LAT 44 40.0S
LONG 039 59.0E
DTR 3595
ETA 1200 28 OCT 11

A very chilly but beautiful morning on Goldcoast Australia as we continue
to make our way towards the south east in the southern ocean searching for
better winds and better speeds to Geraldton Australia.

This morning the temperature on deck dropped as low as 7 degrees
Centigrade making for chilly conditions. Our three watch system has now
been reduced even more as each watch sends crew below on a rotational
basis to warm up. This ensures nobody will suffer frostbite or
hypothermia in such cold conditions and makes life in the southern ocean a
lot more bearable. Warm porridge and hot tea for breakfast has never been
so amazing.

One would think that being so far away from land there would be no birds
however the bird life down here is just amazing. Hundreds of cape petrel
birds constantly surround the boat in massive flocks as they migrate south
for the summer. Numerous Albatross of varied species effortlessly glide
around us in a display of dominance for the air of the southern ocean.

Whist the sea is slightly confused, a large domminant swell approaches us
from the South West. It would be nice to have the speed to be able to
surf down them as it would be an incredible rush. The smaller waves we do
surf however, and while our bowman Lisa Blair was up the mast repairing a
halyard we surfed up to 20 kts which could possibley set a new up mast
speed record for Clipper.

Apart from the chill in the air everybody remains very excited about our
location and speed that we are making towards Western Australia.BT

LAT 43 40.3S
LONG 135 29.8E
DTF 2340
ETA 1800 24 Nov

WEATHER
Wind 308/25 Sea 5 Swell 260@4m cloud 4/8 stratus, vis good, baro 1009.2 falling 1mb/hr

Gold Coast Australia is celebrating their victory in winning the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Whilst we are now making
arrangements to lengthen our snakepit to accommodate the swimming, and building a track around the gunwals for the marathon
the decision where we should have the grand opening ceremony is undecided, however the city of Gold Coast Australia seems
the perfect location.

Not only have we just won the Commonwealth games but we are also very pleased about our performance so far in Race 5 of the
Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Earlier in the race we thought we had mad a bad tactical decision by heading too far
north, but it has all seemed to work out well as we sail under heavy weight spinnaker towards the Tasmainan Gate and we are
sailing better than every with the last few spinnaker hoists and drops being even slicker than normal.

As we sail in the Southern Ocean we are accompanied by some beautiful feathered friends of a number of different species, in
particular a Grey Haired Albatross which fly circum polar around the Antarctic and breed as far away as Cape Horn and we
will endeavour to send the photo to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds ( RSPB) to help them with their research.
With all our rare bird sightings in positions so remote from human inhabitance our team are now compiling photos and
positions of various birds which we will email to the RSPB when we get ashore at each stopover

Whist we are sailing very well our joy is somewhat hampered by the news that Singapore has lost her steering and the offer
of assistance went out this morning if it was required. I have been busy trying to contact people in Hobart to see if they
are able to help and possibly meet the boat outside of Hobart to save Singapore some extra miles and time. Ben and his crew
really don’t deserve their bad luck and we wish them all the best in their recovery. A big thanks to all the Tassie crew
who have helped out so far, Im sure Singapore will be well looked after if they make the deviation towards Hobart. BT

LAT 42 35.5S
LONG 034 43.7
DTR 3843
ETA 1200I 28 Oct 11

SKIPPERS BLOG
A fantastic days run for Goldcoast Australia! This time yesterday the
ocean was like a mirror and there was not even enough wind for the
Albatross to fly. Now we are flying downwind under full main and a poled
out Y2 surfing waves in an ocean that is more like the southern
ocean we were looking at yesterday.

Our current latitude of 42 degrees 58 minutes south is coincidently the
same latitude of my house in Southern Tasmania which I call the Albatross.
Its very nice to be almost home again and to be sailing such a beautiful
isolated environment.

Yesterday we were listening to the sounds of the humpback whales, this
morning as we were sailing along a big shark approximately 5m between
dorsal fin and tail surfed down a wave next to the boat warning us of its
presence and demonstrating its sleekness and speed.

LAT 41 05.2S
LONG 29 24.9E
DTR 4090
ETA 1200 28 OCT 11

SKIPPERS BLOG
The past 24 hours has been the most frustrating of the race so far as
Goldcoast Australia has been laying still deprived of the wind in the
sails that give her life as she basically drifted paralysed at the mercy
of the Agulhas current with barely enough way to keep a course.

Team Goldcoast has been watching with anticipation the other yachts in the
fleet at each of the 6 hourly sked hoping that they too are becalmed but
also feeling the pain of the other teams’ frustration.

Not even the Albatrosses had enough wind to fly and their presence has
been missed. We have had guests to substitute the Albatross’ friendship
as some large mammals keep us company while becalmed. Goldcoast has been
surrounded by humpback whales singing and occasionally coming to the
surface to breathe. One of these massive beautiful creatures surfaced
right next to the helm, breathed to say hello and then slipped silently
back to the depths below to continue his journey.

At 0500z I awoke to a very welcome call to come on deck as the Yankee 1
was ready to be hoisted. The Albatross have rejoined us and Goldcoast
Australia is once again alive and in full flight, slicing her way through
the calm seas towards our homeland Australia. Wind sure is a beautiful
thing and the sea is looking like an ocean again. BT

LAT 40 06 735 S
LONG 126 07 444 E
DTF 2844nm
ETA 1800 24 NOV 11

WEATHER WIND: SEA SWELL CLOUD BARO

SKIPPERS BLOG

Its been a very eventfull 24 hours for Goldcoast Australia. As we race towards the scoring gate in varying winds and
confused sea it has been very challanging sailing indeed. When we experianced a wind shift of 40 degrees yesterday evening
the decision was made to gybe to the east rather than sailng south east. This gained us extra miles to the east and towards
the scoring gate but closed the gap between Finland and Derry. At one point we thought we could see their masthead lights
as they passed astern. As a result Goldcoast Australia is the most northern yacht in the fleet.

It is hoped that the northerly position will result in a more manageable position when the front next low pressure hits the
fleet as forcasted winds are a lot less than what we the actual front will be and the sea and swell will be less confused.
Our position now almost lines up the scoring gate, southern Tasmaina gate and the south coast of New Zealand in a perfect
line that will allow us to play the weather systems all the way to New Zealand.

Whilst the day started with sqully conditions and variable winds, this afternoon the sun i

LAT 33 16 00N
LONG 14 44.4W
DTR 58nm
ETA 9 AUG 1330

BLOG

Another fantastic 24 hours with sun shining on Goldcoast Australia. The
creware definably in the groove for trade winds sailing now, and I doubt
they will ever want to go upwind again.

Goldcoast has not been without her shair of problems however, and at 0200
this morning it was all hands on deck at action stations to standby to
drop the Heavy weight Spinaker after one of the loops connecting the Guy
to the sheet at the end of the spinaker pole chafed through sending the
spinaker flying out of control underneath the mainsail. The crew worked
very well to get the spinaker down, the re-wooled in preparation for
another hoist.

As soon as the chafed sheet was replaced, the spinaker was back up flying
again within 15 minutes, the Goldcoast back up to her now usual cruising
speed of 10 kts.

Over the past 24 hoursGoldcoast Australia we have been completing quite a
few jobs few jobs due for
Maderia such as victualling planning, cleaning, polishing and writing
lists for stores required and improvements that can be made to the boat in
Maderia to make living onboard as comfortable as possible for the long
trip to Rio.

The crew of Goldcoast are also very well rested, which will be very handy
in Madeira because there is still plenty of work to be done before we set
sail.

We will arrive in Maderia today just after mid day, and everybody is very
excited. BT

Lat 45 07.4N
Long 008 12.7W
DTR Finish 844nm
ETA Finish 10 0001Z AUG 11

Goldcoast Australia is powering south towards Cape Finistere much further
westward of the other yachts who have made significant gains over the past
12 hours. Goldcoast hope that the tactical dicision that they made
earlier to put in the miles to the west early will pay off and the other
Yachts will not lift out from under them on the southern part of the
infamous Bay of Biscay.

Weather over the past 12 hours has been variable, with higher and more
southerly winds than predicted and choppy seas slowing the yachts
progress.

Dispite the apparent loss of ground compaired to other yachts over the
past 12 hours, the Crew of Goldcoast have a high moral and are now even
more determined to push on to regain the lead. BT

LAT 37 31.4S
LONG 024 39.9E
DTR 4390
ETA 0600 28 October

SKIPPERS BLOG

Goldcoast Australia has had a very nice run over the past 24 hours
experiencing the warmth of the Agulhas Current mixing with gusty but fresh
south easterly winds.

Whilst the Auglhas Current has been hindering our progress towards the
east for the past few days it has been making living down below very
pleasant with the internal central heating that is controlled by the water
surrounding the hull remaining a very constant 24.5 degrees. This sea
temperature increase became very evident as soon as we rounded Cape
Agulhas. Unfortunately as we make our way south to the southern ocean
this temperature is expected to drop below 14 degrees so we are making the
most of the warm climate now.

The presence of friendly seabirds has been keeping us very entertained.
Yesterday a very large and inquisitive brown gull came and flew next to
the radar post. I stood on the starboard quarter and held out a biscut
trying to coax the bird to take the food from my hand or land on my arm
however it was more interested in the crew and what we were doing sailing
through its territory and hoping we had some fish to give it. We have
also seen some very graceful display of beautiful albatross flying as they
cruise effortlessly above the waves making our boats movements seem like a
circus ride.

Crew are now settled in now and everybody has brushed out the cobwebs of
shore life and are now getting involved in all the evolutions of reefing
and sail changing as we sail through a range of varied conditions working
our way to windward towards the east. Hopefully over the next few days we
will be in the westerly winds of the southern ocean and sailing to
windward will be a thing of the past and running and surfing will become
the norm. BT

LAT 36 05.0s
LONG 117 09.0e
DTF 3370nm
ETA 0600 25 Nov 11

WEATHER Wind 240@30 gusting 40, sea 6, swell 240@4m, cloud 6/8 cl, baro
1007.3 steady.

Its been a fantastic 24 hours run for Goldcoast Australia as we rounded
Cape Leeuwin and changed course for the scoring gate en route to Tasmaina.

Goldcoast Australia was sailing more like a submarine than a yacht as we
rounded the virtual mark off Cape Leeuwin, with large and confused sea and
swell resulting in some very exciting sailing.

Since the wind was coming from the west, and we had large swells that were
being amplified by the shallow water off the shelf coming from the south
and north west this resulted in Goldcoast Australia surfing down one wave
and then ploughing into the next head on resulting in a great rush of
water down the deck.

Once we rounded the Cape we were able be bear away resulting in some more
comfortable (but just as exciting) sailing as both swell patterns were now
behind us. As I write Goldcoast has the wind aft of the beam and is
surfing down waves the size of houses at speeds of up to 20kts. The sea
looks wild, but we have blue skys and crew onboard are having a blast.
Sailing does not get more exciting than this and we are loving it!

It looks like there is going to be plenty of this type of sailing to come
too as the next few low pressure systems follow each other through while
the high establishes itself in the bight.

LAT 39 07.0N
LONG 10 12.0W
DTR 505
ETR 09 1800Z AUG 11

What an amazing 24 hours it has been for Goldcoast Australia. Who would
have thought that yesterday morning we were smashing into 25 kts of wind,
with rain and not a glimpse of sun, and this morning we are sailing
downwind with 20kts behind us in Glorious sunshine… its almost as good
as being on the Goldcoast of Australia!!

Yesterday the tactical decision was made to gybe East towards land in a
direction away from Madeira towards head Portugese coast towards a
developing wind belt between two pressure systems. The benefit of this is
also to pick up stronger currents flowing south down the Portuguese coast.

During the evening the decision was made to change from the heavy weight
spinnaker to the medium weight, alas, during the change some extensive
chafing was noticed on the spinnaker halyards. After hoisting the medium
spinnaker on the starboard halyard, the crew worked hard to re-splice cover
onto the port halyard to prevent further chafing. One of the first things
on our job list in Madeira will be to requisition a new halyard for the
sail to Rio.

At 0400 the wind backed to the NNW and co-incidently it was change of
watch time, and a perfect time to gybe back onto starboard and resume our
course for Madeira.

At the moment we are just of Lisbon on the west coast of Portugal and
making good speed towards our destination. We will not know if our
decision to cover the extra miles and head inshore has paid off until this
mornings, or even this evenings sked (note – A sked is communication
between the race fleet and the race office to notify them of our
position). My guess is that at the moment the rest of the fleet are a lot
further west to and closer Madeira as the crow fly’s. We will have to
wait and see if our “flyer” has paid off.

Moral is high, and there is a certain buzz on-board. On completion of the
Gybe at 4am, we sung happy birthday to one of our prize crew members Pat
Cooper. Rest assured there will be a chocolate cake in the oven at
breakfast time, to be served hot at morning tea… mmmm…. Defiantly
eating like kings on this leg. I am amazed where all the food is coming
from and concerned due to the extra weight. I would normally have a few
words with our star victualer Lucia if only the food wasn’t sooooo
gooood!!! Enough about food, time for breakfast.

On-on to Madeira! BT