Volvo Ocean Race Reaches India, but Not Before Some Rough Sailing

The horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month understandably overshadowed a notable sporting milestone as the globe-girdling sailors of the Volvo Ocean Race stormed into Cochin, just 600 miles to the south along the Indian coast.

It marked the first time a world-class yacht race had ever ventured to India, and that's a point of honor for at least one competitor. "We may be insane, but at the same time it's cool to be opening a new territory for our sport," said Ken Read of Newport, R.I., skipper of Puma, the lone U.S.-based entry in the nine-boat field.

"Obviously, Volvo is reaching into new parts of the world for marketing and economic reasons, but they're not doing it lightly. We got twice daily [radio] reports at sea when Mumbai was under attack and we had a three-hour piracy briefing before we left Cape Town. The waters we're sailing are in the thick of it -- corrupt military on one side, pirates on the other and a million fishing boats in between."

If it sounds daunting, Read had more immediately pressing issues on Puma as fierce ocean currents and gale-force winds sent the 70-footer hurtling down the faces of waves early on in the 4,000-mile leg. In a 40-knot squall in the Southern Ocean, Puma flew off one wave, buried its nose in the next and went from 25 knots of speed to a shuddering near-stop. Read and 10 crewmates heard a shocking volley of cracks below.

Eight of the longitudinal carbon fiber stringers that keep the boat from buckling under load had fractured. "We were in steep, steep seas," Read said. "We came down so hard, one guy flew out of his bunk and wound up in the next bunk forward."

The damage was bad enough that sinking was not beyond the realm of possibility. Read reined-in Puma, which was then still vying for the lead, for six hours to make emergency repairs. Australian Casey Smith, the de facto engineer aboard, used space-age materials to patch up the bow section, leaving the cabin in a cloud of acrid carbon fiber dust.

"He was basically building a boat in the worst conditions you could imagine, bouncing up and down in big seas," Read said. "When we started sailing again we were at about 50 percent, then we gradually worked up to 80 percent or 90 percent as the glue kicked off and we gained confidence in the boat."

Eight hours later in the black of night, flying along at 25 knots under spinnaker, another 40-knot gust hit without warning. Puma took another awkward leap off a wave. The abrupt landing cracked the main longitudinal beam down the center of the boat and a couple of fittings holding deck to hull. Smith went back to work.

Twelve days later, Puma limped into Cochin fifth of nine boats, dodging squalls and diabolical lulls in the Arabian Sea over the last five days. "We're tired and disappointed," said Read, who had brought Puma into Cape Town second to overall leader Ericsson 4 on the first leg from Spain. "Whatever could go wrong did. It was one black cloud after another -- the hardest sailing I've ever done," he said wearily by phone.

The fifth-place finish leaves Puma third overall, seven points behind Ericsson 4, which won Legs 1 and 2 with five-time Olympic medalist Torben Grael at the helm, and one point behind Telefonica Blue, under veteran 'round-the-world skipper Bouwe Bekking.

But with eight legs to go before the finish in St. Petersburg, Russia, next spring, "There's plenty of sailing left to do," Read said. Racing resumes Saturday when the boats head for Singapore, then on to Qingdao, site of the 2008 Olympic sailing events in China. After that comes the longest leg in this race's history, more than 12,000 miles around Cape Horn from China to Rio de Janeiro, followed by a 6,000-mile leg to Boston, Puma's home base, before the fleet heads back to Europe.

Of all the upcoming legs, Read said he most fears the 12-day one from Singapore to Qingdao. It comes in the dead of Northern Hemisphere winter in a climate similar to Toronto's, he said, over a course that's mostly upwind with average wind strengths about 26 knots. After that vigil, the 40-day slog from China to Brazil "will seem like a piece of cake," he reckons.

While Read and his crew rest up for the next legs, a shore team is working to put the boat right. He says he's been assured Puma will be at full strength in a matter of days. "We had new, prefabricated stringers flown in and they were waiting when we got here. The main beam and the other stuff is being repaired in place. In the end, the boat will be as strong as ever and probably only five or ten kilos heavier."

Puma wasn't the only boat damaged in wild seas kicked up by strong winds running counter to the 2-to-5-knot Agulhas Current off the East African coast. The Irish-Chinese entry Green Dragon broke a boom, both Telefonica Black and Telefonica Blue broke underwater daggerboards and Team Russia survived a spectacular crash, video of which has been much admired on YouTube, according to Read.

Still, there will be no holding back to protect the equipment. "This fleet is so competitive, you just have to put a brick on the accelerator and hang on," the 46-year-old America's Cup veteran said. "These boats are being pushed as hard as any boats have ever been pushed."

Which begs the question: How much of any of them will be left by the time they reach Boston next April? (Sadly, Chesapeake Bay, the U.S. stopover for Volvo boats for the last three races, was passed over this time in favor of the historic Massachusetts port.)

"Well," Read said, "everyone is going to have problems. Torben [Grael] isn't going to sail around the world without breaking anything. It's still early. There's a lot still out there. . . ."