GOLD COAST 070600ZAUG11 SKED

LAT 39 07.0N
LONG 10 12.0W
DTR 505
ETR 09 1800Z AUG 11

What an amazing 24 hours it has been for Goldcoast Australia. Who would
have thought that yesterday morning we were smashing into 25 kts of wind,
with rain and not a glimpse of sun, and this morning we are sailing
downwind with 20kts behind us in Glorious sunshine… its almost as good
as being on the Goldcoast of Australia!!

Yesterday the tactical decision was made to gybe East towards land in a
direction away from Madeira towards head Portugese coast towards a
developing wind belt between two pressure systems. The benefit of this is
also to pick up stronger currents flowing south down the Portuguese coast.

During the evening the decision was made to change from the heavy weight
spinnaker to the medium weight, alas, during the change some extensive
chafing was noticed on the spinnaker halyards. After hoisting the medium
spinnaker on the starboard halyard, the crew worked hard to re-splice cover
onto the port halyard to prevent further chafing. One of the first things
on our job list in Madeira will be to requisition a new halyard for the
sail to Rio.

At 0400 the wind backed to the NNW and co-incidently it was change of
watch time, and a perfect time to gybe back onto starboard and resume our
course for Madeira.

At the moment we are just of Lisbon on the west coast of Portugal and
making good speed towards our destination. We will not know if our
decision to cover the extra miles and head inshore has paid off until this
mornings, or even this evenings sked (note – A sked is communication
between the race fleet and the race office to notify them of our
position). My guess is that at the moment the rest of the fleet are a lot
further west to and closer Madeira as the crow fly’s. We will have to
wait and see if our “flyer” has paid off.

Moral is high, and there is a certain buzz on-board. On completion of the
Gybe at 4am, we sung happy birthday to one of our prize crew members Pat
Cooper. Rest assured there will be a chocolate cake in the oven at
breakfast time, to be served hot at morning tea… mmmm…. Defiantly
eating like kings on this leg. I am amazed where all the food is coming
from and concerned due to the extra weight. I would normally have a few
words with our star victualer Lucia if only the food wasn’t sooooo
gooood!!! Enough about food, time for breakfast.

On-on to Madeira! BT