We had a splendid beginning on leg six. Fernando Echávarri, at the helm, made a great leeward start supported by Gonza (Gonzalo Araujo) doing the tactics. We rounded the windward mark first and held the lead all the way to the mark off Copacabana Beach, but were close to losing our fragile lead as the tack of the ‘Anaconda’, our large masthead headsail, came undone. Got it back on and moved slow eastwards in the weak SE'ly breeze but had hard to keep PUMA behind.

At this time we became aware that the ankle injury of our foredeck crew Mike Pammenter was serious enough to decide to evacuate him from the boat. In the early hectic minutes of the race he got the genoa sheet around his ankle and was brutally pulled into the base of the mast during a tack. Uncertain about the possibility of a fracture, as the ankle became more swollen, he carefully stepped off the boat into the Volvo Ocean Race supplied RIB that caught up with us just SW of Ilha Maricas, a bit down the coast. Sad for Mike and sad for us as we need all 10 of us to push the boat for the next 4900 nm. Still the best choice, to make sure he recovers as soon as possible.

At this time, 0520 GMT, we have made very unsatisfying progress towards Cabo Frio as the breeze for hours has stayed around 3-4 knots from the north. Telefónica Blue and Green Dragon made a bold move and pushed hard to become closer to the shore than the rest of us and picked up a little more land breeze. The two are now leading the pack of seven. We could see them passing through the background lights on the shore faster than we wanted!

The latest seven day forecast does not look promising and indicates rather 20 than 16 days at sea before we tie up in Boston.

Yours Roger

Roger Nilson - navigator