GOLD COAST 170600ZAUG11 SKED

DATE 17.08.11

LAT 17 53.52720

LONG 22 56.3

DTR 2720

COG 160

SOG 7

SKIPPERS BLOG

Another day in paradise onboard Gold coast Australia with a very well rested

crew enjoying some relaxing sailing and

conducting the usual maintenance on the boat such as winch servicing, chafe

prevention, and cleaning. The conditions are

such that I allow the crew to open the hatches in daylight hours go get some

airflow through the otherwise hot, humid and

occasionally smelly boat.

The topics of today’s happy hour brief were weather systems in the region,

hygiene, food, and cleanliness. The first of these

topics was what causes the ITCZ, and what to look out for. The more eyes the

better to look out for looming clouds that may

either be a sign of pleasant sailing wind, or occasionally squalls. The crew

are getting very good at calling me to ask

about certain clouds that they are concerned about. As my standing orders say

– call me if in any doubt at all. Hygiene was

another topic of conversation at the midday brief, as we approach hot sweaty

conditions, it is important for everybody to

bathe daily, quite a luxury considering in most conditions bathing is limited

to once every three days to save water. The

hot humid conditions have also resulted in fruit and veg going off quicker than

expected, so rather than wasting these

valuable sources of nutrition they are cleaned and separated at the first sign

of mould, and the fruit baked in some tasty

cakes – banana cake for desert tonight! There is also some mould growing

around the boat – something that has only happened

in just 5 days out of Madeira so the crew have been instructed to clean it

straight away before it can spread. If not done,

Gold coast could be a floating fluff ball by the time we get to Rio. For the

non seafarers amongst the readers, this may seem

hideous and you may think that Gold coast is in a rancid state, but actually it

is quite the contrary, and she is currently

one of the cleanest vessels I have sailed on, luckily the Gold coast team have

high standards as this will create a more

comfortable environment for the weeks to come.

The weather systems in this area, and the area we are passing through can be

very confused, and grib files or forecasts may

occasionally be wrong, so eyes are out and about, and I am scanning every

source of information available to me to determine

our tactics for the next few days to get us across the doldrums as fast as

possible. Nothing is more frustrating than drifting around with no wind, so I

hope I have got it

right. Wherever we go, I want to be moving. If it means sailing away from the

Rumb line for 24 hours towards wind then its

better than drifting around for 4 hours without! As predicted the wind has just

veered 40 degrees, and we are now broad reaching

with a kite in a southerly direction with 6.5 kts of boat speed. Everybody is

loving life and the best is yet to come – banana muffins are smelling pretty

tasty and are almost done. Happy days on Gold coast

Australia. BT