LAT 38 33.9N
LONG 164 57.1E
DTF 3630
ETA 4 Apr 11

WIND 024@33kts, Sea Rough 2m, Swell NE 4m, Cloud O/C, Cb, Baro 1015.0

Gold Coast Australia has already begun to feel the effects of an intense low pressure system building to our south east. While the predicted wind this afternoon was 17-25kts we began to see 30-35kts and changed down from our Y3 to storm jib. With the wind expected to increase even more tonight to an expected 40kts I decided to set the trisail early.

As we were preparing to drop the three reefed mainsail tragedy struck as the mainsail track ripped off the mast at the second set of spreaders. The cause is unexplainable as it was only blowing 30kts at the time. Luckyly we had the trisail all ready to go, and we now have it set below the broken track and maintaining good speeds towards the scoring gate.

I will look at mast track repair when conditions abate further, and hope I have the gear onboard to fix it, otherwise it will make the mainsail re-hoist very interesting! For now GCA is all tucked in ready for the storm, and Im off to bed to get some sleep before conditions get really exciting.

Richard Hewson