GOLD COAST 060600ZAUG11 SKED

Lat 41 50.0N
Long 009 45.6W
DTR Finish 642nm
ETA Finish 09 1200Z AUG 11

Wet, windy, sqqually, rainy and drizzely conditions, it seems the only
place that the sun is shining at the moment is on Goldcoast Australia!

The game of cat and mouse last night with finland and Newyork was a lot of
fun, and right now the cat is licking the blood off its paws, after on
praying on both its vicims for hopefully the last time. This is the third
time on this race to Madeira that Goldcoast Australia has taken the lead,
and our team are hoping that it will be the last. We are determined to
push hard and stay out in front this time, however, with 640 nm still to
run to the finish, we definatly can not take our finger off the pulse.

Goldcoast worked hard throughout the night, dodging ships through major
shiping lanes, and competing against strong gusty winds, amongst unplesant
drizzely and foggy conditions. Dispite the conditions, I just asked the
crew how moral was.. the answer was somewhere between 4 and 8 out of 10..
(ignoring one answer of “im not talking to you rich.. its not very good
out there”) not bad considering the long blustery night, and given only a
few days ago, at this time of day, all the crew would have been snuggled
up in their queen sized beds cosy and warm.. but now.. eveybody is having
an amazing experiance… an experiance that could be described as just
like the brochure! (I have just been asked what brocure i was looking at..
ha ha).

Goldcoast will work hard to stay in front, and looks fowared to the wind
veering around to the north, which will allow us to hoist the spinaker and
sail down to Maderia in style. BT