Three Burning Questions After Leg 3

© Hamish Hooper/CAMPER ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race

Rob Salthouse and Chris Nicholson grind hard putting a reef in the mainsail as Stu Bannatyne drives onboard CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand during Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Ryan O'Grady, a veteran follower of the Volvo Ocean Race and a top amateur sailor, is providing regular insight and analysis on the 2011-'12 Volvo Ocean Race for SailingWorld.com. To get the full picture of this dynamic race, follow the racing in our Finish Line forum, track the fleet, and catch up on the race with O'Grady's previous Volvo Voyeur blogs.

For NFL fans competing in the Volvo Ocean Race, the finish of Leg 3 had an unexpected benefit. Better than expected wind and sea conditions meant that all of the boats arrived safely in Sanya, China, before the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl. For the New England Patriots fans onboard Puma Ocean Racing—minus New York Football Giants fan and media crewmember Amory Ross, who can now collect a nice dinner from skipper Ken Read—the big game matched their fortunes on water, where bad luck and a questionable call saw mar mostro tumble from the front of the pack to fourth place in the closing stages of the leg.

Unlike the Patriots, whom Vegas oddsmakers are already favoring to win the next Super Bowl, Puma is a long shot to win the race. The odds-on favorite is Team Telefonica, which again won the offshore portion and dominates the leaderboard with a 15-point margin over second-placed CAMPER/ ETNZ. In China, hometown crowds welcomed last-place Team Sanya with a huge celebration.

1. Can Puma find new life and recover to a winning form?
To all of the superstitious sailors out there, painting a gigantic leaping black cat on your sails may soon become the equivalent of packing bananas onboard. In each of the offshore legs, Puma Ocean Racing has shown the ability to match the speed of Team Telefonica—before meeting disaster. In the first leg, a fitting failure sent their mast over the side in the midst of a heated duel with Telefonica towards the southern trades. In the second leg, Puma was leading into the Doldrums before finding a windless hole that Telefonica avoided.

Leg 3 saw Puma again in the thick of the action. With the dangers of Malacca Straits—floating debris, heavy shipping traffic, local fishermen—nearly behind them, Puma was within 100 yards of Telefonica and Groupama before the black cat crossed paths with disaster again. Skipper Ken Read recalls the incident: “Imagine this: your shoulder is shaken, and you hear, 'Wake up, I think we are aground.' I flew out of bed to jump on deck to see the other two boats moving away from us, and we're not moving. But there was no crash, no bang. Then Casey says, 'I think we're in a fish trap!' This isn't good. Sure enough, there's a small black flag barely visible about 100 yards to the left, and a fishing boat sits about 200 yards to the left of the flag. All were thinking there might be a net attached around the boat and the black flag. Well, once we rolled up the headsail that covers the entire right side of the boat, in the increasing sunlight we see another tiny black flag about a half mile to our right. The two black flags have a net that strings between the two, and we are firmly caught, in really light air and barely maneuverable conditions.”