GOLD COAST QIN-SAN 17060ZMAR12 SKED

LAT 38 12.2N
LONG 168 46.1E
DTF 3470nm
ETA 4th April 12

WEATHER WIND 030@30kts, Sea Rough 3m, Swell NE 4m, Cloud 7/8 Cl,Cb, Baro 1018

The wind continues to blow hard maintaining an amazing sea scape surrounding the boat of throthing whitecaps, breaking waves and spray as we continue under storm trisail, storm jib and staysail towards the scoring gate and San Fransisco. The wind has not been as strong as expected, though may pick up a little tonight and hopefully we will see it moderate enough tomorrow to enable me to climb the mast and re-assemble the track.

We do not carry tools on-board or rivets big enough to fix the track so In consultation with the tech department we have devised a way of hopefully lashing the track to the mast. The difficulty is going to be joining the two tracks together at the top and I am hoping some self-tappers will do the trick.

The constant strong winds plays havoc on the rig and sheets, and today our staysail sheet just snapped in two, allowing the sail to flog and taking four
spinlock jammers away with it in the process. Each spinlock jammer is 290 pounds,
and for every 300 pounds spent = 1 point, so in one splitting moment we have lost 4 points which go’s to show how easily they can be lost as opposed to how hard
they are to win. At this rate we should be first to the scoring gate giving us 3
points which will help pay for some of the damage, but overall I am not too happy about the situation which now can not be helped. It seems that our plan to stay safe and not push the boat on this leg is not paying off as we appear to break less when we sail her harder.

Our watch system at the moment basically consists of 2 watches that are further
broken into two halves. A minimum of three people are on deck at all times while four more people stay below dressed and ready to go if required in an emergency. This system allows crew to rotate between the cold harsh conditions on deck and the not so cold conditions below. This system may not result in the best sail
trim or the boat sailing at its optimum speed, however conditions at the moment do not warrant this type of sailing, and for crew to get sick or exhausted at this
stage of the race could be disastrous. To win you first have to finish, so until
conditions abate we will maintain our rough weather watches, keep the storm sails up and push on. One could say that “life is not about waiting for the storm to
pass but its about learning to dance in the rain” I would say however that it is a darn sight easier and more fun to dance in a hall on a warm summers night. Once the conditions improve, then we will re-commence racing to win.