10 May Paul Cayard and his Pirate crew delighted members of the New York Yacht Club this evening with a presentation on the Volvo Ocean Race. More than 200 members turned out to meet the Pirates and learn about their adventures as they race around the world. Commodores Hinman and Townsend presented Skipper Paul Cayard […]

It was a long night Monday night but we finally sailed under the Verrazano Bridge and into New York Harbor at 0600 Tuesday morning to finish in second place for leg 6. This is yet another solid performance for the crew of the Black Pearl and moves Pirates of the Caribbean up the rankings to […]

Paul Cayard, from San Francisco, USA, steered his black and red boat, The Black Pearl, over the finish line in the Hudson River to claim the second place for his Pirates of the Caribbean team in leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race in New York today. Finishing at 06:47:11 (local time, 10:47:11 GMT) this […]

Owners Dick and Susan Franyo rolled out the red carpet on 5 May at the sailors’ favourite watering hole in Annapolis. More than 200 fans and Pirate followers stopped by to meet the Pirates of the Caribbean team who were on hand to sign thousands of autographs and judge the Boatyard’s art contest for children. […]

It was another solid performance by the Pirates of the Caribbean today with a third place in the Baltimore import race. The result also moved the Pirates up to third place overall moving past ABN Amro Two. The breeze was 9 knots at the start and dropped to 6 knots on the third downwind leg […]

As Pirates of the Caribbean blasted through the mist off the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, I could hear that fabulous music from the Walt Disney movie in my head. Thanks to the immense help of Kimo Worthington, Mitch Brindley and Brian McCauley, we had arrived at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel about 10 minutes before […]

Position: 30,31.26N , 69,44.24W Speed: 19 knots, Course: 324 deg. It was a long a tedious day yesterday as we crawled our way through the high pressure ridge. Fluky winds with maximum gusts of 5 knots were the norm for about 10 hours. We managed just 77 miles in 12 hours during the middle of […]

Position: 26,28.80 N , 65,2.90 W Speed: 18 knots, Course: 326 deg. It has been a day of change. We have sailed through a large mass of cloud that is the remnant of a decaying cold front. It was probably 200 miles wide as seen from the satellite pictures. Under this clouds deck, the winds […]

Position: 23,26.35N , 61,9.30W Speed: 14 knots, Course: 303 deg. What a day! It all started off just as great as yesterday ended. The Pearl making gains on the competition, nice easy trade winds sailing, warm and sunny. Then in a one hour period, the spinnaker we had trouble with yesterday started parting at the […]

Position: 7,8.77N , 46,55.96W Speed: 17 knots, Course: 311 deg. We had been stressed about our lack of speed for long enough. Brasil1 kept putting miles on us and Ericsson was getting closer. Even though we could not see anything on the keel or rudder, we decided the only way to get the possibility that […]

It was a stressful couple of days for us on the Pearl. The boat was not going very fast and we tried everything to get her going but to no avail. We also did get hit by more than our fair share of “parking lots” partly our fault and partly bad luck. Our competitors kept […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

I’m writing this week’s report from the Pirate’s base in Marina da Gloria, Rio de Janeiro. Following on from our strong finish into Rio, the team is upbeat and determined to continue our move up the leader board. The crew have now taken a few days off, either to go and visit the sights and […]