Ken Read & V70 il mostro crush Mac Race

(Chicago, IL)- Kenny Read and some Volvo Ocean Race mates sailed his first pony-ride around the planet, the Volvo 70 Puma il mostro, in the maiden voyage of its new life on the Great Lakes in the Chicago- Mackinac Race.  Chicago sailor Peter Thornton (former owner of the Santa Cruz 70 HOLUA) decided that winning the Chicago-Mackinac Race as the First Boat to Finish, taking home one of the more prestigious trophies in the race was the next item on his "sailing bucket list"-- he succeeded by spanking the best the Great Lakes had to offer for "maxi boats"!!  Kenny had on-board with him Richard Mason and Beech from Team SANYA, Brad Van Liew of Open 50/60 Velux 5 Ocean Race fame and fellow J/24 World Champion crew member Stu Johnstone (Kenny's tactician) as part of the team.  Fun, challenging race to beat the "Queen of the Lakes" for years, the Dick and Doug Devos (AMWAY family) Maxi z86 WINDQUEST for line honors. Dick and Doug themselves are former J/Boat owners, having successfully campaigned their J/44 WINDQUEST for years on the Great Lakes.  In short, members of the extended J/Family of boat owners and sailors went 1-2 in this year's Mac on elapsed honors while their stablemates swept handicap honors as enumerated above!!

Read's Puma Wins Volvo Inshore

(Galway, Ireland)-  Ken Read's PUMA Mar Mostro Wins Volvo Inshore Title!  A PUMA team decked out in Irish rugby shirts rounded off the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 in style on Saturday, securing victory in the In-Port Race series with a win on the waters of Galway on a day that saw Franck Cammas's GROUPAMA celebrate the overall win in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Ken Read's team scored a commanding first place in the Discover Ireland In-Port Race, their ninth podium finish of the 10-race inshore series and a first victory.  An electrifying scrap for second between CAMPER and Groupama saw the two teams virtually inseparable right to the end of the 8.2-nautical mile course with Chris Nicholson's team stealing the runners-up prize on the day, and in the series as a whole.

Driven to score their first in-port win, there was no stopping Kenny and the PUMA gang as a flawless performance saw them extend their lead at the first mark, holding on to take the win around the 8.2 nautical mile course by one minute and 19 seconds and secure the overall in-port title.  “It tastes very sweet,” said Ken Read who punched the air in delight as he steered Mar Mostro over the finish line.  “To race against the best offshore sailors in the world and come out on top is all we can ask for.”

Thank goodness all that practice winning five J/24 Worlds paid off over the course of time!  Congratulations to Ken, the Puma Team and Kimo Worthington for job well-done!  Time to retire and go for a cruise to Cuttyhunk and Canada with Kathy and Tory for a bit of R&R and family time.  Next up?  Ken is going sailing on the Chicago-Mackinac Race on his first Volvo 70- Puma il Mostro (a bit of a "busman's holiday", eh?)!  No rest for the weary.

Ken Read 3rd in Volvo Ocean Race

(Newport, RI)- The Volvo Ocean Race had an unpredictable outcome for the last race from Lorient, France to Galway, Ireland. After winning about 85% of the race and leading the fleet into the turn towards Galway Bay, Newport's Ken Read sailed into a massive hole and finished 3rd on Leg 9, thus finishing 3rd overall.  The big winner were the French team led by Franck Cammas on GROUPAMA, finishing 2nd on Leg 9 to "seal the deal" and win the Volvo Ocean Race on their first attempt!  A rather unprecedented outcome for GROUPAMA, surprising not only themselves but the rest of their competitor and pundits, too!  With a bit of luck, Ken may be able to use some of his J/24 World Championship and one-design experience to pull the proverbial "rabbit out of the hat" and win the Inshore Series for the Volvo Ocean Race this coming weekend.  Best of luck from the J/Crew!  For more Volvo Race sailing information

Read Vying For Volvo Race Lead

(Lorient, France)- The Volvo Ocean Race is in its final week of sailing.  Hard to believe, but true.  At this time, just about any of the top four teams can win given the right combinations of racing.  But, the French team led by Franck Cammas on GROUPAMA will have an unassailable position so long as they average third in the next three races and could become the first French team in decades to win this epic around-the-world offshore race, this one being the longest-ever version with nearly 40,000 nm of sailing under their boats! 

Challenging GROUPAMA will be Newport's Ken Read racing PUMA Mar Mostro, hoping his collective experience of winning multiple J/24 World Championships will come into play in the last three "windsprints" left on the schedule.  Besides the two in-port "day races", the last offshore leg is just short of 500nm, a "day race" for these ocean-racing greyhounds!  It will be tough sailing, in fact more like a monster version of an intercollegiate dinghy race than an offshore keelboat race from a tactical point of view-- everyone will be in view the entire four days of racing!!  Good luck to Ken Read and crew on PUMA! 

And, not to be left out will be J/80 champion sailor from Spain, Iker Martinez and team on TELEFONICA.  TELEFONICA had led for 80% of the race until they broke their two primary rudders in a "chinese gybe" maneuver just before finishing the last leg into Lorient, France.  Limping into port on one rudder, the TELEFONICA team are hoping, like Ken's PUMA team, to win a few races and gun for the top of the podium, too!  Should be an intense, epic drama un-folding on the high seas off Europe!  For more Volvo Race sailing information

J/24 Ace Ken Read Wins Volvo Ocean Leg 6

Volvo 70s Ocean Race- congratulations to Ken Read and crew on PUMA Mar Mostro for winning Leg 6 and pulling into a virtual tie for the lead with three other teams- TELEFONICA the current leader with an 11 point lead over PUMA with two boats sandwiched in between- CAMPER and GROUPAMA.  It's close boys and girls!  Just three legs to go, the last long leg (Leg 7 from Miami, FL to Lisbon, Portugal) will be the toughest tactically.  From there it's just two "wind sprints" along the European coastline to finish in Galway, Ireland in early June!   You can follow the teams on http://www.volvooceanrace.com

J Sailors Leading Volvo Ocean Race- Leg 5

(Itajai, Brazil)- The Volvo Ocean Race is a game of logistics, luck, seamanship and smarts.  Gotta have it all to win and, like in one-design racing, those who make the least mistakes wins.  Such a maxim is applying in a huge way to the 2011-2012 edition of the VOR.  So far, a bunch of guys who've sailed one-design J/80s in their hometowns in Spain, including skipper Iker Martinez, are winning sailing their blue-colored beauty called TELEFONICA.  Another contender happens to be another one-design champion, multi-J/24 World Champ Ken Read skippering the red & black "octo-pussy" called PUMA Mar Mastro.  Incredibly, these two teams sailed an epic, mind-blowing fifth leg from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajai, Brazil-- by far the toughest sailing leg in the whole event.  A down-to-the-wire finish with classic one-design boat-to-boat tactics (keep yourself between your competitors and the mark!) saw Ken's PUMA Mar Mostro picking up their first leg win of the race, by just ten minutes elapsed time over Iker's TELEFONICA!

"Unbelievable!", reported Kenny. "Nobody quit and the atmosphere on the boat was really cool and everybody was ready to tackle the task at hand. I'm very proud of this team. It's a great feeling." Kenny further went on to say, "I don't remember when I wrote my last blog. I don't really remember when I slept last. We started rationing food days ago and had our last meal this am. And I am really, really happy.

This has been an epic leg. Like nothing any of us in the sailing world has ever seen. It seems like every leg we come in and say, "This was the toughest leg ever." But, this time we mean it. This was the toughest leg ever.

Going around Cape Horn was amazing. Our duel with the incredibly unlucky Groupama. The remarkable fortune of Telefonica to get the weather window they did in order to eat up a 450 mile gap in the last 2,000 miles. And to be able to hold them off not once, but twice, drifting to the finish when they closed the gap to within 100 yards. Just unreal.

I am very proud of the boat building team (New England Boatworks), the shore team and all the engineers and designers that put this boat together. Your boat made it folks. It is in great shape and lord only knows we put her through the ringer. The sailing team salutes you all.

And to the sailing team who hung in there through thick and thin, amazing work. As safe as we can be. All in great spirits. And we get to do it all over again in two weeks.

This is a leg and a trip that I will remember forever. Probably my last foray into the Southern Ocean. An adventure within an adventure you might call it. Glad this one is behind us and the "friendly" confines of the Atlantic Ocean await."  We wish Kenny and the PUMA Mar Mastro boys "Fair winds and following seas" on the next leg.  And, as a fellow J sailor, we also wish the best to Iker and his TELEFONICA team.

J-Trained Tacticians Leading Volvo Ocean Race

*  The "J-Trained" tacticians are continuing to put their mark on the Volvo Ocean Race.  As even Ken Read (6x J/24 World Champion) has to say, "we're racing tactically and strategically from sched-to-sched (e.g. 3 hour intervals)."  In other words, when all boats have to report to Volvo Race HQ their Lat/Lon for safety/tracking reasons, everyone knows where they are, how fast they're going and at what angle.  Talk about stress.  The navigators have to be the "coolest" guys on the planet to have to deal with the incessant pressure of going "higher/lower" and at what sail trim/selection on the "cross-over charts" to keep their machines going at 99% or better.  So far, some crew of the top three boats on the leg to Auckland, New Zealand count amongst their experiences getting "schooled" on J/22s, J/24s, J/80s in both America and Europe.  Go figure-- a 40,000nm J/24 one-design race-- in essence, wondering where the next wind shift, wind streak, current anomaly shows up before passing the next mark, one a 3 hour interval 24x7  each leg.  Hmmm-- a challenge to say the least.  Nor for the faint of heart.  Steely nerves, forethought and planning are evidently part of the equation that also includes "mother luck"!  To see how these teams are doing take a look at: http://www.volvooceanrace.com

J Sailors Continue to Lead Volvo Ocean Race

* J sailors continue to be tough competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race.  Winning the proverbial "Hat Trick" so far is Iker Martinez sailing TELEFONICA-- his J/80 friends and family in Spain were certainly jumping for joy!  Helping him along as Navigator/Tactician is Andrew Cape, a J sailor himself having competed on many of them on the Solent in England.  Plus, Andrew was a Southampton YC "Island Double Race" winner on the J/44 J-HAWK sailing with Stu Johnstone back in 1991!  The Island Double is a famous short-handed race in England that starts/ finishes off the notorious Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, Isle of Wight-- it's the 65 nm dash around the Isle of Wight, the infamous original America's Cup course.  Andrew and Stu won the Island Double sailing the "classic" clockwise course, leaving all the buoys and the island to the right all the way around.  Ken Read and the boys on PUMA Mar Mastro do seem to have a bit of a "black cat hex" on them-- they just can't seem to "buy a break or a wind shift" to "save their bacon" and keep them out of trouble.  This last leg was literally a "minefield" of ships, fishing boats, fishing nets and all sorts of shoals and other islands obstacles, forgetting the fact they also had to deal with capricious winds and weather.  Kenny and crew took a flyer off to the right on the last segment from the Straits of Malacca, up the Vietnam coast to Sanya, China-- unfortunately, the gambit didn't pay off.  We wish both Iker and Kenny "fair winds and fair sailing" on their next leg from Sanya to Auckland, New Zealand.

J-Sailors Ken Read & Iker Martinez Leading Volvo Race

* Fellow J-Sailors Ken Read on PUMA and Iker Martinez on TELEFONICA are now back to real "live" ocean-racing on their Volvo 70s in the Volvo Ocean Race.  They're now sailing the Maldives (Indian Ocean) to Sanya, China leg.  Ken had this to say about the experience for Leg 3- "And now we are off. Sailing the leg that really nobody looks forward to when they sign up for this race. Upwind for about a million miles!" So far, in the tight, tactical racing relished by Ken and his PUMA MAR MOSTRO gang, they're currently leading the fleet into the Singapore Straits before making a long left turn to head north up to Sanya (a gorgeous, almost Hawaiian-like island that is China's southernmost point of land).

J Sailors Leading Volvo Ocean Race!

* Over the course of the holidays, the Volvo 70s managed to sail into the "Land of No Return", the "Twilight Zone", the "No Spin Zone", the "No Go Zone", the "Stealth Zone" and the "Party Zone".  Whatever.  The sailing part didn't work for a lot of teams.  The party part perhaps soothed some severely bruised egos.

Nevertheless, it's pretty clear the hard-charging Spanish team on TELEFONICA led by Iker Martinez can probably credit their extensive small keelboat racing experiences on J/80s in Spain against World Champions as critical in keeping them on edge and on top of the Volvo Ocean Race World.

Ken Read, the J/24 World Champion, has had his share of hard-luck, first the broken mast and Tristan da Cunha shipping episode, then having to deal with the Indian Ocean Doldrums and a slow boat going into Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.  We wish our J/Team friends all well and good luck on the next leg to Sanya, China!  For more Volvo Ocean Race sailing information

Volvo Ocean Race Friends. More Win Some, Lose Some Stories.

  Spanish team TELEFONICA skipper by Iker Martinez wins the first leg and is loaded with Spanish J/80 sailing friends (including English/Aussie friend Andrew Cape).  Meanwhile, friend Ken Read is temporarily marooned on Tristan da Cunha for four days of "cow pie" golf, baby-sitting their mast-less 70 foot carbon coffin offshore each night and praying their delivery ship arrives soon!  Time is ticking and a-wasting away.  December 10th is the next start and the ship takes 5 days in transit from Tristan to Capetown, South Africa.  Ken's take on his arrival on Tristan is upbeat and amusing, a sure sign these guys are determined to keep up the spirits.  As Ken describes, "We have now been on Tristan da Cunha for 24 hours. And, it is exactly what we thought it would be.  A cloud seems to surround the island always. We still haven't seen the peak of the mountain, but the cliffs that make up the borders of the rock are breathtaking.

Yesterday at daybreak we arrived to a police escort (one large inflatable boat) to the anchorage area that they suggested we use. Of course, we are the only anchored boat in about a 1,500 mile radius.  After anchoring Puma’s Mar Mostro in about 20 meters of water, we all went in on the RIB to meet several of the town administrators eager to help.

Housing, food, coffee, showers – all the necessities that we were craving were provided. And, of course, that 9 am cold beer!  Police Inspector Conrad Glass explained the rules. We met the harbormaster – Jonathan Swain’s long-lost relative; Iris, the Minister of Tourism; Lorraine, the Treasurer and hairdresser; Sean Burns, the British government administrator, and of course Andy, the radio and communications director. And, so on and so on. I am leaving a lot of important people out for sure, but the fact is they are all fantastic.

The rest of the day was all about getting organized and relaxing.  Figuring out how we are going to deal with our yacht on anchor.  A night in the pub for the boys, and Jono and I took the first night shift on the boat. Pretty much setting up a routine that we will likely follow until the ship gets here to bring us back to the mainland.

Today will be golf day. Played in a cow pasture with flags but no greens. For sure the cow patties will bring a new meaning to 'lift, clean and place.' Ought to be interesting. We have trips planned to nearby Nightingale Island, a hike up the mountain, and of course more boat chores than we know what to do with. For sure we will keep busy.

In the meantime, we use the internet cafe to constantly check on communication from our families and look up the progress of the ship heading this way. The clock is ticking louder ever minute.  PUMA hopes to be back by December 6th in Cape Town and ready to go by Dec 10th for first inshore race!  Ouch!

J Sailors- Winning & Surviving on World Stage

* Win Some, Lose Some.  Tough week for "los amigos y hermanos de J/24s".  For starters, kindred J/24 spirits in Argentina were winning the J/24 Worlds.  But, their mentors and heroes were suffering interminable bad breaks.  For one, Ken Read's Volvo 70 PUMA Mar Mastro suffered the worst fate anyone of us could imagine, watching their super high-tech Scott Ferguson/ Hall Spars custom special carbon uber-rig simply fall over the side in three pieces in just 20+ knot winds in a long period 10-12 foot swell about 3 pm UTC off Brazil, about 700 nm from nowhere on Monday, November 21st.  What gives?  Maybe a symptom of the massive forces/ acceleration experienced in the first 48 hours of the race?  Certainly the conditions back then were bad enough to knock two of their competitors out of contention already (Abu Dhabi and Team Sanya).  Nevertheless, they're still "Thankful" for surviving to date.  Also, still surviving (and leading) are Iker Martinez on TELEFONICA, the ETNZ CAMPER boys and the French Connection on-board Franck Camas's team on GROUPAMA.

* A world apart and surviving in a tactical way was Terry Hutchinson on ARTEMIS RACING.  Sailing strongly in the America's Cup World Series on the AC45 cats in the racing leading up to the final days, Terry's team were handily in the top four.  But a shift here, a hole there and in the blink of an eye (e.g. 30 seconds) their hopes were dashed from competing for the finals.  Next up?  First race in 2012 is in Italy followed by Newport in late June!  Should be quite a sight to see these 45 foot cats flying around Narragansett Bay at light speeds between Castle Hill Light and the Newport Bridge!  Maybe some wise guy named Larry will show up with an AC72 foot version and show it off, too!?  Now, that would be very, very cool.

VOR 70s & J/24 Style Decks!?

(Alicante, Spain)- Yes, according to Ken Read (he would know, of course)!  And, there are significant design differences, too.  Ken Read (USA), skipper of PUMA Ocean Racing, provides his observations of the fleet-

"One of the best parts of participating in a development class is when the boats break out of the shed and you see all of the parts and pieces that others have thought of…and they in turn see what you have done. We went with as low a CG as possible with our entire program. Deck and cabin house design were done to get the weight low and to make sure we kept the all up boat weight at or below the minimum. A couple of the new boats went with "J-24" style decks with no cabin house for a lower windage look. It is all a wash probably, but we like where we ended up.

Abu Dhabi also went with an open cockpit design to get their sail stack lower. We think that the new rules concerning less sails and the lack of being able to fill the very aft compartment in the boat with gear in heavy downwind conditions dissuaded us from going open cockpit. We felt we needed the stacking area downstairs, area that an open cockpit wouldn't give you.

Camper's adjustable headstay system has been a major topic. While the rest of the fleet pinned their headstay at one length, Camper has a hydraulic ram to adjust the rake of the mast in different conditions. For sure the rest of the fleet read the rule in a way that you couldn't do this, but the rules makers had a different idea.

The Camper boat is also different with the daggerboards behind the keel and mast. The rest of the fleet has gone in the other direction. Our daggerboards are actually further forward than even Ericsson 4 had last race - the winning Juan K design. All the Juan K-designed boats - us, Telefonica and Groupama - have negative dihedrals on the daggerboards, also a new look for the class (bottom of board angles toward each other).

The hull shapes have all gone fuller forward. The three Juan K boats are noticeably fuller forward than even Ericsson 4. A very flat forward section underwater with a distinct forward rocker is clearly there to try and get the bow out of the water at pace. Abu Dhabi is even more extreme as their huge bow section is certainly designed for "bow up" sailing, although they
seem to have less transom immersion than the Juan K boats. Camper on the other hand seems to be a bit of a development from our old PUMA boat with some new fullness forward, but not nearly where the other boats have gone.

Look for each boat to have their condition, including Sanya who may "own" light air in this fleet.  The die is cast. This is going to be a serious boat race with a ton of lead changes depending on the conditions."

Good Luck, Ken!  Fair Winds, Fast Sailing! The J/Community will channel positive energy to the PUMA MAR MASTRO gang around the globe!

  

Ken Read Starting VOR 70 on Puma Mar Mastro

Former uber J/24 World Champion Ken is at it again.  It's hard to believe that Ken Read, at 50 years old, is headed out to the open seas again on the Volvo 70 PUMA Mar Mastro.  Guess that famous poem, "Sea Fever" by John Masefield, must be beckoning again-- the "call of the running tide is a wild call, a clear call, that may not be denied!"  We wish him luck and God Speed.  Here's a quickie report from Ken as he participates in what many offshore sailors might call "the head-bangers ball"-- beating upwind for 800nm in 8-15 foot waves and 15-35 kts breeze.

Reports Kenny on the first day out: "After a pretty successful Transatlantic Race, we took a right turn and sailed downwind in the trades all the way to the Puerto Calero Marina. It's a fairly secluded marine facility on one of the windiest islands I have ever been to. Every day you get up to what sounds like the roof of your apartment being blown off. "Here we go again," I would say to myself day after day - now I know what all the boys felt like that did the America's Cup in Fremantle in 1987. The wind every day just wears you out, but it was exactly what we needed.

So, now we are paying for that fantastic downwind sail all the way to the Canaries. It is upwind for about 800 miles, against the trades and into the Mediterranean to Alicante, Spain, for the start of the Volvo Ocean Race.

By rule we have to be there I believe by the third of October, one month before the start. If everything goes according to plan, we should be there a couple days before. We may actually take our time as well and do some more testing. You never know out here, and having a plan that can change literally with the wind is important.

The thing is, once you get to Alicante, the testing is over. Then, it is on to boat measurement, all the pre-race seminars we have to attend, the press, the public, simply all the distractions - and essentially anything but testing! There may be a couple more quick tweaks to the boat, but surely the pre-race prep phase is for the most part over.

The most commonly asked question?  "Are you guys ready?"  Ha, ha! The truth is nobody is ever really "ready." We are what we are. We are as prepared as we can be, and now its time to see whose plan had the most merit leading up to race time. All of the competition went about their pre race planning a bit different. We have been pretty quiet this time and just went about our business. Day after day, trying to tick off boxes that we felt were important in the grand scheme of things.  I like where we are at, but at the same time it would be great to have about another year to prepare. You are never perfect, but "we are what we are" and it does feel like we are paying for that sleigh ride south in July. Just another brutal reminder of how glamorous offshore sailing can be!

For more Puma Ocean Racing VOR 70 sailing information:
http://www.puma.com/sailing
http://www.facebook.com/PumaOceanRacing

  

J/24 Ace Ken Read Wins Trans-Atlantic Race!

Congratulations to Ken Read, a multiple J/24 World Champion, for winning the Trans-Atlantic Race on  the VOR 70 PUMA- Mar Mostro!  PUMA’s Mar Mostro was the second boat to cross the finish line at Lizard Point, Cornwall, England behind RAMBLER 100 and won both IRC Class 1 and IRC overall based on corrected time.  At one point topping 30 knots as they flew across the Atlantic in just over 7 days, Kenny simply remarked,  “We entered the race with zero expectations, just like the other IRC handicap racing we’ve done this year.  We wanted to learn the boat and the crew. Now, here we are in the position of possibly winning a race that we didn’t expect to win. We’re pleasantly shocked. We didn’t break anything, the sails held up, the team is certainly coming together, and there’s not a single negative to this race. It was a great experience.”  To follow the PUMA Mar Mostro Sailing Team visit- http://www.puma.com/sailing

  

J One-Design Expertise Helps Racing Big Boats!

* J One-Design Expertise Helps!  Past J/24 World Champion John Kostecki (right) led the Farr 40 Worlds fleet home sailing on TRANSFUSION.  Another former J/24 Champion Chris Larson (left) was doing the same further down the ladder.  Great story, consistency is King, as they say in tight, college-style fleets.

In race nine Transfusion's crew were coughing dust for the first upwind leg and appeared to lack boat speed while defending champion Nerone was sailing hotter angles out in front on the first downwind run. Transfusion's US tactician, John Kostecki, now a three-time winner in the Farr 40 Worlds, lived up to his reputation as one of the world's best as the local boat clawed its way back to finish second behind Nerone, and win the title!  While five different boats won races during the series, Transfusion won only once, but never dipped below a seven.  Consistency pays.

Start sailing any one of the large International J/One-Design classes- J/22 (http://www.j22.org), J/24 (http://www.j24class.org), J/80 (http://www.j80.org)- and you'll learn darn fast! Or, why do you think top women sailors have a hard time winning the Rolex Women's Worlds sailed in J/22s or many of the top USA skipper/ tacticians and European or Australian skipper/ tacticians often started in the middle of the pack of J/22, J/24, or J/80 fleets at some point in their life learning how to sail better, faster, smarter?  Takes practice to get good, lots of it.