Melbourne Osaka Cup - Update from Southern Cross Friday morning 22 March, 2013 from skipper Yasu:

Position - 37 54 S 154 30 E
Weather - Cloudy
Wind speed - 30 knots Nth
Waves - 6 meters
Speed - Average 4 knots
Crew - All well

Yesterday it was pretty tough. We faced extremely strong winds and big waves and with the violent shaking and rolling it was impossible to write a report for you.

Last night our strongest recorded wind gust was 46 knots. That’s the strongest I recorded, but they're only measurements taken whenever I felt a gust of wind, so they could be stronger.

Currently we’re using a storm sail tied down with a shock cord, we're thinking of running closed reach. Right now the wind is about 60 degrees of the port bow. Occasionally the sail lifts too much and tucks sometimes.

Although we have been pushed away quite a bit from the Australian continent, we have finally arrived where the northerly current flows and we’ll be able to finally turn north. Let’s hope we can continue now without having to try too hard". - Yasu