A hat trick for Gold Coast Australia

Clipper announce Race 3 result

Hat trick for Gold Coast Australia as they score third victory in Clipper Race - 27 September 2011

Gold Coast Australia, one of the ten international teams competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race, have continued their winning streak by finishing first in the third stage of the 40,000-mile circumnavigation from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Cape Town, South Africa. It is the third individual race victory in a row for the crew, ‘people like you’, led by Tasmanian skipper Richard Hewson.

The 68-foot yacht crossed the finish line in Table Bay against the magnificent backdrop of Table Mountain at 1256 local time (1056 UTC) today at the end of the 3,300-mile race across the South Atlantic. The team had led the fleet for the last eleven days and worked themselves into an unassailable position, which even their very slow progress in very light airs over the last two miles of the course could not damage. The victory has also consolidated their position at the top of the overall Clipper 11-12 leader-board.

Arriving in the V&A Waterfront, Richard was thrown overboard by his celebrating crew. The dripping but ecstatic 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, I think!”

“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.

During the race, the second ocean crossing of the world’s longest yacht race, the crews faced mountainous seas and strong headwinds.

Townsville resident, Wayne Reed, a retired army officer who is taking on the whole circumnavigation, said, “We did have some severe conditions; we had number three reef in the main and number three Yankee up doing 20 knots on a broad reach which was quite exciting in ten to 12-metre seas. There was a bit of seasickness and we were very wet and cold but it was great. The team has really gelled. About halfway across the weather was getting people down but we chose to push through that and came up with a scheme which was to form the Gold Coast Choir and we decided we were going to learn a song on every race so that we can sing it when we come in to port.”

As they pulled up alongside the crew gave their own rendition of Africa by Toto.

“That was perfect today – you should have heard it four days ago!” joked Wayne, “I couldn’t describe the feeling any better than to say it’s euphoric. It was a great start, a great race and we’re absolutely ecstatic.”

Arriving in the V&A Waterfront, the crew were entertained by a traditional Cape Town minstrel group. Chrissy Moore and her new Clipper BFFs were also waiting excitedly – boxing kangaroo flag in hand. Text messages from Chrissy indicated it had been a long wait between the time the crew actually crossed the line and their arrival at the dock.

Chrissy will be sending back photos and stories from BAMO’s adventure over the last few weeks – can’t wait to see and hear all about it.