GOLD COAST 150600Z SKED – SAN FRANCISCO START

LAT 36 20.0N
LONG 122 52.2W
Cabo Falso 1024nm
DTF 3175nm
ETA 13 May 2012
SOG 10kts
COG 180

WEATHER WIND 338@25kts, Sea Mod, Swell NW 2m, Cloud 5/8 Cl, Baro 1019

A sunny day in on San Francisco Harbour was a perfect location for the start of race 10 of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race off the Golden Gate Yacht Club. After a good tussle at the start with some of the skippers forgetting we were racing 68 foot yachts as opposed to Laser dinghy’s, Gold Coast was pushed over the line along with two other boats with seconds to go. At 40 seconds to go I realised there was no way I was going to manoeuvre the yacht back down to the start line so I bit the bullet and got away from the commotion to manoeuvre Gold Coast around the pin end to re start. In the end we did not get a bad start, and sailed up the southern side of the bay towards the bridge. The yachts that headed to the north made ground of us which I found surprising given the state of tide they should have had some of the flood against them.

By the time we rounded Mile Rocks we were back up to third place, and set a course slightly seaward of the other yachts who one hour later were a mile or two inshore and were being affected by the tide. Behind us we had Singapore and Edinburgh who were matching our speed and course.

At 1600 we broke into our watch system, and unfortunately a number of the crew succumbed to sea sickness preventing us from hoisting our spinnaker to make the most of the northerly wind. Thankfully it appears the other yachts in the fleet were suffering the same difficulties and everybody remained reaching under full main and Y2. Given we could not hoist the spinnaker to sail the optimum course we continued sailing slightly to the west of our planned track to maintain our apparent wind.

At the change of watch more of the team were feeling fit and we were able to hoist our heavy weight spinnaker and sail a more southerly course. There is a bit of a swell running in from the North West making helming difficult but the boat feels a lot more stable with the kite up. The wind has already started to moderate, though there is the occasional gust of 30kts which makes life a bit more exciting. Hopefully this wind will stay with us for the next few days so we can make some good ground to the south.

The fleet remains relatively close and at the moment we are battling it out for first place amongst a number of other yachts. It is fantastic to be in eyesight and VHF range as we all charge down the coast towards Panama. This race has some interesting tactics ahead, and it will be interesting to see who plays the shore and who heads to sea as the information from local sailors shows advantages at different times to support each theory. At this stage I will keep the tactics of Gold Coast under wraps, so keep checking the race viewer for regular updates.

It is fantastic to back on the water again after what seemed a long stopover. The boat is in fantastic shape after hours of work from the crew and much thanks must go to the crew from the previous legs who remained in Oakland to help with the corporate sails and to get the boat prepared and also help entertain the crew.

Oakland was a fantastic stopover and many new friends were met. It was brilliant to be involved in the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show and participate in a few seminars as well as checking out some of the new gear available. Thank you to everybody involved and for everybody who were so generous and willing to lend a hand and for being so generous, on behalf of my crew I would like to say that I look forward to my return to the San-Francisco Bay Area.

Richard Hewson