Volvo Ocean Race: Puma slogging it to leg 5 finish

8:46 AM Tue 24 Mar 2009 GMT

'Media Crew Member Rick Deppe used a 30 second exposure on his SLR camera, clamped to the boat to create these amazing shots of PUMA Ocean Racing.' Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race &copy Click Here to view large photo

The Puma Ocean Racing team has 725 miles to go until reaching the finish line of the longest ever leg of the Volvo Ocean Race and is expected to arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil early this week. Along with the two Ericsson boats, on whom the Puma team are closing, Puma is making slow progress towards the carnival city of Rio.

Plagued with light winds, the 11 man crew have already begun rationing food given the further light weather expected for the final approach to Rio.

Reducing Ericsson 3's lead of 200 miles on Puma to 130 over the past 48 hours, the PUMA team will be pushing every last inch of speed out of their boat il mostro until crossing the finish line off the Marina da Gloria in Rio this week.

Having begun this leg from China on 14th February today is the 38th day that the team has been at sea. For everyone other than Navigator Andrew Cape (AUS), it is the longest that any member of the team has been at sea non-stop.

Showing obvious signs of fatigue and weight loss in the images coming off the boat, the team are dreaming of steak, caiprinhas and beer in Rio, where they will be welcomed by their families, friends and the PUMA shore team.

Skipper Ken Read (USA) commented: 'We are plodding along at a snail's pace right now and are making painfully slow progress on the finish line. We are sailing upwind in light airs, making very little ground. I am sure we aren't the only boat complaining of lack of food at this point, but we are starting to run pretty low. We are rationing food and are also running low on cooking gas so we will be eating cereal for the last couple of days prior to the finish.'

'Every routing run we do after we get new weather data is showing longer and longer elapsed times. But even with all that, the tempo onboard the boat is still high and the spirits are generally upbeat; pretty good seeing what we have all been through. We were always threatened with a 40 day leg, and it looks like that may be the reality or darn close to it. It's a long time to be on one of these yachts, I can tell you that, and on top of that most of our team have not seen their families in almost two months.'

'The upside is that most of us have broken out a fresh set of clothing for the final dash to the finish. To say at this point that we are looking forward to our families, that first cold beer and a big fat steak...this is the understatement of the century. If the wind gods would only co-operate a bit!!!'

The Volvo Ocean Race is made up of ten legs, finishing in June 2009 in St. Petersburg, Russia. By joining the race, Puma has entered a new premium category and is the only Sportlifestyle company to participate in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. For more information about the race, team and the Pma Sailing collections, please visit www.pumaoceanracing.com

by Kate Fairclough

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