Hungry wolves close on Rio

Spare a thought for the Volvo boats, denied their big Rio party by a lack of wind in the past few days. Snacks have run out on some of the boats but Ken Read, skipper of PUMA, seems to have the right attitude.

I love his comment about the chocolate bars his wife smuggled aboard that "I break in half and throw on deck to the wolves from time to time." Having met the crew I know just what he means.

Boomless PUMA takes second place in Qingdao

This is one of the first pictures taken of PUMA coming in to Qingdao today after recapturing second place, behind Telefonica Blue in the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, while sailing without a boom. The sail profile looks fine for reaching conditions, rigged to a pulley system to allow adjustments. It shows what can be done, even when a boom snaps.

Picture courtesy of the PUMA racing team.

All smoke and mirrors

I understand that there are still people out there who believe the Volvo Ocean race is actually happening. As I think this clip demonstrates, it is becoming obvious that the whole event is being staged, probably in the same studio they used for the moon landings.

The macho-looking guys in their sailing suits are actors with a few Polish building workers brought on to the set as extras. Most of the water is dispensed from a bucket off camera and the spectacular-looking waves are achieved, using hydraulic ramps in the giant tank they used for Master and Commander. Add in a few sound effects and a wind machine, a bit of careful editing and you get this marvelously authentic-looking storm. Nice try Volvo, but you can't fool everyone.

Head case

Puma and Ericsson 4 are still neck and neck for the second and third places in the Volvo fourth leg while Telefonica Blue's leading margin has been all but maintained, now 29 miles with just over 150 miles to go to Qingdao.

The last few miles have been an obstacle course for the boats as fishing nets are stretched sporadically for miles and sometimes cannot be avoided.

Flogging mainsails create a hazard in light winds, so crews deal with the problem by fastening the boom with a "preventer" rope. This clip of Anders Dahlsjo on Ericsson 3 shows what the preventer is trying to prevent and what it can no longer prevent if it snaps, as this did. Not for the squeamish.

PUMA boom breaks on camera

What happens when your boom breaks in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Like several other boats, PUMA was forced to take shelter, after breaking her boom while leading the leg in 50 mph winds west of Luzon. One boat, Telefonica Black, has retired from the leg with a cracked hull but PUMA is sailing on. Telefonica Blue, meanwhile, has taken the lead.

Full report here.

Puma leads by a whisker

Puma is leading by a whisker in what is expected to be a cold, harsh, fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race to Qingdao in China. I sailed with the Puma crew a few days ago in Singapore and their preparation looked superb. Team Origin member Rob Greenhalgh has fitted in well, trimming the main. Imagine a concentrated 2,500 mile sprint with no let up the whole way.

"It’s ridiculous," says Ken Read, Puma's skipper. "Every moment of the day at sea is spent trying to make the boat run fast. We get three hour position reports so the intensity is maintained the whole time. It’s like a day race that just happens to last weeks at a time."

Whale threat

The news that Roland Jourdain has hit a whale will do nothing to boost the confidence of his fellow round-the-world sailors. I'm thinking not only of the remaining Vendee Globe skippers but also the crews of the Volvo Ocean Race Open 70s.

I was chatting with Ken Read, skipper, of Puma Ocean racing in Singapore yesterday. He said that a collision with a whale is the one thing that keeps sailors awake in their bunks on these high speed ocean-racing events.

The threat of submerged objects, including whales, is a recurring topic of conversation among the Volvo crews when they're on shore between stages.

It's not good news for the whales either. Some must be getting badly injured or even killed in these collisions.

The organising bodies of sail racing need to address this issue for the sake of competitors and also for the sake of marine conservation.

The possible use of echo sounders, ultra sound detection and other devices should all be on the table for discussion. Something needs to happen as a matter of urgency.

Catching up with the Volvo Ocean Race

I'm flying to Singapore in a couple of days and wish I was looking forward to it. I hate long flights. I'm travelling there to catch up with Volvo Ocean Race and to sail with the crew of Puma.

In the last race I sailed on ABN AMRO during the in-port race out of Portsmouth. Spectators are allowed to stand at the stern of the boat. This time, as it's a training run, I'm hoping I will get more of a chance to look around the boat.

But I'm under no illusion that there will be a chance to pull on any ropes beyond a turn on the grinder, perhaps. It takes some time to get used to the workings of a powerful boat like this. While principles are the same as those on a cruising yacht it's like stepping out of your saloon car and in to a racing car. There's a steering wheel and pedals but don't expect anything else to be familiar.

I went on the grinder to hoist the mainsail on Bahrain Team Pindar and even with two of us it took forever. I think about that when I read about the Vendee skippers putting reefs in their mainsails. Still, it keeps them fit.

I'm disappointed to be missing the London Boat Show at ExCel although I always find these shows overwhelming. The best bit about them is the opportunity to meet people. Looking at the dates (9th to the 18th of January) I might get to the end of it. One good thing about the Singapore trip is that it will give me new leads and new ideas. I just wish it wasn't so far away.

Wind and puff at the BBC

If you, like me, tuned in to watch the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year event last night, you may have been disappointed but not surprised to hear little mention of sailing.

If you watch BBC and you want to know about sailing, it seems, you are told only about Ben Ainslie and no-one else. If Ainslie's fellow gold Olympic medalists were mentioned, I didn't hear it. There was no mention either of the Vendee Globe, the Volvo Ocean Race, or Ian William's second world title.

I have no complaints about Chris Hoy, a deserving winner, or the accolades reserved for the outstanding British cycling team, but there could have been some mention of the sailing team which brought home from China four of the 11 sailing gold medals awarded.

The whole event, I thought, was poor. Instead of showing us the outstanding performances in an outstanding year for British sport, the BBC gave full reign to the arty types and so we saw all kinds of presentational guff mixed with hokey poetry.

Great sporting moments, Like Usain Bolt's magnificent 100 metres run, don't need dressing up, but instead of seeing the run we had flash after flash of repetitive clips with fancy graphics and unusual camera angles. Instead of seeing the cyclists winning their events we joined them on a training run. Why?

Sport doesn't need to be jazzed up in this way. Leave that to corporate branding experts who need to make tins of beans look more alluring. There is purity in human excellence and the BBC should not forget that.

Monsoon Cup

For the past few weeks I have concentrated here almost entirely on the Vendee Globe, with odd mentions of Pete Goss. But there are other big sailing events going on just now.

I had hoped to catch up with the Volvo Ocean Race in Capetown but domestic engagements got in the way so my plan now is to visit the boats in Singapore in January where I hope to get the opportunity to sail in a practice session on Puma, in third place just now.

More immediately, this weekend in fact, we shall know the outcome of the world match racing championship at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia. Again, I turned down an invitation to attend the event, partly because I have a feature in the Weekend FT magazine on Saturday. The feature that focuses on the current title holder, Ian Williams, was written some time ago.

This is the problem with magazine writing - it lacks the immediacy of the blog where I can click to the event that shows all of us the standings as they are. Anyway Williams will know this weekend whether or not he retains his title. I think it will be tough for him to pull it off but a consolation is that it's just as tough for his immediate rivals.

If you want to get a feel for world match racing you can watch televised Monsoon Cup coverage here.

All at sea, nearly

So much is happening in sailing just now it's difficult to know where to start. The Volvo Ocean race has started and Ericsson 4 has taken an early lead from Puma. Follow their progress here.

Meanwhile Pete Goss is counting down to the start of his voyage to Australia in his Cornish lugger, The Spirit of Mystery. His web site tells the whole story. I featured him a while back here.

The Vendee Globe boats are making their final preparations. Boats are beginning to gather at Les Sables d'Olonne for the race start on November 9. More about the race here.

While all this is happening, members of Team Origin, the America's Cup challenger, are in New York with the yacht, Virgin Money, waiting for favourable weather systems to sail with Sir Richard Branson in a new attempt to break the transatlantic mono-hull record, which stands at 6 days, 17 hrs, 52 minutes and 39 seconds. It's going to be a busy few weeks.