GOLD COAST 180600ZAUG11 SKED

dATE 18.08.11

LAT 14 34.0N

LONG 24 08.6W

DTR 2513

COG 202

NOTE: ACCESS CONTROLLER CONTINUALLY OVERHEATING, EMAIL USAGE MAY BE

AFFECTED CLOSER TO EQUATOR.

SKIPPERS BLOG

Another cracking day for Gold coast Australia with an unfortunate twist.

Team Gold coast picked their path through the Cape Verde islands well, with

fantastic wind all day until this evening where the wind is starting to

reduce as we near the ITCZ.

An unfortunate blow hit Gold coast just after midday. Gold coast was flying

along in perfect consistent breeze, and only a slight rolling south

Atlantic swell to affect the movement of the boat. I was getting my head

down after a bath on the back of the boat, as it is quite easy for a

skipper to sleep when the conditions are so perfect when suddenly there

was a call from the deck. I raced up the companionway to find the Medium

weight spinnaker in two pices. The incident was recorded by our trusty

North 1 camera at the back of the boat, and after reviewing the footage

and inspecting the spinnaker, I can find no reason for such an occurrence.

This is a massive loss for Gold coast, as the Medium weight spinnaker is the

workhorse of the boat in these conditions, especially at night when the

light weight spinnaker has the potential to suffer damaged if the helmsman

loose their course in darkness or if the wind shifts in directions

suddenly. Nb the wind just shifted a full 60 degrees to the south while I

was typing this email creating a flutter of activity on deck.

Gold coast continues to race to the Eastern “bottleneck” of the ITCZ and

hopes to move up the ranks throughout the night. BT