CLIPPER 11-12
Gold Coast Australia secures hat-trick with third victory into Cape Town
Tuesday 27 September 2011 –
Richard Hewson said his team struggled to keep the boat moving in less than 5 knots of breeze as they approached the finish.
“After the sun rose the wind became so light that our lightweight spinnaker would no longer fill but we managed to hoist the Yankee 1 and staysail to keep us moving towards the finish,” Richard said.
Arriving in the V&A Waterfront, Richard was thrown overboard by his celebrating crew. The dripping but jubilant skipper said, “Third time lucky – a fantastic race by all the crew. The finish was very challenging. We had light airs at the beginning and end and some really tough conditions in the middle, so the dunking and the finish really reflected the whole race!”
“We had the Traffic Separation Scheme [shipping lanes] on one side and Table Mountain on the other side taking away our wind and we just sat there. We had been hoping to finish two hours earlier but without wind sailing boats don’t move!” continued Richard, whose uncle was on the quay to welcome him.
Visit Finland emerged from Stealth Mode overnight, but was unable to catch the Australians before they crossed the finish line and had 35 miles to run to the finish at 1200 UTC.
Meanwhile, De Lage Landen is keeping the pressure on Visit Finland and Stuart Jackson said his crew is giving the best of themselves in the duel for second place.
“After chasing Visit Finland for days now, everyone is aware that it will be a fight until the last mile. Focus is the key word today both on deck and down below,” Stuart said.
Following Gold Coast Australia’s arrival, the Visit Finland team is expected to finish around 1700 UTC today and then De Lage Landen at around 2100 UTC. Singapore and Derry-Londonderry are expected to arrive tomorrow at 1600 UTC and 1700 UTC respectively. Estimated arrival times for the rest of the fleet will be posted in due course.
The ten boats will be berthed in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront until the start of Race 4 to Geraldton in Western Australia on 5 October.
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Positions at 1200 UTC, Tuesday 27 September
Boat DTF*
1 Gold Coast Australia Finished at 10:56 UTC 27/09
2 Visit Finland 35nm (+35nm DTL*)
3 De Lage Landen 50nm (+50nm)
4 Singapore 184nm (+184nm)
5 Derry-Londonderry 191nm (+191nm)
6 New York 272nm (+272nm)
7 Qingdao 274nm (+274nm)
8 Welcome to Yorkshire 301nm (+301nm)
9 Geraldton Western Australia 351nm (351+nm)
10 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital 595nm (+595nm)
*DTF = Distance to Finish DTL = Distance to Leader
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