Cruising Queensland Coast FEB 2012-New member

[Gemini369]

Hi All,
Just joined this site this morning. Have recently bought my first yacht which is hugely exciting and am about to collect her in Cairns NQ, and sail her down the coast(I know, into the trade winds), to Noosa. Would be good to hear from any other yachties who have experience in sailing this region. It is a trailerable yacht so if a cyclone springs up out of the blue, the boat goes on the trailer. I'm in major learning mode at present re Sat Nav gear, Navigation, etc which is a lot of fun. Planning on making a small movie(personal use) about the trip so would like to hear also from anyone who's done similar. cheers. Vic

[Ozbullwinkle]

Welcome to the forum & congratulations on purchasing you boat.

Have you got a copy of Cruising the Coral Coast by Alan Lucas? If not make sure you get one. There are hundreds of creeks, bays and island anchorages on the coast during this passage and this book covers them all.

Sounds like someone will be shadowing your trip on land if you can put your boat on the trailer if the weather turns really nasty but as you will see from consulting the charts and Alan's book there are stretches of the passage where you would not be able to meet up with the trailer.

[Gemini369]

Hi Oz, Thanksfor that. I do have the Lucas book plus a few others. The trailer will stay in Cairns but no matter where I am I can get to cairns and back with car n trailer in less than 24hrs. One advantage I've been told with the Tri is if I need to retreat, I can get there fast. Just bought a Raymarine C80 so trying to work out what transducer is best(and suitable), if anyone has any clues on this. Vic
ps-Great sunset shot. I'm a keen clicker!

[Ozbullwinkle]

Vic ..have you had much prior sailing experience? Make sure that you do quite a bit of day sailing and preferably an overnighter or two out of Cairns to get the feel of your new boat before you set off to Noosa which is a damn long way in a 24 footer and don't try to push it too hard and reef early.

Make sure that you have a good anchor (Super Sarca or Sarca Excel or Manson Supreme) that you can rely on and sleep soundly while maintaining a regular watch of course. Your movie footage should be good make sure you put it on Youtube.

The Raymarine C80 is a good unit and you should use the genuine Raymarine transducer of course - did you pick it up 2nd hand without the transducer?

[Reefmagnet]

Sounds like a fantastic trip, but thats gonna be a tough gig sailing into the predominantly south easterlies. Don't forget we are heading into the peak of the cyclone season too and even a non direct hit can generate pretty 'orrible seas. I'd suggest leap frogging car/trailer and boat if possible, whilst not venturing too far offshore.

[dirkdig]

The bom.gov.au has good info on cyclone activity and wind predictions that are map based and cover 3-4 hr intervals and are quite accurate.
What i have found is sometimes the headwinds disappear at night so it can be a lot better then as opposed to bashing into it.

[Gemini369]

Hi again Oz,
Much sailing experience???Hmmm this is the sticking point! LOL
Heaps of sailing expereince in dinghies from Mirrors, cherubs, to Flying Dutchmans. However big boats and off shore, almost none. Couple of overnighters on a RL28.
And it gets worse.....
Planning on taking my dog with me. But I do have a crew from Cairns for a couple days at least. Young lady with heaps of off-shore experience, but, with a one year old baby as well. She also suggested a couple of overnight trips out from Cairns to get a feel for the boat. Boat seems very sound.It happily endured a 40+knot run from Dunk Island back to Cairns with no damage which gives me some confidence.
Have just bought a P66 RayM transducer which does all 3 functions. Bought a Evermore SA320 GPS receiver which appear by all reviews to be more accurate than the Raystar125, so hoping all will work well. C-80 and DSM250 have been checked by techo's and work well.
Thanks for the advice on the anchors. I checked them out. I have 3 small anchors so will take advice from other yachties once in Cairs when I get to see the size/weight of them. Makes sense to get a really decent lump!
Any suggestions re a Nav gold or Platinum card. Thats what I still need to get, as well as a GPS epirb. Have a personal gps pocket job.
Need charts too. Any suggestions? $30ea at my local coastguard! Wheh!!

[Gemini369]

Thanks Dirk, Won't sail at night until I'm more confident, but yes shame I've caught the SE'ers.