A solid three iron. That is what it would take to whack a golf ball off the mainsail of half the fleet at this stage as we literally drift off the coast of Malaysia and its major city Kuala Lumpur.
Andreas Hanakamp and his men onboard Kosatka Team Russia finally made it to the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin when they crossed the line at 1323 GMT (1853 local time), after being at sea for 18 days, 2 hours 3 minutes and 30 seconds (elapsed time 18:02:03:30).
“We are on the emerald highway home and nothing is going to stop us from enjoying our last few days at sea. Even the rain that is falling now will not break our spirit,” said MCM Mark Covell from onboard Kosatka as they close on the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin.
‘Bang bang’. Loud stamping on the deck means ‘get your butt up here ASAP’, so automatically I jump out of the bunk and run on deck. The jib is being dropped, while the main is completely eased.
What a great day indeed, 12 knots looking straight down the eye to Cochin. The sun shone, the breeze was pleasant and we were on the way home, finally sailing in the direction we wanted to go. It wasn’t 20 knots, but this felt as close to champagne sailing as we had experienced since the trades of leg one. We didn’t care any more that the fleet was finished and we still had 400 miles to sail, we were on the rumb line and, with or without Coke, it tasted good.
It is painful, but at least it is progress for Kosatka Team Russia. In a telephone call this morning, skipper Andreas Hanakamp reported that the team has wind and it is propelling them towards India at 16 knots.
After a terrific battle in the final stages of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cochin in India, where three boats were in sight of each other today, Ken Read/USA emerged the victor and brought the red and black PUMA across the finish today at 1222 GMT (1802 local time) in fifth place.
Fernando Echávarri from Spain brought Telefónica Black into Cochin, India, in fourth place on leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race, earning five points, which when added to their scoring gate total of 1.5 points, brings their total to 13.5 and sixth place on the overall leaderboard. The team was second in the in-port race in Alicante, but last on the first leg of the race from Alicante to Cape Town after suffering damage.
So this will be my last blog of Leg 2…even if we are stuck out here for another week, I can’t take it anymore I jut can’t take it……all this sweating onto the keyboard makes typing a nightmare. No seriously, I’ve had enough now, as my friend Meg once said, ‘take me home or lose me forever’.
Painful. That is the only way to describe this leg.
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