GOLD COAST 170600ZMAY12 SKED PANAMA – NEW YORK

LAT 18 08.0N
LONG 075 25.1W
DTW 152nm
DTF 1353nm
ETA 27 May 12
COG 035
SOG 9.6

WEATHER WIND 137@14kts, Sea Mod, Swell confused, Sky 2/8 Cl, Baro 1007

Gold Coast Australia has had a stunning day of sailing through the Caribbean Sea, Past Jamaica and into the Windward Passage. The wind thus far has been nothing but perfect however light winds lie ahead.

Most of the day was spent covering De Lage Landen, and when we observed that they were committed to sailing to the west of Morant Cays we altered course and sailed higher on the wind to climb into more current and sail to the east of Morant Cays, thereby putting the island and a lot of miles between us.

Gold Coast Australia is lifting higher than all the other boats visually and on AIS and we are sailing a fantastic VMG towards the scoring gate between Cuba and Haiti. Unfortunately the wind has lifted more than predicted allowing the other yachts to leeward to get more height and capitalise on their position.

Our next obstical is the lee from the southern most tip of Haiti as there are some high mountain ranges there that will no doubt create a substantial lee. Hopefully our calculations are correct and we can sail around the edge of the lee, making best use of the current to sail into the Windward Passage.

The perfect upwind sailing conditions provide and excellent opportunity for some sail coaching and interested crew are getting daily lessons on sail trim and how to make boats go faster. As the conditions lighten off over the next day it will be a fabulous opportunity for crew to put their lessons into practice as no doubt there will be ample light wind trimming through the islands where every 0.1 kts will count.