Gold Coast Australia: fifth straight bullet... on for the record!

GCA crew in Tauranga, 10:30pm last night HK time

And now they're on to equal the record of six leg wins in a row.... Congrats to Skipper Richard and hi to "Our Babs" on board!
From the Clipper website.
It was a nail biting and frustrating finish for Gold Coast Australia, one of the ten 68-foot yachts competing in the Clipper 11-12 Round the World Yacht Race, as they closed in on the Race 5 finish line at Tauranga, New Zealand, to secure their fifth consecutive victory in the 15-race series.
Beating into a strong north westerly breeze they crossed the finish line at 03.26 local time on Friday 25 (1426 UTC Thursday 24).

The team had led from the start of the 3,800-mile stage, which set out from Geraldton, Western Australia, 19 days ago and has seen all ten teams face the full fury of Mother Nature as they raced across the Southern Ocean, riding out storms and surfing waves as tall as buildings. But, as they closed in on the finish line in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, the brakes went on for the front runners and they had to watch as the chasing pack closed down their lead. As they rounded the East Cape, 100 miles from the finish line, disaster struck and they damaged their mainsail, forcing the team to complete the race under a much reduced sail plan.

Arriving in Tauranga Bridge Marina, the fleet’s base for the next ten days, Tasmanian skipper, Richard Hewson, said, “The whole race was really hard. After we left Geraldton, we got around Cape Leeuwin and it was on. Basically it was blowing over 40 knots the whole time or we were becalmed. There was nothing in between. The gusts seemed to last hours at a time.

“As we came around the East Cape we had a fair bit on and the other boats were catching us. With that bunch of five boats so close together we could easily have gone from first to sixth place if we didn’t get everything in order so I’m really happy. The crew dug really deep and I’m very proud of them. It’s nice to have another pennant.”

Gold Coast Australia’s winning streak equals that of Ras Turner and his crew on Ariel in the first edition of the event, Clipper 96. The record of six consecutive wins is held by Alex Thomson, winning skipper in Clipper 98. [More]