Brissie to Bali !?

[RamoninBali]

First time in my life possibly single handed going Brisbane - Bali.
Is it stupid to leave in Feb./March, still whilst there is Cyclone season?

I am hoping for any advice how long the trip could be with a 45 Simpson cat.
Not rushing madly, but only taking a limited number of fun breaks, eg. in Whitsundays.

Where did you anchor, refuel / take provisions?

Any help highly welcome. Thanky, Ray

[atoll]

best time would be after april when the north west monsoon has finished as after torres srt's you will have predominatly westerly head winds,with the possability of tropical storms between darwin and bali.

the east coast the wind is still generally out of the south east and you have a reasonable chance of a cyclone,but with shallow draft and good weather info refuge can be sought fairly easily.

i would expect the trip to take any thing from 3-6 weeks being very weather dependent in those months.
lots of oppertunities to get fuel and food as far as cairns,then ti,gove ,darwin are the only realistic stops ,untill indonesia,then a cruising permit might be needed for stops before bali.

[alcheringa]

I would strongly suggest you leave things until after the cyclone season. We did the trip from Cairns over to Darwin and then on through Indonesia to Malaysia starting in June 2011. We went with the Sail Indonesia Rally which did make all the bureaucratic stuff a lot easier and is well worth the Rally fee. You can see where and how we went at our blog by going back to the older posts. www.dreamtimesail.blogspot.com/

It would be worth having a look at the Sail Indonesia website to www.sailindonesia.net/

Hope this helps. It's a great trip by the way. We love that whole area.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by RamoninBali

First time in my life possibly single handed going Brisbane - Bali.
Is it stupid to leave in Feb./March, still whilst there is Cyclone season?

I am hoping for any advice how long the trip could be with a 45 Simpson cat.
Not rushing madly, but only taking a limited number of fun breaks, eg. in Whitsundays.

Where did you anchor, refuel / take provisions?

Any help highly welcome. Thanky, Ray

I wouldn't want to leave Cairns until April/May.
But it really depends on your plans after Bali - if any and the amount of time you want to spend on the Qld coast. I took 9 months from Bris to Cairns and thought we were rushing it a bit but YMMV.

There are a million places to anchor between Brissy and Darwin.
There are dozens of places to refuel and provision between Brisbane and Port Douglas.

After Port Douglas, there are limited fuel and provisions until Cape York (Thursday Island) and then Darwin. Of course Nhulunbuy [Gove] N.T. is a popular stop and great bar - so I'm told

So I suggest leave Brisbane in March planning to arrive Cairns in May and then onto Darwin by June for a July departure to Bali .

[MarkJ]

Its not a difficult trip.

Dont try it in Cyclone season. Cairns is the only reasonable place to be in Cyclone season. We nearly died in the Whitsundays when I pushed the season and got caught with a Cat 5 heading down our throats. That it veered and missed us by 60 miles was all that saved us. so dont take things lightly. Death is usually permanent.

The shipping channel is well charted both electronically and physically. I didnt single hand it but we did Lizzard Island to Darwin in one leg with 2 aboard. Its fine to sail the reef at night. Just stick to the shipping lanes.... not the outside of them either, but the middle is best as ships tend to cut the corners closer than I do!

Mark

[atoll]

any updates on the voyage?

[RamoninBali]

Hi atoll, all falls into place. I took many an advice and will leave on 20 April, not earlier,from Noosa. Crew of 5 is almost in place, although most are willing but not highly open ocean experienced. However, charts, and all usual electronic gear is on board and also a load of common sense and general sailing experience. Naturally we'll check the weather carefully. With a range of 400 nm on the fuel there is additional backup.
Much looking forward to the trip and thanks for your interest. Ray

[atoll]

be sure to post a brief account of the voyage and some photos on cf once you are finished for others who follow your wake! best of luck atoll