Freshbrew

CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD  2011-12
RACE 2: MADEIRA TO RIO DE JANEIRO
DAY 16

Gold Coast Australia sets time to beat in Ocean Sprint

Gold Coast Australia is still leading the charge, having completed their Ocean Sprint in a time of 31 hours six minutes and 31 seconds with an average speed of 9.6 knots.

Skipper, Richard Hewson, says, "Considering the arduous conditions, we are very proud of our efforts and challenge any other yacht in the fleet to beat our time. With the Ocean Sprint out of the way there is only one goal remaining: the big one - Rio. Gold Coast Australia crew sat down for our usual happy hour where we discussed teamwork - a group of individuals working TOGETHER to achieve a common goal. I think Gold Coast Australia has a fantastic team, we are working well and everybody is happy, however as we get closer to Rio I am expecting the wind to become light and fickle allowing the following yachts to catch up.

"The next few days are going to be challenging but excitement is already building about getting to Rio and we will sail very hard to defend our lead against Welcome to Yorkshire and Singapore."

Positions at 0900 UTC, Saturday 27 August

Boat                                      DTF
1 Gold Coast Australia             798nm
2 Welcome to Yorkshire           861nm (+63nm DTL*)
3 Singapore                            902nm (+104nm)
4 New York                             1,143nm (+345nm)
5 Visit Finland                          1,206nm (+408nm)
6 Qingdao                                1,295nm (+497nm)
7 De Lage Landen                     1,296nm (+498nm)
8 Geraldton Western Australia    1,308nm (+510nm)
9 Edinburgh Inspiring Capital     1,357nm (+559nm)
10 Derry-Londonderry               1,486nm (+688nm)