GOLD COAST 160600ZAUG11 SKED

DATE 16.08.11

LAT 20 17

LONG 54 50

DTR 2808

ETA 282200Z AUG 11

ETA GATE 0200Z

Skippers Blog

As Gold Coast screams towards the gate with the faithful Medium weight kite

up, we hope to get there in time to get some points. It will be

interesting to see how we have done against the other leading yachts.

Gold coast is hoping that sailing hotter angles at speeds of over 10 kts,

will do the trick, and hope that the other boats are in less wind sailing

broader angles towards the magic line.

After a long nigh of challenging conditions and numerous spinnaker changes,

I could tell the troop were exhausted. As gold coast runs a three watch

system, and we were pretty well set for a day of no sail changes, the

standby watch were allowed to stay in their bunks for their watch, so

everybody today was allowed at least 8 hours of rest. If conditions stay

similar to today in the coming night, the crew may even have the

possibility of getting another 8 hours sleep, that is 16 hours sleep in a

24 hour period.. unfortunately I do not give myself the same privileges, an

constantly running around “like a kangaroo on steroids” as my crew say,

keep this fine yacht racing hard.

Tactics of crossing from North to South in this ocean are doing my head

in, as there are so many possibility’s that can change daily with changing

variables… oh for more information, if I could only link in to the

internet and get all those funky weather sat pics I want to help make my

decision, rather than just be limited to the GRIB files sent by HQ my

decision would be a lot more informed. The good part is that all the

other yachts are using the same information, and I guess im lucky to have

the luxury of Grib files and MSL diagrams. I admire the navigators of

old who navigated these areas by some natural ability that many of us have

lost through generations of technology. Get away from the computer Rich

and look up at the clouds, feel the wind, and look at the waves. Don’t get

too swept up with watching the dotted red line. I think our crew blog for

the day by Wayne Reed says it all. BT