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Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race lives up to its reputation

Home 2006 Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race lives up to its reputation

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After a fast sprint north overnight, which put themk up with the Farr 54 Espresso Forte this morning, Tow Truck made the decision to head offshore again because it worked so well for them the first time.

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While weather plays a huge part in the sport of ocean racing, gains and losses can come down to tactics, not just waterline length, and the 21st Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race is living up to its reputation as a highly tactical race with crews having to make the decision whether to head offshore or hug the NSW coast.

For Anthony Paterson’s Mumm 30 Tow Truck, which was sitting in 19th place in the fleet in the early hours of this morning after a wet and wild ride north overnight, a drop back to 26th place by late this afternoon has posed a challenge for the steely Lake Macquarie crew.

“We’ve come back before but in different conditions to these,” admitted navigator Brett Filby this afternoon as they were hanging everything on the boat out on deck to dry.

After a fast sprint north overnight, which put them up with the Farr 54 Espresso Forte this morning, they made the decision to head offshore again because it worked so well for them the first time. Only this time the breeze dropped and they found themselves sailing into a southerly running current while those inshore had no current and a lot more wind.

“We are now sailing with boats we were 20 miles ahead of this morning,” said Filby this afternoon as they were coasting along close to the beaches of Nambucca in an 8-10 knot following breeze.

“We’ve spent half the day fighting to get inshore so we are in a good position for tonight’s forecast light and fluky westerly land breeze. We might still get some lucky breaks,” Filby said positively

The Queensland boats Wedgetail (Bill Wild) and David Benson’s Prime Example are currently well placed on handicap honours with Wild’s Welbourn 42, a divisional placegetter in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart, second overall on IRC behind Ray Roberts’ Quantum Racing while Prime Example has slipped into first place in the PHS standings.

At 1615 hours this afternoon Grant Wharington’s 30 metre maxi Skandia was 23 miles from the finish and averaging 9 knots. Current computer predictions have her finishing off Southport’s Main Beach at around 6.30pm tonight.

The entire Sydney Gold Coast fleet can be tracked continuously via Yacht Tracker on this race web site, and Google Earth, also found on the Yacht Tracker page.