Position: 25,30.60S , 44,13.59W Speed: 11 knots, Course: 40 deg. After the last sked we came to a grinding halt. It was depressing to see that Brasil1 and ABN AMRO Two had made big gains and were in the new wind while we were becalmed. Shortly thereafter we got hit with a squall. It was […]

Position: 27,54.18S , 44,43.83W Speed: 10 knots, Course: 342 deg. Just slogging away upwind in 15 knots today. The good news is that there has been more wind than the forecast but still upwind which is slow going. Beautiful weather though – clear skies – sailing in our shorts and T-shirts. Fairly smooth sea. Nice […]

Numbers games are what we play out here. It’s all about numbers! Pressures, angles, days, grams, minutes, calories, codes, watches, deniers, millibars, legs, degrees….you name it we count it, graph it, record it, bag it, everything it. Didn’t really see that much in the way of wild life closing into the Horn. The last few […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Position: 51,20.76S , 125,56.92W Speed: 19 knots, Course: 121 deg. Long Day today with plenty of decisions to be made. So far so good. We are finally done with the northern loop and we can focus on the Corn now. Movistar ended up beating us to the “bouy” by about 5 boat lengths. It was […]

Position: 49,55.78S , 145,1.97W Speed: 12 knots, Course: 12 deg. This is the first time I can remember heading North in the Southern Ocean. North is just not a normal heading out here. East is the heading you want or Southeast. Well, we are heading North and not for just a little while; 24 hours […]

Position: 53,50.91S , 155,8.83W Speed: 19 knots, Course: 78 deg. So far so good. The South is paying us back for our investment. The boats in the North are very light. They must be hoping to pop out of the ridge first and get the new Northwesterly’s in front of the next cold front. Our […]

RATS (rapid action technical seamen) Salter Ferris and Clougher were in an instant lather, upon finding the keel gauge string potentiometer had broken its flexible attachment to the keel head. This is an ESSENTIAL gauge for boat maneuvers, so was immediately set upon. Operations were directed by RAT Superintendent Chief of Everything Williams, who was […]

We had a great start on the Pearl and we are out of there! It is always fun to win the start of these offshore legs even if it probably doesn’t mean much over the three weeks that we have ahead of us. But is it the time when you are in front of the […]

Wellington, New Zealand After a three day pitstop in Wellington, New Zealand the Pirates of the Caribbean will start Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race on 19th February. On Leg 4, the Pirates of the Caribbean team will race 6,700 nautical miles from Wellington, New Zealand to the finish line in Rio, Brazil. “Our […]

With less than three hours until the start of Leg 4, the Pirates are busy with final preparations. Martin is filling in paperwork and taking newest crew member Jeremy (DB) to the dentist, Rikard is on his way to the only pharmacy in town open on a Sunday and Mark is in search of the […]

First of all, Happy Valentines Day from all the Pirates to all their sweethearts! We got your cards today. Nice job organizing that ladies! We are thinking of you too! We have been on starboard tack with the big spinnaker up for the past 24 hours which has made for some smooth and quick sailing. […]

Well, we had a great start and that made us all feel good for about 30 minutes. Then the wind died where we were and it all started to get weird. It was a long day on Port Philip bay while we all waited for the sea breeze to fill. It finally did and we […]

The villains from Paul Cayard’s Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean put on a show, hosted by sponsor Pescanova, on Melbourne’s Central Pier that instilled in the kids the allure and the fascination of the Volvo Ocean Race around the world. The children, from State schools around the city, turned out in Pescanova-branded yellow foul […]

The Pirates are making progress here in Melbourne. The boat is disassembled and the repairs are being affected. Kimo Worthington, our General Manager, will write something later detailing the repairs that we have made and explaining a bit about how these boats are constructed in the keel area. Manuel Fernandez, Chairman of Pescanova and Manuel […]