Sail with New Freebooters

One indication of how rough it was out there is the fact that the only video clip that contains actual video rather than voice plus a few stills is the one Rick Deppe made when Puma’s boom broke. Several reports reference sledgehammers, but the most graphic is from Gustav Morin, media crew member on Ericsson [...]

It’s been as tough as predicted – in fact, the waves experienced by some crews have been far higher (up to 14 metres) and real boat-breakers. Green Dragon, with spinnaker halyards doing duty for her broken forestay, must have had another problem because as I write this the race viewer shows her reaching off to [...]

While the sailing teams take a break and get fit again, the shore crews are working hard. Most had intended that Cochin would be a maintenance stopover, with the big jobs being done in Singapore, but the rough weather during the early part of the stage has forced several teams to rush the delivery of [...]

Well, I’ve passed the island of Fernando de Noranha, within hours of  the first of the real Volvo boats – but they started a day later than the SailOnLine players did. Now for something completely different: a 3,400 mile beat to the finish in Capetown, starting in the trade winds but eventually meeting the hefty [...]

This time I really did get totally carried away, and missed posting about the race altogether for a day. I spent yesterday convinced that I needed to head for the coast for as long as I dared in order to pick up a stronger wind, and sacrificed over 100 places in order to do so. [...]