GOLD COAST 300600ZOCT11

LAT 10 41.1S
LONG 154 41.6E
DTF 3650nm
ETA 0600 23 Jan 2012

WEATHER Wind 303@14ts Sea modearate, swell N1m Cloud 7/8 various, Baro 1003.1

Over the past 24hrs Gold Coast Australia has seen a myryd of conditions. Shortly sending my last blog the a large cloud
bank developed to the north and as we sailed into it the wind backed as we were predicting it to 10 hours earlier and then
just as we had got the Y1 secure on the deck the wind increased to 22kts and the havens opened up with bucketfuls of
torrential rain. This lasted only a few minutes, and shortly after the Y1 was re hoisted and we were sailing in sunshine
again. With sunshine the wind once again veered and we were back tacking towards the scoring gate until the wind gradually
backed to the west and we could finally lay it in first place 3 hours and 20 minutes ahead of Geraldton Western Australia.

The monsoonal squalls continued throughout the late afternoon and well into the evening and it was during one of these
storms while another bird was trying to take off with our windex when we experienced what would be some apparently good luck
when the bird dropped a message that not only covered the deck but myself and Anlelise Nelson at the helm. Hopefully this
message bought good luck, or it was from my Auntie and Uncle in the BVI who always say they are sending a bird with a message for us. Either way it was quite unreadable so but very large.

During the monsoonal squalls there were some fantastic displays of lightening. Fearing that our electrical equipment may
get zapped by the storms it is usual practice for the crew to put laptop computers, vhf handled and gps handheld into the
bread oven. Given the intense heat throughout the day however the bread oven did not have time to cool and by the time i got my computer out a couple of hours later it was so hot it had almost melted!

As the monsoonal clouds got bigger, and the night got darker we reduced sail to ta Yankee 2 and place a reef in the
mainsail. Shortly after performing this change we saw one of the longest biggest blackest clouds that I have seen for a
long time off our port bow. Like being chased by a evil creature we sailed our best angle for best speed and did everything
we could to sail past the monster however it was closing us on a steady bearing. Finally I realised that it was upon us so
I bore away to run with it while it lasted. It was like surfing a barrel, we could see the light at the end of the tunnel,
but it was slowly dissapearing until we were surrounded by complete blackness. I have never experienced such blackness in
my life. Finally we came out the other side conditions began to cear up for the rest of the night.

When I came on deck in the morning as we were nearing the Adel gate the wind had disappeared almost all together and we were
coasting along with full main and winseaker. As we rounded Adel the wind returned once again to perfect sailing conditions
of 13-16kts from the NW and have remained stable all day. We are keeping a close eye out for changing clouds as no doubt the monsoonal squalls will return this evening.

This is once again quite a close race and at the last sked Geraldton had made some good miles on us since the scoring gate.
Our VHF radio stopped transmitting just prior to race start and dispite taking it apart and trying to fix the problem we
still have had no success. We are able to recieve VHF however and it is nice to listen to the yachts behind us bantering
amongst themselves, and sometimes even talking about us. For the boys on the boats behind, my ears are buring and i am listening!