They may have triumphed over adversity in the race to get Mar Mostro to Cape Town but PUMA skipper Ken Read said his biggest fear now is being left behind by the rest of the fleet in Leg 2.
“Our ability to get back into it is going to depend on how the next couple of days goes,” Read said. “The one thing every single boat here understands is you have to get faster every leg. My fear is that everyone else takes a jump and we get left behind a little bit. We’ve been talking for a week and a half about how we don’t get left behind.”
After spending five days on container ship TEAM BREMEN from the tiny, remote island of Tristan da Cunha, PUMA finally arrived in Cape Town last night and work began immediately to fit the team’s replacement rig.
“We gotta go tune a rig that hasn’t been in the boat for a long time, and has to work – it can’t fall over,” he said. “Our sails have to work. Our sails have been dragged through the water for hours. Are they still going to look the same?
“There’s a lot of variables that have to still go right just for us to be competitive. I’m sure we’ll know fairly soon after the start if we are competitive or if we are just hanging on this leg and we’re not going to know until then unfortunately.
“You deal the hand you’re dealt and our guys dealt with it as well as ever could be expected, on shore and offshore. But unfortunately the job’s not over. We have a boat we still have to get in race ready shape in a couple of days. Really you could make a case that the hard part is still ahead of us. Not just race ready but we have to be race ready at the highest grand prix level there is.”
Although PUMA will miss the Pro-Am race tomorrow, the team aim to be back among their rivals on the start line come Saturday’s In-Port Race.
From : Volvo Ocean Race
From : Volvo Ocean Race
