got the stick off. However, Movistar got by us and so did ABN 2, not by much.

Currently we are very close to Movistar, ABN2 and Ericsson. There is only 5 knots of wind and the forecast is very light tonight. We are about 20 miles from Cabo Frio which present an opportunity to turn left about 30 degrees.

It looks like a long and slow couple of days ahead as we battle to overtake the wake of an old cold front. After that we will get the southeast trades and should make good progress.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

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The Black Pearl commander Paul Cayard and his crew of Pirates played host to 500 yellow-shirted, sword-wielding Grumetes at the Marina da Gloria today in Rio de Janeiro

The third Grumetes – cabin boys in Spanish, girls too we hope – and Pescanova Pirates Day of the race so far proved to be a lively affair with a cacophony of drum beats, roaring cheers and cannon fire, accompanying a spectacular display of dancing and gymnastics from the Circo Popular do Brasil and the bateria mirim of Unidos da Tijuca’s samba school.

It wasn’t purely about entertainment. Commander Cayard took to the floor, not to samba, but to tell the children about the Volvo Ocean Race and life on the high seas. The details of what his sailors wore, what they ate and what animals they saw along the way had an enthralled audience giggling and waving their skull and crossbones flags.

The spotlight then turned on Cayard himself, dressed up in bandanna and full Pirates gear, who was bombarded by questions about where the toilets were on the boat, why there were no women in his Pirate crew and how many girlfriends the crew had in every port.

The first Pescanova Pirates Day took place during November at Vigo, Spain where official partner Pescanova, the Spanish fishing company, have an Oceanic School of Sailing. The roadshow aims to teach children around the world about navigation, nautical sports and the marine environment and so far, around 5,000 children have attended the three shows to date.

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Bad days happen

It was a tough day for the Pirates today. The conditions on the Rio harbor were excellent with steady winds of 14-18 knots. The spectators were numerous and very enthusiastic

We had a very nice start and first windward leg and run to round the first leeward mark second to ABN AMRO One with Movistar close in third. We rounded the second windward mark still in 2nd with ABN AMRO One stretching out by now with their speed and Movistar about 5 lengths behind. Approaching the second leeward we missed the lay line and this forced a couple of extra gybes all while trying to take the spinnaker down. The main problem we had was that we got the jib twisted around the head stay and then caught on a hank. This cost us Movistar and Ericsson and a lot of distance. Unfortunately, the bleeding did not stop there. We managed to loose ABN AMRO Two and Brasil1 on the last lap to finish last. It certainly was quiet onboard as we crossed the finish line.

Bad days happen. You always think you are going to prevent them from happening, but they happen.

I gathered the guys and ran a short debrief onboard, really just to try to pull everyone together and acknowledge that we made some mistakes, I took blame for some of it, and to try to put it behind us. We will do a full review of the day on Monday make sure we make some notes on these things to review before the next inshore race in Baltimore.

The big picture is we are still the same team that moved from last in the standings to third and we have the same boat and we are still in third place overall.

Tomorrow the crew are off while myself and our PR staff prepare “Pescanova Day” on Monday. We will welcome 500 young people to Marina Gloria from 1000-1200 Monday to learn more about Pirates of the Caribbean and the Volvo Round the World Race.

Tonight is the prize giving for leg 3 and 4 where we did some very good work with a third place and a second place. Unfortunately we are not in a very happy mood right now. Hopefully that will improve in three hours so we can enjoy the evening.

The plan for the week is a full work day on Monday for everyone then I want the crew to take off for a couple of days and get out of the sun and heat.

We will sail on Friday to make sure all is well and ready for the leg and then take Saturday off. Jules and I will of course be studying the weather all week with our meteorologist Jean Yves Bernot.

I am heading back to the hotel for a shower and to put my feet up for a few minutes.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

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The Pirates of the Caribbean team celebrated their second place arrival into Rio de Janiero in style at an elegant cocktail reception hosted by Ermenegildo Zegna on 21 March.

Pirate cocktails and celebrity guests were the talk of the evening as the crew of The Black Pearl enjoyed stepping out in their Z Zegna suits alongside the Piratesses who were elegantly dressed in by Agnona.

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I am onboard UA 843 en route from SFO to Rio.

Position: 35 North 85 W,

Course and Speed: 180, 540 knots

I have had a good week at home in San Francisco and am ready to get back into the Volvo Ocean Race. My week was a mix of work and rest, the perfect mix for me. The unexpected chore (forgotten might be more appropriate term) was to prepare my taxes. I came to this ugly realization on the flight from Rio to SFO. Talk about a bubble bursting revelation. For all Americans, this is an annual pain in the back side that occurs in April. Since I wont be home between now and April 15, I had to take it on last week. Done and gone.

I have never been as tired as I was last week. I don’t know….10 feet longer (the boat), 2 fewer people (the crew), and 8 years older (me). I don’t know whether you multiply those factors, add them up and divide by something or what, but the bottom line is that I was exhausted. I weighed 192 lbs. on arrival at SFO which is about 15 pounds under normal. My first run and first day at the gym were pretty slow. I feel pretty good now, back to 202 lbs., and have a base to build on for the next two weeks. I am into fitness as I believe it is key to physical and mental strength.something you need in this race.

I did get some good time in with my family too. My kids are 16 and 17, a son and a daughter, so we have it all going on at home. They went to Santa Barbara for a high school sailing team race this weekend. My wife, Icka, is doing an amazing job of holding down the fort which is not easy as a single parent. All in all, I am very blessed with family and a nice home. And it is all still there!

We had no major damage on the last leg so Rio has been the first stopover where our shore team hasn’t had to do a major repair. They have completely checked over The Black Pearl. Nothing surprising was found. Regular maintenance has been carried out with a special attention to the canting keel system as usual. We even had time to get some fresh paint on the deck to make her look pretty for her arrival in the USA.

Reflecting on the last leg and the race so far, I am pleased with how things have progressed for Pirates of the Caribbean. Before the race started, I predicted it would take until Rio for us to get our act together on the race course. With a 2nd in the Melbourne in port race, 3rd to Wellington and 2nd at the Corn and Rio, the results show that we are now running on all cylinders. It is satisfying to see what we have accomplished in 9 months.

A strong coalition of efforts by our designers-Farr Yacht Design, our builder-Green Marine Southampton, our keel ram manufacturer-Rexroth, and quality workmanship by the Pirates shore team, has dealt with the technical problems we encountered on the first couple of legs in a professional manner. The proof of this is that we have not had a repeat failure.

Everyone has problems, it is how you deal with the problems that defines you. The Pirates have scored well here especially considering we are the youngest boat in the fleet.

Our mast by Hall Spars has always been solid. Our sails by North are good and getting better. This is a key area of speed on these boats. Improving sails requires a coordinated effort by the sail designer and the crew.

Equally importantly, as a sailing team, we are getting stronger. We have learned a lot about how to sail this boat; sail selection, sail handling techniques, steering, and canard usage. Jules and I are getting well versed in deciphering the weather through various sources and then making our strategic decisions. We will change two crew here in Rio as Rodney Ardern and Curtis Blewett return to Alinghi. Jerry Kirby (USA) trained with us last summer and has always been slotted to be Blewett’s replacement. Jerry has won the America’s Cup, done the Volvo with Chessie Racing in 1997-1998 as well as sailing on Pyewacket which is a big version of the Black Pearl.

Jerry is taking over the “senior citizen” position previously held by Erle Williams and previous to that, held by me. I am gradually becoming relatively young again. Ian Budgen (GBR) is taking Rodney’s position. Ian is a 49er sailor with big boat experience from the America’s Cup and Transatlantic sailing. It will be good to get a bit of new blood onboard. I think we have one of the best crews on the race track.

That is where we are today. But as the saying goes; tomorrow is the first day of the rest of this race.

We need to collect everything we have learned to date and use it as a foundation to launch our effort for the second half of this race. There are a lot of points – half of the total for the race to be exact – left to be fought for. I am just as interested in trends as in scores. We have been on an upward trend since our last place ranking after the Cape Town in port race.

We are now in third place and I want Pirates of the Caribbean to continue its ascent. Where we finish, I don’t know. But the direction of our travel needs to be upwards for me to be satisfied.

So, it has been a nice week off for the sailors, but it is time to crank it up.

Paul Cayard, Skipper

Pirates of the Caribbean

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Z ZEGNA & Paul Cayard’s Pirates of the Caribbean in Rio

A grand event during the stop-over in the Volvo Ocean Race

Rio de Janeiro, 21st March 2006

The Pirates arrived in Rio in 2nd place at the end of 4th leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, and Zegna is here to greet them. The accomplishments of Skipper Paul Cayard and his crew board The Black Pearl in the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006 are the talk of the town and official supplier, Zegna, has organized a great event in the prestigious Rio store Ermenegildo Zegna at the São Conrado Fashion Mall, Estrada da Gávea, 899. Guests will include Luiz Fernando Guimaraes (Actor), Silvia Pfeifer (Actress), Reinaldo Paes Barreto (Director of Jornal do Brasil) and others.

The event is on 21st March, during the stop-over between the 4th and 5th legs of the Volvo Ocean Race, the toughest and most enthralling that a yachtsman can hope to take part in during his career. Rio de Janeiro wasn

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Cayard inspires future Olympians at St Francis Yacht Club Dinner & Auction

Paul Cayard made a special stop at the St Francis Yacht Club for the annual Olympian Support Committee Dinner & Auction, during his brief visit home between Legs 4 and 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race. Paul updated the full house on the Pirate team’s adventures thus far aboard The Black Pearl. On display in the lobby was Paul’s winning trophy from the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race. Together with fellow auctioneers Bob Billingham and Russ Silvestri, the auction raised funds in support of StFYC Members striving for gold in Olympic Sailing.

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