GOLD COAST 190600ZJUN12 SKED – HALIFAX – DERRY

LAT 42 25.4N
LONG 048 01.3
DTF 1875
ETA 1800 29 Jun 12
SOG 9kts
COG 110

WEATHER WIND 045@11kts, Sea Mod, Swell NE 2m, Sky Fog, Baro 1022

Gold Coast Australia has defied the predicted light airs and manages to continue sailing towards the scoring gate at reasonable speeds.

It is hard to tell what the weather is going to do next. At one stage the wind backed all the way to the north, giving us some nice reaching conditions, before veering back to the north east, while the barometer remains steady indicating that we are travelling with the weather system as it moves eastward.

Sea fog reduces viability to one mile, and obscures the clouds that may give us more indication of what is going on in the upper levels and indicate what wind we may find over the horizon. At the moment it is almost like we are sailing by gut instinct and hope that Visit Finland does not gain the advantage by being further north.

Our plan at the moment is to sail east, sail fast and try to get into the new weather system as soon as possible and the crew are doing a fantastic job trimming the boat for maximum speed to achieve this goal. Until the weather patterns settle down there is undoubtedly some luck involved as to the best position to be on the course when the wind veers to the south and increases. Until this happens, all we can do is be thankfull for the wind we have, hold on, sacrifice another virgin chicken and hope.