Tonga out?

hmmmm...
Just checked the entries in our Division and Baby Tonga's not there.  She was yesterday...
So far only five in our Div.  Last year 16 entries. Perhaps there'll be some more before we line up...

Update: she's moved into IRC, out of Premier.  Interesting.
Also: so far there's 48 entries total.  Last year there were about 115, so they must be hoping for lots of late entries, for this, its 25th Anniversary

Gold Coast Australia finished

Screen grab, 09:30 HKT, 30 Oct.  Real-time race viewer here

They finished at 07:04 this morning, HKT. Congratulations to skipper Richard Hewson and the crew, which includes "our Babs", from last year's King's Cup on Xena.
Report here.

"Gold Coast Australia extends lead..."

You can virtually "see" the high pressure system in this screen grab of the Race viewer! (HKT: 15:30, 29/10)

Check out the milling boats on the left! Gold Coast Oz went down and right
and picked up the breezes filling in from the East

From the Clipper site, Race News:

Gold Coast Australia’s bold move to sail much further than the other teams in order to run around the high pressure system that has dominated proceedings for much of the last week seems to have paid off.

“We have successfully escaped the grasps of the massive high pressure system that is currently playing havoc with the rest of the fleet,” reports skipper, Richard Hewson. “Yesterday we set ourselves a goal to try to be in a certain position away from the light winds of the high, and we managed to reach it before the high pressure system caught up with us.  This is a massive relief as now it looks like we will have good winds all the way to Geraldton.....[read more]

Swan 82 for King's Cup Premier Div

Uh oh. (hat tip: TC).  

She's called Chao Ren Plus One. Without the Chinese characters, I'm only guessing at the meaning, but "chao ren" is likely to be 超人, which is "Superman".
Update: it is indeed 超人, as in Superman.  Anyone got any kryptonite?  And who's the "plus one"?

"Gold Coast Australia" powering to 4th Bullet! Go Babs!

Gold Coast Australia at far right, on way to Geraldton, 08:00 HKT, 28 October
The above is a screen shot.  See the real time viewer here.

Remember: "our Babs", who crewed with us on Xena at last year's King's Cup, is on Gold Coast Australia in the Clipper Round the World Race.
They won the first three legs and look in good position to win the fourth, to Geraldton, Western Australia. That's them way out in front in the screen shot above, with about 450NM to go.  Plug the wind in, on the real time viewer, and they look in good position to get the strengthening breeze first.

See the crew profiles here.

Related: Volvo Ocean Race.  In-Port race in Sanya, Hainan Island, 18th Feb '12.  Chinese entry, Team Sanya, with Mike Sanderson at the helm, here.

Babs at last year's KC.
Iris, Stevo, Digger.

Update: found Babs' diary entry on the race site, latest, Day 10 of Leg 4, 18th October.  Dramatic stuff!

I have come a long way, from the person who till a year or so ago was pretty scared of water, to one who is now sailing through storms in the most feared ocean on earth, the Southern Ocean.

18/10/11 RACE 4 - DAY 10 - by Babs Yendell (Gold Coast Australia)
As you probably know if you've been following the latest Gold Coast Australia updates, we are down in the Southern Ocean, at the bottom of the world, in one of the most remote and extreme environments on earth. We are such an insignificant little blip on the huge expanse of ocean we are crossing.

Everything associated with this ocean here is bigger and wilder than any other. Birds, waves and wind are all of enormous proportions. We've experienced some rather extreme conditions down here in the southern ocean these past few days.