LAT 33 42.8N
LONG 145 09.2E
DTF 4400
ETA 04 July 2012

WEATHER WIND 030@9KTS, Sea Moderate, Swell NE 3m, Cloud 3/8 St/Cl, Baro 1012.4

In what has been described by some round the world crew members as some of the strongest winds and biggest waves in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race so far the last couple of days have been quite extreme.

Yesterday afternoon saw the storm at its peak with one wave noticeably higher than the first spreader and with wind gusts up to 48 kts. As the evening went on the winds began to abate, and this continued throughout the morning as we have taken down the storm sails and gradually changed thought our sail wardrobe to finally being sailing in 9kts of wind with our Y1 SS and full mainsail up.

There are also a few cuts and bruises that need to be seen to from over the past few days as people were smashed by waves and knocked down to the deck as Gold Coast was jostled around. There have been a few mighty falls, however apart from bruising no serious injury, and thanks to everybody wearing harnesses, life lines and always being clipped on everybody is safe.

Inside and outside of the boat is saturated, and this afternoon we have seen our first blue sky and sunshine since Qingdao. The deck of Gold Coast now looks like a Qingdao laundry and is covered in mattress, sleeping bags, wet weather gear and clothes. The crew shred layers of damp gear and try to make the most of the sunshine to air out their skin. Every body is cheerful and deservedly proud of their achievements so far in the race as we continue to lead the fleet to San Francisco.

Over the next 24 hours the wind should strengthen and veer as the next low pressure system approaches. This means some long awaited down wind running with the spinnaker as we weave our way through the currents along the great circle route to the 42N limit where we will play the weather systems all the way to Francisco

LAT 32 30.5N
LONG 141 39.3E
DTF 4600
ETA 04 APR 2012

WEATHER WIND 330@40kts, Sea 4m Rough, Swell NE 4m, Sly O/C, Baro 1005.4

Its been a windy and extreme 24 hours for Gold Coast Australia as the winds have been averaging about 30kts. For the last 5 hours the winds have been averaging around 40kts, smashing along with three reefs in the mainsail, storm jib and staysail trying not to fall too far to the south as we pass the islands to the South East of Japan.

This morning the wind had a lot more west in it and we were making some great speeds of up to 20kts surfing down waves. As the day has worn on however the wind has shifted back to the north, and we have consequently had to sail tighter angles meaning a lot more heal on the boat, less speed, and uncomfortable living conditions.

A good example of how much water we are getting over the deck at the moment is that helmsman Dan Aspinial recently saw a fish fly past his face as a wave crashed over the deck. Unfortunately the fish was not caught on CCTV as the video was already being captured to record a recent sail change and the conditions we are currently experiencing.

Hopefully by the evening the wind will have begun to moderate and by morning we should have good winds again. Our biggest problem at the moment is that we are sailing at about the same speed as the low pressure system is moving, so it is staying with us for longer than usual. If we were going down wind this would be perfect, however with the wind blowing from its current direction at 30-40kts it may result in exciting sailing, but it is very uncomfortable and very hard work.

LAT 32 29.9N
LONG 136 41.4E
DTF 4811
ETA 04 APR 12

WEATHER WIND 059@30kts SEA Rough 3m, Swell NE 3m, Cloud O/C CL Baro 1008 (just started rising)

Gold Coast Australia has sailed very well over the past 24 hours and has experienced a myriad of conditions from flat sea’s with full main an Y1 to high seas, three reefs and storm staysail. At the time of writing I have just returned below from fixing our third reef as GCA crashes through high seas in winds of excess of 30 kts.. it certainly is wild up there and the boat is jumping about like a show ride.

It is certainly a case of a baptism of fire for the new crew onboard as we now battle our way towards the low pressure system off the South East of Japan. Tactics of how to get on to the next stage of the race and what side of the low pressure system to take are still undecided and with the present conditions that we are experiencing will probably determine this outcome.

I have probably had two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours, and very minimal rest as I am constantly being called on deck to look at clouds and assess the weather, and to conduct sail changes and reefs. Dispite the lack of sleep, I love these conditions, they are exciting and fun and require a high level of determination to endure them well. For me, these conditions are what ocean racing is all about, though Im not sure if my crew feel the same.

Early this morning while putting in our 2nd reef our 1st reefing pennant broke, resulting in some quick problem solving to get the sail roughly laid on the boom to prevent sail damage when the reef was put in. A blessing in disguise happened a couple of hours after when we found our selves practically becalmed in between two frontal systems. This gave me the opportunity to get up on the boom and lace a new reefing pennant as well as do some quick repairs on the mainsail where the leach chord had become detached.

We now have three reefs in, Y3 and a storm staysail and the pressure which levelled out at 1007.7 has now risen to 1008.0 and steadied. Hopefully the pressure will continue to rise throughout the afternoon and the wind will back signalling that we have passed the centre of the low pressure system.

Being on port tack for any length of time is bringing with it some discomforts (apart from the 3m steep seas, increasing swell and windy shifty conditions). As our battery charger literally went up in smoke a few days ago we can only charge our main batteries while upright or on starboard tack. As a result GCA is on power restrictions, lights and communication systems are switched off leaving only the necessity nav systems running to preserve power. Hence a drop in emails from GCA until we can tack.

Overall everybody is handling the conditions well with only a few people being suffering by sea sickness. Slowly everybody is learning (or relearning) the best ways to weather a storm and get sail changes and reefs done in the quickest time possible, saving us time on the racecourse so we can get to San-Francisco on the podium.

Richard Hewson

LAT 31 44.7N
LONG 133 30.4E
DTF 5042
ETA 05 Apr 12

This race is defiantly one for the armchair sailor. If we were to be relying on GRIB files and weather data your virtual yacht would surely be coming last. The winds and conditions seen so far from the predicted, and while the NNE winds that were expected over the past few days should have taken us east, in reality the winds have a lot more east in them and consequently for the past eight hours we have been finding ourselves heading north to re-meet the Kuro-Shio current.

Gold Coast went into Stealth mode yesterday because of the many differnt tactics that could be played at this stage of the race. Infact, at the time of going into Stealth I was quite unsure where we were going to go let alone the rest of the fleet, and since then my decision making process has been a bit like a yo-yo depending on the wind we have had at the time.. should we go east to get to the new wind first, should we go north with the current. In reality with the lack of accurate information we are playing this race more like a dinghy race, utilising the information gathered before the race start, and then just playing the shifts as they pan out after the start.

Thankfully over the last 24 hours things have settled down. The winds have abated to 12-15kts, the seas have calmed, and we have even seen some sunshine. With the warmth of the Kuro Shio Current I am even wearing shorts and thermal shirt as opposed to layers of midlayers, neck warmers, beanies and gloves. The calmer conditions allow me to do some training on deck, teaching the new joiners how to helm and trim and showing them the fine art of how to get the boat going fast and all that we have learnt since the start of the race. Everybody is keen to learn and we have already discovered some natural helmsmen amongst our new crew.

The lighter airs came at a valuable time as our battery voltage was dwindling. Some devastating news yesterday as we found our battery charger was confirmed un-repairable, we once again only have our main engine for electricity supply, and as a result we can not charge the batteries on port tack when the boat is healed over 15 degrees (ie in over 15kts of wind) while we are sailing to windward. This will make the rest of the race even more challenging, but that is the part of ocean racing that we love.

LAT 30 55.4N
LONG 130 37.8E
DTR 5567
ETA 06 APR 12

WEATHER WIND – RANDOM NW-NE 5-25kts, Sea Moderate, Swell Low confused, Cloud O/C, Baro 1014

Another full on 24 hours for Gold Coast Australia as we battle our way along the Japanese coast with Singapore and Derry close astern.

While the crew on Gold Coast are settling in, the elements and conditions have not been very kind to them with wind shifting in direction up to 90 degrees and wind blowing between 5 and 25kts making life onboard tough going as we are constantly trimming and changing sails to maintain our speed and keep our lead over the rest of the fleet.

Life onboard has been further hampered with the loss of our batter charger, which began smoking yesterday indicating that there is a severe problem. Luckly I was in the Nav station at the time and as soon as I smelt smoke shut down the generator and all associated power. We have been with out power some of the morning as we isolate the charger in an attempt to find the problem and re-build it. This means first isolating all power to it which would normally be a simple task, however, on a yacht that is moving around whilst you are trying to work in confined spaces nothing is ever easy. With any luck our onboard electrical engineer Eric Featherstone will be able to solve the problem and get the charger working again otherwise we are severely restricted in our power usage for the remainder of the race.

Our situation was also hampered when a sudden gust of wind at watch changeover caused the helmsman who had just taken the wheel to round up. A combination of being in the middle of a watch hand over and some lack of experience resulted in reactions not being as quick as required to deal with the situation. The spinnaker simply flogged two times, but its awesome power was enough to snap the pole in half resulting in an emergency spinnaker drop and quick hoist of the Y1 headsail which we sailed under for the rest of the night.

Tactically this part of the race has been very tricky as winds are quite hard to predict and there appears to be a lot of influence from the high mountains of Japan resulting in gusty and shifty conditions which make sailing in these waters very tricky. To add to the difficulty there is a high volume of shipping in the area, so we are maintaining a constant watch on the Radar to ensure that the large ships have identified us and can keep clear in areas of low visibility.

What the weather will do over the next few days is uncertain however the situation of the HP and LP systems in the Pacific and our 42 degree latitude limitation will make this a very tactical and exciting race indeed. There is certainly a lot to learn for all onboard Gold Coast Australia this race as the elements will make it very demanding. All are doing very well to learn as much as possible and also spend the time teaching each other the best techniques for sail changes, trimming and other elements of life on board. Our position in the fleet is a good indication of the effort and dedication of the crew so far.

Richard Hewson

LAT 32 22.9N
LONG 127 04.6E
DTF 5422
ETA 04 April 2012

WEATHER WIND 311@22 SEA MOD SWELL WNW 3m Vis Poor Baro 1016.9

Currently Gold Coast Australia is humming along at over 10 kts towards our next waypoint and the sun has just appeared for the first time since Qingdao. The mood onboard is good as the new joiners find their feet and everybody settles into a regular watch routine again. This is a nice change from the past 24 hours racing through the Yellow Sea filled with fishing vessels, nets, kamikaze ships, low viability and gusty winds.

Yesterday afternoon the wind veered as predicted and we set our heavy weight spinnaker allowing us to pull away slightly from the rest of the fleet who were at the time still very tightly bunched. After the sun set and at watch change a combination of gusty winds, freezing conditions, fog and a few nervous crew gave us enough reason to drop the spinnaker and contend with the Y1 throughout the night. This would be a decision we would defiantly not regret as throughout the night there were a number of close encounters with un-lit nets and vessels that did not show up on radar or AIS. After one such encounter I was called on deck as our speed had significantly decreased and the helmsman was having trouble maintaining course. It was discovered that we were trailing a large net or line and had no option but to sail head to wind and try to shake the net off the keel and rudder. After 10 minutes and various attempts which included sailing the 68 ft yacht backwards like a dinghy we finally managed to shake the most significant part of the net off, though I would not be surprised if there are still remnants under the hull. We will not be able to determine this until the weather further abates. The manoeuvre of shaking the nets cost us a lot of time, and allowed the other yachts to catch up, though I’m sure all the yachts in the fleet had their fair share of obstacles last night.

At dawn a number of the fleet had close encounters with one particular ship called “Alfa Gloria”. The bulk carrier who was approximately 240m long with a tonnage of over 100,000 GRT apparently saw a fishing boat off its port bow and as a knee jerk reaction altered course hard to starboard without checking the new course finding itself on a collision course with three yachts and a number of fishing boats. Gold Coast Australia had no time to set up for a gybe and I was forced to crash tack and sail 90 degrees to our course to get out of the ships way. The engine was started as a precaution, however thankfully was not required.

Later that morning as the winds moderated we saw Welcome to Yorkshire sail across our bow with their kite up. A looming sight seeing the pink yacht sailing under full sail in the mist. As the wind began to abate and the sky cleared slightly we also set our heavy weight spinnaker and have been heading east at good speed ever since.

I believe the fleet has now split into two groups, those who continued to the SE and those who gybed off to the east with us. As the winds are forecast to veer later in the day and into the night our current position should give us the tactical advantage over the rest of the fleet and we should easily be able to lay the mark “Sata Misaki Light” off the southern end of Japan, where we will begin making use of the Kiro Shio Current as we beat to windward on our great circle route to San Francisco.

LAT 34 50.6N
LONG 122 58.8E
DTR 5670nm
ETA 04 April 2012

WEATHER WIND 250@18kts, Sea Moderate, Swell SE 2m, Cloud fog + O/C Baro 1009.9

At 1135 Local (0235Z) Race 9 of the Clipper RTW Yacht Race started in the middle of the Yellow Sea. The decision to move the start away from the light winds and foggy conditions of Qingdao harbour was well deserved. The fleet was able to start the race mid sea by doing a start whereby the yachts line up and follow a
particular course. Whilst not as challenging or fun as a normal start line it is the fairest option in such conditions.

During the lead up to the start Gold Coast realised that our topping-lift had snapped overnight and disappeared inside the mast. After numerous trips up the
rig to determine if it could be fixed or re run inside the rig I decided the best option would be to run an external halyard from a spare sheave at the top of the
mast. Whilst this is not ideal, it will serve the purpose until San Francisco as there is a good chance that during the race we will receive some extreme weather and without a topping lift reefing the mainsail would be very difficult.

Due to setting the best course possible for me while I was up the rig Gold Coast
was separated from the rest of the fleet and whist we did our best to make up time and be with the other boats at the start we ended up being about 10 boat lengths
behind the rest of the fleet at the gun. There is still 5600nm to go in the race so 10 boat lengths is quite insignificant and already we have caught up to the majority of the fleet and racing hard to get into the lead before we round the south western edge of Japan and begin making our way across the North Pacific Ocean.

The sailing instructions have dictated a northerly limit of 42 degrees north as a safety precaution. Whilst this restriction can severely interfere with the best
routing possible, it is quite common for Trans-Pacific and southern ocean races to prevent the fleet from getting into difficulty in the higher latitudes that are
often plagued with strong winds and big waves. Last year in the Clipper RTW race
one yacht was dis-masted and three others knocked down in such conditions so it is understandable that the race committee has made such an decision.

Due to the distance of this race and the conditions we may face this race is more
about preservation and endurance than boat-speed. You need to finish the race to win it so we will be focusing on safety while still keeping the best course and speed towards the finish line that we can safely maintain.

For now we will continue to sail our fastest course towards the waypoint and as
the wind veers to further to the west we will hoist the spinnaker for extra speed. Go Gold Coast, lets get back to Yellow Pennants!!

On arrival to the boat this morning I found Gold Coast covered in snow and ice and unforecasted gusty conditions. Not the best way to start Race 9 of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race to San-Francisco.
After an intense departure ceremony and copious dealings with Chinese officials we slipped lines and made our way to the start line which none of the fleet could locate due to thick fog.
After a good decision from the race committee our start has been postponed and the start line moved to a secret location.
At 1700 this evening the fog was still so thick you could not make out a yacht 200 yards ahead, temperatures were only slightly above zero, and the wind remained gusty so the race start has again been postponed until tomorrow, giving the crew a good opportunity to settle in and get acclimatised to the conditions before the start.
Bring on San-Fransisco

Final preperations are underway before we start race 9 from Qingdao China to San Fransisco USA. Everybody is very excited and counting down the hours before the start tomorrow at 1330.

Richard Hewson
Gold Coast Australia

20./11

LAT 43 55.3S

LONG 175 07.2E

DTF 576

ETA 23 NOV 11 0600

WEATHER

WIND 270 8KTS SEA2 SWELL 180@ CLOUD 8/8 BARO 1002.2

SKIPPERS BLOG

Very light wings have made sailing up the coast of New Zealand very

Interesting but also very peaceful and relaxing, though we must not

become too complacent as a rather large blow is eminent tonight.

Whilst writing down the local weather forecast from the VHF today the

announcer read out “Castle point NW 45 increasing 55 in the evening and

increasing 65 tomorrow morning…”. This is defiantly the most extreme

inshore forecast I have heard over VHF radio, and what makes matters worse

is that Castle point is only 150nm ahead of our current position and 50nm

off our track so we may expect some wind tonight and tomorrow.

The crew are now getting used to stowing gear ready for a storm as in

these waters the drill seems to occur twice a week/

Almost all day today Gold Coast Australia has been surrounded by no less

than 20 Albatross flying together. This is quite rare as Albatross are

normally a solitary animal. The albatross seem to vary in species and

size and its amazing to see s many glide together. We have decided that

the number can only be due to “Jonathon Seagull’s Gliding School”, as the

young albatross learn the fundamentals about gliding prior to heading down

to the southern ocean.

Albatross are not the only wildlife that have been surrounding the boat,

as we have also had some regular visits from seals who poke their head up

as if to say “Welcome to New Zealand Bro”BT