Heg. Essential, as Ozsailor said, Alan Lucas' book needs to be crammed. It's dead easy reading. Keep in mind the fact that not only will you be likely to have Nor'easters on the nose for most of your allotted time window but also the East
Australia Current, flowing N to S for the whole trip.
What the eac means is that if you do run with a southerly, the wind over current effect can mean that a bit of slop is to be expected. (southerly set to the current, wind coming from the south going in northerly direction.
Clearly you have a good boat which should be well prepared upon delivery, but make sure that
you have THE one most important thing apart from
water tight hulls, namely, great ground tackle.
And my personal opinion of great ground tackle is
1. New gen/state of the art
anchor. i.e. Manson Supreme or
Rocna or Ultra, Spade. (not
stainless steel because it
work hardens and you don't want the cogniscenti laughing at you.
Given that shortly you'll be heading into the wide blue yonder at some time or another you
MUST acquire the right pick. If I had to guess I'd say that a 55 lbRocna/manson/ultra/
spade is a starting point. In case you don't know, there is no such thing as too big an
anchor.
2. At least 3/8 " chain should do the job but better brains than mine might say 1/2".
And I would think that 60 metres is minimum. PWB (oz made, will not rust for years).
3. A damned good
windlass. The length of you boat doesn't need 24 volts, 12 is fine.
4. Ignore people trying to sell you
Lewmar Delta anchors, they drag in mud. No Bruce, no
CQR. An anchor, for you intended use, has to be concave in shape. Convex drags when
chips are down.
Plenty of help on CF yours for the asking.
Remember,
cheap is often seriously expensive in the long run.
Only your own confidence will dictate if you need a skipper.
And as you're still cutting your teeth....... N O N I G H T E N T R I E S.