www.blackpearlracing.com

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Looks likes Paul's making up for lost time, but movistar is giving him a run.

PROJECTED OVERALL STANDINGS

Team Points

ABN AMRO ONE 39.50

ABN AMRO TWO 28.00

movistar 24.00

Pirates of the Caribbean 21.50

Brasil 1 20.00

Ericsson Racing Team 16.50

Brunel 11.50

offshore. ABN AMRO ONE led to start with, then movistar took over for most of the night; now ABN AMRO ONE is back in front once again, but only by a small margin.

The north/south spread of the fleet is 35 miles, with Brasil 1 in the north and Pirates in the south. Boats are sailing a course of 93 degrees at close to 20 knots in winds of between 17 and 20 knots from about 220 degrees. They are about 200 miles behind the weather front that they would like to hang on to for a fast ride, but it might be slipping out of their grasp

Current positions are: ABN AMRO ONE leading by five miles from movistar, with Pirates a further 19 miles back. Brasil 1 and ABN AMRO TWO are a further mile and two miles back respectively. Ericsson is a surprising 37 miles from the leader.

Last night, once they came out of Port Phillip Bay and into the Bass Strait, things got a little hotter for the six boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. The westerly winds came in as forecast – but thankfully not at 40 knots, though there were some gusts that might have got close. As the fleet met the waves off the heads there was a good 20 knots plus and the steep waves made for some wild rides.

EMAILS FROM THE BOATS

The first night was one of close racing, place swapping and some interesting stories. Pirates had a tense night, Paul Cayard commented, “Something went wrong on every manoeuvre we did last night so it was always necessary to have an extra guy on deck. Too many issues to list, but nothing went smoothly and everything took a real long time. So we went pretty slow and lost some miles on the position report I was waiting for and I bet we lost more on the one coming up.

“We have one problem that we have to resolve in order to be able to fly spinnakers. Right now we have a jib up.”

We were wondering what was slowing the kids on ABN AMRO TWO and this report from Si Fi, navigator Simon Fisher, seems to give a few pointers, “I think it would be fair to say that our first 24 hours at sea in Leg 3 has been nothing short of horrendous. Sometimes you feel you just can't get a break, and that is exactly how I'm feeling right now.

“After trailing the fleet out the bay we have suffered a succession of problems one after the other stopping us from catching the other boats. First it was a rip in the mainsail forcing us to sail reefed, next we lost all the (electrical) power to the boat forcing us to scramble around in the dark trying to find out what had come loose and get it all going again. Then Johnny cut his head open after getting swept down the deck in a really nasty wave.

“Right now he is lying in his bunk recovering from a couple of stitches and probably some nasty bruises, having been slammed hard against the dagger board. The force of the water is quite unbelievable. It is little surprise that Johnny (Gerd Jan Poortmann)took a beating when just 30 minutes later the bow came out of a wave with the pulpit seriously bent. That's a stainless steel cage, laid flat by the force of water alone.”

[Black Hearted Pearl]

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 public, television etc, and everyone is cheering, the spectator boats are trying to keep up and with a spectacular back drop like Wellington harbor, I am sure the photos will be special. It was a reaching start where we managed to hit the line a full speed, roll our competitors and lead the entire way on a short lap around Wellington Harbor.

The wind was gusting up to 20 knots as we planed down the entrance of the bay, a good show for sure for the very knowledgeable and appreciative Kiwi public.

The good start was extra nice for the Pirates as the last 24 hours a has been quite a scramble of us. One of our bowmen, Curtis Blewett got injured on leg 3 and went straight to the hospital for x-rays on our arrival Thursday. He underwent a series of treatments and injections to try to make it for this leg (his favorite), but early yesterday afternoon, his doctor told him he should not go. Being in a bind, we made a few calls to some of our Kiwi friends up island to see if they would help us out but they were not able to. At 17:00 we made the decision to take our sailmaker, Jeremy Smith. He had a bit on to meet the Volvo medical requirements and we submitted his paperwork and received approval from the Race Committee for the substitution. Jeremy will do a great job and it is breaks like this that can change a career for a young sailor like Jeremy so I am glad he was able to step in.

We are currently about 30 miles off the Southwestern Cape of the North Island of New Zealand. We went through a transition in the wind.a wind shadow cause by the high mountains.but now we are moving at 20 knots again.

We took the "corner" wider that ABN AMRO ONE, our closest competitor and Brasil 1 and ABN AMRO TWO tried to cut the corner as well. We have gained a lot on all of them.

Ericsson has made a strong move to the southwest, staying out of the transition for longer, and that could pay off nicely for them.

We are settling in now, starting our watches, cooking our first meal, stacking the boat with everything to port. The forecast is for 17-20 knots of wind, initially from 020 then backing to 345 over the next 30 hours or so. We have to sail around a high pressure system that is to our east so we are sailing a bit more southerly than we might otherwise sail.

The mood onboard is good and we are settling in for three of the best weeks of our lives, ones we will surely never forget!

END

Paul Cayard

Pirates of the Caribbean

[Black Hearted Pearl]

The Black Pearl crosses the finish line first in Gothenburg at the end of Leg 9.

An act of Piracy was committed on the waters off Gothenburg, Sweden, around mid day on June 17th. As good Pirates would, and should, we stole first place on Leg 9 from ABN Amro Two, just 20 miles from the finish line.

And what a treasure to steal! It was the biggest leg finish of the whole race, in every sense. There were 7000 boats on the sea, the first of which joined us half way between Denmark and Sweden. The shore was lined with a further 200,000 spectators. As we gybed our way down the ever narrowing channel into Gothenburg, the spectator craft became wall to wall. You could have walked the last ten miles of the leg... hopping from one boat to the next. Military boats tried to keep the main channel clear for us but they had little success. I was initially concerned that the disturbance to the water and wind could cost us first place. In the end, I was enjoying the chaotic atmosphere and celebration that Sweden put on for all of the Volvo fleet.

To win the last leg or the last race of any event is a great way to go out. You leave on such a high - no regrets. Let's be honest - we were lucky. The kids on ABN Amro Two had a 15 miles lead in the race with 15 miles to go. They parked there in the early morning and we came with the new wind. We sailed right up to them and when they finally got going, we were even. It was a dog fight for about 8 miles to the last turning mark of the course; gybing in 3 knots of wind with one knot of current against us. In the end, we turned the mark 1 boat length ahead, and that was all she wrote. We stretched from there because our boat is a better light air machine.

The end of this great adventure has come. In looking back over the 13 months, I would say that this campaign has been every bit as satisfying as when we won 8 years ago. Satisfaction is derived from exceeding expectations. In 1998, we put a lot of time in preparations, over a year, and we expected to do well. This time, we sailed the boat just 18 days before the first leg started. Third overall would have been a good result. Then we did not even sail Leg 1. In Cape Town we were in LAST! Then the come back started in Melbourne. The shore team got the boat fixed and the crew gained confidence in the Pearl and we finally began to race.

The Pirates became a model of consistency; 11 podium finishes out of 16 races. Gaining second place overall in New York City was a dream for the American boat. Timing is everything. The Big Chief, Bob Iger, came and sailed the Pearl in New York harbor. Bob has become one of our biggest fans and as he did, so did many others at Disney and Buena Vista. It was very satisfying to see this global company, who had little knowledge of our sport, get hooked.

13 months ago, when I met with Donald Evan and Grant Palin in Burbank, I could envision the boat and team as it looked at the finish in Gothenborg. I fell in love with that vision. Against all my experience and judgment, that told me we were far too late to start this campaign, I went for it. It could have been a big flop for Disney and for Paul Cayard. But it wasn't, and I am thanking my lucky stars for that. You have to acknowledge when luck comes your way and I am more than happy to do so in this case.

I did try to give us the best chance of success because I knew the mountain we had to climb was high. I surrounded myself with excellent people all the way around. They solved the technical issues, they cooked the best meals, they operated in the most efficient way, they sailed the boat to the highest professional level, in short, they exceeded what I could have asked of them. My hat is off to each and every Pirate. You guys are the best!

So it is with satisfaction, pride and a touch of sadness, that we close this great adventure. Appropriately, it was the best ride of my life.

Thanks for following us and being a part of this great adventure. Remember, the richest people on the planet are the ones with the best experiences!

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Voyage to the Edge, a one hour recap of the 2005-2006 Volvo

Ocean Race Round the World, will air on ESPN2 on Thursday,

July 6, at 3PM eastern (noon pacific). The show features

American skipper Paul Cayard, who won this race in 1998.

He engineered an amazing comeback with Pirates of the Caribbean,

taking second overall after sitting out Leg 1 with damage

to his boat.

Voyage to the Edge is an American show produced and narrated

by Gary Jobson, written by Roger Vaughan. Jobson and Vaughan

covered the Volvo Race on the web for Virtual Spectator.

Their reports can be seen on www.vssailing.com

Breathtaking speed, breakdowns, and hardship are the essence

of this 9th round the world race, formerly known as The

Whitbread. The 30,000-mile course with nine ports of call

and seven in-port races took eight months to complete.

It featured the debut of the Volvo Ocean 70, which quickly

added 79 miles (563 nm total) to the 24-hour distance record

set by a Volvo 60 in 2002. But seaworthiness became an

issue. Keeping the delicate boat in one piece was half

the battle. One team had to abandon its boat 300 miles

at sea. And one sailor was lost when a wall of water swept

him overboard in heavy weather.

I hope you have a chance to watch.

Best Regards,

Gary Jobson