Weather on the East Coast has been very difficult with wind one minute and none the next, compared to the West Coast the waves have not been as large and it is far less lumpy.

Ray Shaw’s XLR8 has put a gap of 45 nautical miles to David Stoopman on Samskara.  Stoopman has also managed to make a break on Merlion giving him a five nautical mile buffer.  The current Gale Wind warning is still in force for the East Coast fleet but they continue to hard reach along the coast of Tasmania.  The fleet is tending to hug the shore to stay in the smoother seas. 

The tail of the fleet is just about to sail into the gap between Flinders Island and the Tasmanian mainland.  The area is known as Banks Strait and they will be in for a rough ride for the next two hours as they leave the protection of land and present themselves to the tidal effects of this difficult piece of water. The tide runs so strongly through Banks Strait that they are building a Tidal Electricity generating power plant in the area.  Cold, wet and bumpy conditions face the crews but at the least they are doing it in the daylight.

XLR8’s ETA to Hobart is early tomorrow morning before dawn.

Jennifer McGuigan