Many of you who receive these updates are sailing enthusiasts who know the structure of this sport well. Since we formed the Pirates of the Caribbean team, we’ve reached out to a new audience who is not quite as familiar with sailing. For their benefit, I’d like to use this update to describe the function and significance of the other half of our Pirates of the Caribbean team who is rarely in the spotlight, but certainly deserves recognition.

While we have ten sailors who crew The Black Pearl, we also have 20 Pirates who encompass the shore team. As General Manager of the entire organization, my role is to ensure that both sides are in sync so that the ultimate goal-racing the boat in its best possible condition-is achieved. The shore team consists of the guys and girls who maintain The Black Pearl, fixing, rebuilding, and fine tuning her, who manage the logistics, information technology, shipping, clothing and gear, who set up our offices and infrastructure in each port and who then dismantle and pack it all away to be shipped in containers to the next. These, and a host of other tasks too numerous to write about here, are the responsibility of the shore crew. This is the “back office” of our entire organization comprised of a critical, necessary and very dedicated group of people who bring a wide variety of skills, knowledge and hard work to the table – normally the first ones to arrive at the base each day and the last to leave. That’s the shore team. All are sailors themselves and, like anyone involved in this sport and especially those who make a living out of it, share a passion for it.

Meet Gerardo Siciliano from Italy (or Gerry as we like to call him.) His main responsibilities as part of the Pirates of the Caribbean shore team include rigging, working on the dagger board and mast, and taking care of the ropes, among other things. The boats have more than 1,300 meters (4,265 ft.) of rope with more than 150 splices which must be checked or replaced at each stop over.

Gerry has been with the team since its inception and actually helped build the boat. He got into the sport out of a desire to travel around the world and 15 years later he has done just that. When asked what his favourite part of the job is, he responded, “Being with all the others, sharing this lifestyle and improving my knowledge of different cultures.” When asked what his least favourite aspect of the job is, he thought and then responded, “I really can’t think of anything.”

While every job in any industry has some areas that are less desirable than others, Gerry’s answer is very typical and representative of what you find in sailing – people who are in it because they love it and want to be in it.

Meet Martin Klug, or Martini as we like to call him – our IT guy, from Sweden. Martin is the epitome of a genuine multi-tasker. To sum up his job, there are three main responsibilities:

1) Prior to arriving at a port, he establishes the footprint of infrastructure needed from an operational perspective on the base. This usually entails a recon trip to the base prior to arrivals. Here he begins the planning of what the team will need to function efficiently including office space for the entire team, electricity, water, air-conditioning, phone and internet service, among other things.

2) Once the shore team arrives at the base, he needs to ensure that the infrastructure is up and running, that the trailers (offices as we like to call them) contain all the necessary, functioning elements such as printers, chairs, desks and office supplies.

3) When the boat arrives, he has to recheck the on board electronics to make sure everything is working up to par and he has to make good use of the incredible amount of data and raw product coming off the boat in the form of images and video footage and make that useful to our partners such as Disney and Pescanova. He also has to attend to all IT requests on a daily basis.

Martin is also there to do whatever else may be needed. That could include renting cars or making a trip to the super market as well as producing from scratch some of the best videos of the team sailing that he puts to great music. When asked what he finds most intriguing about his position, he said, “I really enjoy the challenge of setting up and breaking down the “travelling circus” from port to port. Establishing an infrastructure in Cape Town can be quite different from doing that in Melbourne, for example. You constantly learn and improve the system. I also thrive on the extraordinary circumstances. Organizing the flight of The Black Pearl from Portugal to Cape Town was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was harder and more logistically challenging than anyone could have imagined, but it was one of the most rewarding experiences ever.”

The responsibilities of Gerardo and Martin illustrate two diverse, yet critical roles in the shore team. There are many, many others who-when put together-make up the great team that we have called the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Curt Oetking – USA

Mike Danks – NZ

Vaughn Taylor – NZ

Robbie Young – USA

Charlie Coulborn – UK

Ross Monson – UK

Rikard Grunnan – USA

Murray Mc Donnell – USA

Gerry Siciliano – ITA

Craig Gurnell – NZ

Jeremy Smith – NZ

Andre Julius – SA

Martin Klug – SWE

Susan Mitton – IRL

Jennifer Hall – CAN

Mark Reihana – NZ

Jo Warren – NZ

Rob Myles – USA

Paula Satterthwaite – NZ

Tony Pohl – USA

Kimo Worthington

General Manager

Pirates of the Caribbean

Yesterday was the day that showed what it is like to have big, fast, boats racing together on a short course. What an exciting day for spectators and sailors alike. The conditions were excellent; clear skies, 15 knots at the start that built to 20 knots by the finish. There were at least four lead changes during the race and plenty of spectacular action as these undermanned boats were put to the test in closed course racing. In the final moments of the race, Pirates on port was closing with Movistar on starboard, each boat planing at 20 knots. It was neck and neck for the last three minutes and only in the last 30 seconds was it apparent that we would be able to just squeak across Movistar’s bow and beat them across the line.

One of the great stories of the day was Brasil 1 making the start. They only got their spare mast in the boat at 0230 the morning of the race and had no time to train or even tune the rig. At the first windward mark, they had a handy lead which received and great round of applause from the spectator fleet. They later had trouble on a spinnaker set and finished 5th place.

With just 11 crew onboard, dousing the 500 sq meter spinnakers proved to be a defining element in the results as a few of the teams coughed up some valuable distance at the end of the run. Gybing the 500 sq meter kite with just four men grinding was also a workout in 20 knots of wind. On the second run we passed ABM AMRO ONE by matching them on a simultaneous gybe that the Pirate crew executed a bit better than their counterparts which allowed the Pearl to roll ABN AMRO ONE. 5 minutes later, ABN tried to return the favor but could not make it stick and we were able defend our second position at the bottom of the run while Brasil 1 was still in the lead.

As the wind built, the upwind speed of ABN AMRO ONE was too much for any of us to match and she took the lead on the third windward leg and never relinquished it. We did close in on her on the third run to round the leeward mark just 8 seconds behind. ABN AMRO ONE stretched out her lead up the last windward leg while we held a comfortable second place over Movistar who was followed by Ericsson.

While rounding the last windward mark, the Pirates spinnaker tore. I have to admit that I thought we were toast and that our hard earned second place would turn in to a fourth. But the Pirates got into action and got the back up spinnaker up and flying within 2 minutes. Our 45 second lead evaporated and it was a horse race to the finish with Movistar. All is well that ends well, and the second place was ours.

A couple of things that I took from yesterday was that our speed, in general, was very good. During our training last week we worked hard on our mast tune, re-cut our mainsail and studied different jib and mainsail settings. The result was that our upwind speed was as good as any of the other Farr boats if not better. ABN AMRO ONE did have a noticeable edge on the fleet once the wind got over 17 knots. Downwind we are very fast even against the other Farr boats and this is where we had an edge on ABN AMRO ONE on every run. On the in port race course, with equal distance upwind and downwind, the upwind speed edge is more valuable than a downwind advantage as getting out in front and sailing free while approaching the first windward mark is extremely valuable. Offshore, the round the world race is mostly downwind and reaching so hopefully we will find enough of the downwind conditions to allow us to have a speed advantage over ABN AMRO ONE which now has a commanding lead in this race.

The other important fact from yesterday was that our crew work was second to none. These are not easy boats to sail and you need some good techniques and solid execution in order to handle them. The speed at which they approach the leeward marks is impressive and requires a spinnaker drop several hundred meters from the mark.

I still believe there is a lot of potential left to be found in sail shapes, trimming techniques and crew work so I am pushing the Pirates to strive to a higher level in all these areas.

In closing, I want to acknowledge out shore team, a group of 15 professionals, who did an excellent job of getting the Black Pearl back on line here in Melbourne. We limped into town and we were strong yesterday and will be strong on the next leg thanks to their great work. Since we arrived 13 days ago, more than 1000 man hours have been lathered on the Pearl. Last night at the prize giving, our shore team joined the crew on the stage.

This week’s schedule: Sunday – dress rehearsal for the Pescanova kids event and replacement of the pistons and rods in the keel hydraulics. Tomorrow is Pescanova Day and a Disney guest sail in the afternoon. Tuesday will be a day out sailing to look at some new sails and Wednesday-Thursday is maintenance, prep and loading the boat. Friday is a short sail to make sure all is in order and Saturday is off for the crew. Sunday at 1400 is the start of the “sprint” to Wellington. Jules and I will be studying the weather all week with our meteorologist, Jean Yves Bernot.

We will restart from Wellington to Rio on February 19 at 1400.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

Today, by video conference form Melbourne, I participated in a Press Conference held at The Press Club in Washington DC with an audience of about 200 people, 100 of which were journalists. It was moderated by Gary Jobson who has done all the sailing coverage over the years for ESPN. On the panel here in Melbourne was myself, Glenn Bourke, Richard Masson-a crew member of Ericsson, and one of the young sailors off ABN Amro 2, George Peet, who is American. The whole thing was very positive and it was a great opportunity to straighten out some misconceptions about the Volvo Ocean Race.

Ironically, I had a similar conversation last night with my wife. It was a good dress rehearsal for today. The fact is that through the media or a lack of the right information getting out, the wrong perception about this race is circulating in some circles. Today, with the authority that only those onboard can bring to bear, we got out the right message, which is;

These are technologically advanced boats, which produce record setting 24 hour runs of 565 miles that everyone in the media is so happy to write about. What goes with that is potential to break things. Two things will happen as we go forward; 1, the sailors will learn to manage “the edge” better, and 2, we will improve the reliability of the equipment.

Another point is that this event is going to give much more to the sailing community that other premier events in our sport. Canting keel technology is smart technology. It allows you to keep a boat light (which is fast) yet have high stability which translates into horsepower and speed. This technology will be the standard for the entire marine industry, racing and cruising, in 10 years time. The America’s Cup for example, spend 100’s of millions of $’s on antiquated technology and will be changing to canting keel technology in the future. In the near term, we will get our boats sorted out and we will produce a good competition by Baltimore if not sooner. What the event will be left with at that point is great competition from incredibly fast boats that are spectacular to watch and which the average Joe, and even many top level sailors, can only dream of getting a ride on.

I for one, as a professional, am very happy to be part of this learning curve…. to ride on the crest of the wave. I don’t feel there is any real damager of a serious catastrophe. If I did, I would not take my boat and crew out there. There is still a chance that things will break and this will limit a competitor’s ability to go full speed. But these issues are getting fewer and fewer as we sail the boats more and more and we find the weak spots. The future is clear…look at ABN Amro 1. She is the only second generation boat out here and she is holding up just fine.

By June, this period will be a forgotten blip on the radar screen. People have to learn to suck it up in the valleys. I have to tell my teenagers this but it seems you have to tell some adults too. If life was all smooth sailing, it would not be worth living. We need some challenges in order to feel like we are conquering something.

I am proud to be the skipper of the Black Pearl, I am proud to be part of developing this technology and I am honored to have great partners like Disney and Pescanova. I would not want to be sitting behind some desk somewhere criticizing people who are willing to “dig deep” to cross into new territory.

As far as I can remember, there aren’t a lot of points of land or holidays named after people who sat at home and criticized Christopher Columbus.

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

Position: 39,22.95S , 140,45.40E

Speed: 9 knots, Course: 24 deg.

230 miles to go…seems like this leg has taken forever. We have nice sailing tonight, 12 knots of wind from the southwest so we are running toward Melbourne. The seas are smooth and fully in line with the wind so these are good conditions for our keel. We are making about 10 knots toward the mark.

Last night was an awful night as you could probably tell from my short email early this morning. The wind playing havoc with us and the seas were quite nasty which created a lot of stress on all of us as we could feel the “slop”

in our keel bearings on each slam. Add to that a very strong thunder and lightening storm with constant rain and you have “less than ideal conditions”.

It was a good test of our team. We are all physically and mentally tired. We could have easily gotten on each other then, but we all just realized what it was, a blip on the radar of this very long race, and took some deep breaths. Very testing conditions!

Looking back on the leg, it is hard not to remember all the hurdles; the broken radar bracket on the first night, the broken boom vang (both of those got repaired by the crew a sea), the electrical fire due to a short in the keel controls on the port steering pedestal, the keel structure that had us quite concerned and forced us to slow down for 48 hours mid way across the Indian Ocean, the compromised port fresh water tank, the titanium keel ram itself snapping and forcing us into Albany for a quick centerline lock job, and the leaks which have kept our pumps busy and buckets full for the past two weeks. Our bilge is the cleanest bilge ever seen on a boat. When the water comes out from below, it is crystal.

However, there has been a lot of good on this leg for the Black Pearl. We have finally raced a leg and that has given us a chance to calibrate our systems, Jules and my working relationship on weather routing and strategy, our watch systems, and our sail changing techniques. We have a god grip on our boats performance in all conditions and when to use which sail combinations. These things all take time on the water and we have just put in our first three week stint in this VOR 70 class. We also learned a lot about things that seem trivial but are still important to have completely sorted out such as; how much diesel we burn each day, how much food we consume each day.

Also, I should point out the components that are holding up to the beating that these boats dish out; the mast by Hall spars is solid as a rock, the sails by North – haven’t torn anything yet, the Spectra fresh water maker – which as you can imagine is vital, our cordage by Maffioli has held up perfectly – no chaffing or broken sheets, even the computers – “Toughbooks” by Panasonic have held up perfectly and our food by Real Expedition has stood the test of three weeks and we still look forward to eating. As much as all teams will be harping on what doesn’t work or failed, I think it is worth mentioning those items that have stood his test. I think these boats dish out more punishment than anyone or any computer program predicted and that is why a lot of things are failing.

On the performance side, sure, the ABN boats are very quick. No one can deny that in any kind of power reaching condition, they are the fastest boats out here. And legs 2 and 4 should be perfect for them. However, trying to look a the positive, we were 30 miles behind ABN1 on day 6 when 30 miles made the difference between staying back with ABN2 and Movistar and riding the front and putting 300 miles on the fleet. Then while racing ABN2 and Movistar, we initially gained on them in moderate conditions until we all went through the transition which seemed to punish us extra hard. There is still lot of race left and especially from Rio on where there will be a good mix of conditions. Now is not the time to make hasty judgments, at least not for me and my team.

Now is the time to get the boat repaired and reliable for another very tough leg. Now is the time to get our minds and bodies recharged. Now is the time for all Pirates, whatever their role, to dig in and bring their best game to the table, leg after leg, stopover after stopover, in-port race after in-port race, hurdle after hurdle. That’s what it is going to take for us to win this race. We may not be doing it the easy way, but we have to play with the cards we are holding. We all know the Round the World Race is a long and hard race, and we are not even half way done. This is a 12 round, heavy-weight championship fight.

Standby for round 3.

PC

Pirates of the Caribbean