Exhilarating Bass Strait crossing followed by blast reach down Tasmanian East Coast

• NEWS
• 29 Dec, 2005 08:25:00 PM

Exhilarating Bass Strait crossing followed by blast reach down Tasmanian East Coast

PHS entrant Diomedea reports Thursday evening after another two days of champagne sailing across Bass Strait and fast broad reaching down the east Tasmanian coast.

PHS entrant Diomedea reports Thursday evening after another two days of champagne sailing across Bass Strait and fast broad reaching down the east Tasmanian coast.

Steady NW winds and the user-friendly 2-3m swell have enabled us to really make use of our 18+ tons as the boat skims along beautifully in these conditions.  With VMGs of 8-10 knots for most of Thursday, James from Watch A took out today's top speed record with 15.1 knots.

We are now in sight of land and a number of other yachts as we make steady progress to Tasman Island and expected rounding around 0700 Friday morning.  For a number of crew members, this will be their first sighting of Tasman Island in daylight, an event sure to be remembered and enthuastically photographed.

Being principally a long distance passage-making boat, Diomedea has a number of creature-comforts and has been re-christened "Club Comfy" by the crew.  The GenSet has been particularly handy following a slight hiccup just before this evening's shift change when bolts on the starboard traveller car fitting snapped.  The crew is working hard with various electical tools to effect repairs and maintain our position in the fleet.

Jennifer Rezek
Navigator - Diomedea