Sydney Gold Coast Race - headache for tacticians

2:03 AM Sat 25 Jul 2009 GMT

'Andrew Short's Pricewaterhouse Coopers, a possible line honours contender - Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race' Andrea Francolini &copy

The Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race fleet will exit Sydney Harbour in light conditions making the start at 1300 start today off Nielsen Park.

The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed its final race forecast at this morning's weather briefing with little change from previous days. For today's start a light NW breeze of 5 to 10 knots is forecast with the wind changing to NNE into the evening. Light westerly land breezes will mark a chilly Saturday evening with NNE winds continuing into Sunday, making it a tactical race for navigators trying to ensure that they do not fall into holes in the breeze.

Just 30 minutes before the start, the breeze is 5-10 knots from the north east.

With a strong southerly current and light conditions, each skipper and navigator will have to make the decision if they go wide.

Here is how Tidetech viewed the EAC situation earlier in the week.

Clear skies this week have been giving us beautiful pictures of the Sea Surface Temp - Audi Sydney to Gold Coast Race - Tidetech Click Here to view large photo

Tom Addis, navigator of Wild Oats X said that the lighter conditions will be frustrating. 'It will be very hard for us to get away from everyone. The conditions are right for the smaller boats in the fleet. The bigger boats can wrestle with the inshore/offshore decision. We'll probably be going offshore for a bit and see what it's like.'

Brett Filby, navigator of Tow Truck was still weighing up his options after this morning's briefing. 'If we do go out offshore, we may find it a bit difficult to come back into the rhumbline. It may be safer to stay inside and pick up what we can off the land breezes.'

Sail-World will post the division list with handicaps, as soon as possible.

by Sail-World