Jealousy is a terrible thing but I will admit to being a little enviousof Ken (Read) and Iker (Martinez) right now. Jealousy is a terrible thing but I will admit to being a little enviousof Ken (Read) and Iker (Martinez) right now. I am sat in a hotel roomin Chile waiting for a ship to arrive and collect Azzam whilst thoseguys are conducted a great match race over the last few miles intoItajai. They earned this right after sailing an excellent legfrom Auckland in - for the most part - horrific conditions. Here inPuerto Montt, a quite beautiful place by the way, we have now finishedpacking up Azzam and we have the cradle assembled and ready to go. Sincebreaking the boat our decision making and planning has focussed solelyon getting to Itajai in time and being as ready as we can be for thestart of the next leg. Everything is going to plan except forone important ingredient - the ship to take Azzam to Brazil! The shipwas due in yesterday but bad weather has held up its arrival. Every daythat we have to wait puts more and more pressure on us to get therepair work carried out in Itajai before the leg start. Wecannot start the work here in Chile so all we can do is work on anyother servicing and worklist jobs to save time in Brazil. Tomove this along we are also sending two of our shore team to travel onthe ship. Most of the sailors are currently flying home for awell-deserved break. We have sailed pretty much solidly sinceleaving Sanya nearly two months ago. I am sure the lads will benefitfrom seeing their families and some home cooking so that they come backready and raring to go. Leg 5 has wreaked havoc on the fleetbut that is part and parcel of the Volvo Ocean Race. The main thing isthat all the crew are safe as boats can be repaired but the same is notalways true of their crew.
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