At the 0800 race briefing this morning, representatives of the 24 yachts that will take to the start line for the second Audi Sydney Offshore Newcastle Yacht Race, received an updated weather forecast from the Bureau of Meteorology’s Julie Evans.

With last night’s southerly coming through as predicated, the fleet are set for a spinnaker start at 12 noon today. The S/SE breeze will provide tailwind for the fleet heading north, pushing them  up to the mark laid off Crowdy Head, possibly in record time.

“If you have the timings all right, you will have a tailwind on the way up and a tailwind coming back down to Newcastle,” said Julie Evans in this morning’s briefings.

Early tomorrow morning, those at the front of the fleet will experience light to moderate SE breezes of 8-13 knots with the wind beginning to shift to the NE 10 – 15 knots in the afternoon. 

For the team on Ragamuffin, Navigator Phil Eadie, would have liked to see a bit more breeze to see if they can take out the 2008-09 Blue Water Pointscore and claim owner Syd Fischer a record tenth championship.

“We know we’ve got a battle on our hands for the title – but there is nothing like a bit of healthy competition. I’ve got no complaints – so may the best crew win!” said Phil after the briefing.

For Cameron Miles and the crew on Loki, the conditions are looking favourable. “We’ve run our modeling and the current predication is for us to finish at Newcastle at 3am Saturday morning. The boys are in for a fast ride and Loki is in good form, so we’ll just see what happens out on the race course,” said Cameron.

The entire fleet can be tracked via Yacht Tracker and Google Earth on the official race website https://sydneynewcastle.cyca.com.au/ Handicap and line honours positions are updated every 10 minutes via the standings page.