Russel Island, Rocky Point Power Lines

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by Smooth Cruiser

0.8m - but there is good water near the pylon.

(I have a catamaran.)

Yea you guys can go anywhere!!

So just to see I calculated the height of the mast on a 25 degree heel and it works out to 21.3m. The added benefit is that our 7' draught would be reduced to 6' 4". Still couldn't get into 1770 though. lol

I envy you guys in the cats sometimes.

[2Wind]

Just some recent experience:

My air draught is 21.5m - 2m less than yours.
We crossed just east of the westward pylon on the bottom third of the tide.
I had a brave crew member up the mast head to visually check on clearances (his choice, not mine).
We had 2.5m or more water draught in the vacinity (the shallowest parts of the trip south where you will need the advantage of tide are just south of the "S" bend at NW Russel Island, and more so at the crossover 27' 47.0179S 153' 23.5487)
My masthead mate reported that it would have been uncomfortably close should we have been mid channel where the wire sag is greatest (20.3m plus "safety margin" at HUT), but that we very comfortably cleared being close to the pylon. His view was that there was sufficient clearance that I would not need to take the tide specifically into consideration on future passes. I cannot guarantee that we had 2+m more clearance, but I would be confident we did. There looks to be significantly more that 5-6m in catenary curve.

If in doubt, do as I did - find a nimble mate who like heights and living dangerously!

[PaulinOz]

Our air draft is 23.5 meters plus extra 1.8 meters of aerials on top. Draft 1.4 meters. I use the Western Channel heading South from the lateral mark prior to power lines steer directly at Western Tower when 3 meters away turn to Port towards the next mark past the power lines have been 4 times still here to tell the tail, from memory the depth was about 2 to 3 meters at a low tide of .7 meters.

If the depth is the worry, anchor before the power lines and take dinghy and a lead line and go old school and sound out the area so you know you have enough depth. You will be worrying enough about what is above you so you need to be confident that you are OK for depth.

[peter57]

You are new to this very tricky area with 7' draft as I my old draft was 7'1" and spent many a time dried out missing the peak of high tide south of Jacob's Well near Dinner island and only attempted on spring tides, done this for ten years 60' air draft and no problems at the power wires. Lots of timing and heart in your mouth an touching bottom in a few spots but if you are not at Jacobs Well or if you madder at the shoaling sands at dead high
tide forget it.
Do yourself and heart a favor do a pleasure sail around Morton Is. inside Flinders and down to the Goldie.

Cheers.

[undercutter]

So we are still alive to tell the tale after passing under the power lines. We stayed tight to the western tower, <50', and I am sure that we had 10m clearance or more. This on a tide which was around .7m.

When we passed through the narrow channel heading to Jacobs Well we had just over a foot of water under the keel. Now I am wondering how tight it is moving southward. Looks like 3 tight spots, 1st just on the southeast corner of Kangaroo Island and 2 in the channel north of Woogoompah Island.

Anyone know where the best water is through these spots?

The recommended route over the first spot north of the Calypso marina cut and the second look all right, The last one at 27 36.932S, 153 24.227E marked by the port lateral can looks to me like it would be better going south of the can instead of North through that little cut. Looks like there a piles marked just south of the can but seems to be lots of room. Anyone care to share.

[peter57]

Originally Posted by undercutter

So we are still alive to tell the tale after passing under the power lines. We stayed tight to the western tower, <50', and I am sure that we had 10m clearance or more. This on a tide which was around .7m.

When we passed through the narrow channel heading to Jacobs Well we had just over a foot of water under the keel. Now I am wondering how tight it is moving southward. Looks like 3 tight spots, 1st just on the southeast corner of Kangaroo Island and 2 in the channel north of Woogoompah Island.

Anyone know where the best water is through these spots?

The recommended route over the first spot north of the Calypso marina cut and the second look all right, The last one at 27 36.932S, 153 24.227E marked by the port lateral can looks to me like it would be better going south of the can instead of North through that little cut. Looks like there a piles marked just south of the can but seems to be lots of room. Anyone care to share.

The last time through the passage at Woomgoompah island for me with just over 7" draft was 2002 but I will say that this was not passable until around 1994 when they dredged it. It was not marked very well then where it is the shallowest, keep close to the island as there is a bank mid channel. I would only go through there on spring tide, near the top of and never touched bottom. Plus not touching anywhere else to the Gold Coast.

Before the dredging shoaling sands was always drama filled experience hanging plastic Jerry cans of water on the boom, swung max out and full steam and bouncing the bottom. Got stuck once though and had to use the halyard and a big stinky the next day after an uncomfortable night. After this it was always the outside until the dredging at Woomgoompah island.

My suggestion is use the springs, early next week in the morning and ride the tide to the Goldie.

[undercutter]

Thanks Peter,

While we are hanging around here for the next day or so waiting for the water we will take the dinghy and go have a look around. Will do some soundings through these areas just to see where the deepest water is. Should be good fun anyway (the wife is already shaking her head) as the water is flat.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Undercutter,

The area near the old sand loader on Woog. island has been dredged fairly recently. We last transited the area in Aug 2015, and timing it to arrive there around local high water found a minimum of around 8 1/2 feet. This was not on a spring tide, either. Our practice there is to stay roughly a boat length off each mark, and then aim at a similar distance off the next one... seems to work ok.

Now, a query for you: when you transited the overhead cables near the W tower, what route did you use and what were the depths? We don't need to do that with our mast, but would like to know "just in case"!

Jim

[peter57]

Originally Posted by undercutter

Thanks Peter,

While we are hanging around here for the next day or so waiting for the water we will take the dinghy and go have a look around. Will do some soundings through these areas just to see where the deepest water is. Should be good fun anyway (the wife is already shaking her head) as the water is flat.

Good news from Jim! I would still go at the top of the tide for plenty of clearance for the rest of it and get pulled to you destination.

[undercutter]

Here is a picture of the route we took at Rocky Point. The least water we saw was about 10.5' on a 2.5' tide.

[undercutter]

So we decided to do some exploring down the channel from Jacobs Well in the dinghy, just to see you know. The Mrs. wasn't impressed as it started to rain and the wind got up a bit. 30 minutes into it the winds died off and the shoals either side took care of the chop east of Dinner Island.

We started out 1 hr before a 2.5' low tide and finished up around 1 hr after. The skinniest water we found was crossing over the bank at 27 47.011S, 153 23.532E which was 8'. So about 5.5 at LAT. Shoaling from 1/3rd the distance between the markers so the centre third was good.

Looked like a minimum 10' with the tide if you kept 50 - 100 ft off the lateral markers south of Kangaroo Island except crossing the above bar of course. Approaching the North Cardinal Mark there is lots of water close to the Port Hand Markers and lots of depth to swing wide around the NCM mentioned to swing around southward. Once in the southward channel keep to Starboard Markers throughout following the radius eastward between the 2nd and 3rd markers south of the turn. It shoals quickly if your encroach on the westward side after the 1st Port Hand marker.

After sounding through the channel I am fairly confident that we could navigate through here easily on a 1 m tide. Of course the wife also thought the whole thing was ridiculous as she stated, "just keep it between the markers" and it appears she was right. I'll run a track when we go to post here just in case anyone is interested.

[Aussie Al]

We have just passed through with a Leopard 46 with a mast height of 21.5 plus ariels we used the south side and had lots of clearance

[JPA Cate]

Thank you, Aussie Al.

Umm, did you figure out the clearance above your antennas? We came through there today, with an air draft of ~20.5m., roughly 68 ft., if I got it right.



Ann

[Ubiquity]

For Catamaran owners there is a good option. I have a 1.6 m draft and a 28.8m mast height. the power lines from main land to Russell is. and then onto Nth Stradbroke are rated at a HAT of 20 m. By using Canipa passage and sailing as close to the shore as possible at HIGH tide, we cleared the lines by over 2.5 m. I had my lovely partner eyeball the wires from the top of the mast, stopping and bringing her down before passing under. In regards to arcing. electricity arcs at about 100mm per 10,000v. These lines are 30,000v , therefore would arc less than 300mm. I hope this assists.

[aberglas]

Great to know that people have gotten under with 28.8m mast. And no posts from anyone that did not make it :-(.


One thing I do is know that my 10cm finger on my 60cm arm sights to 10m at 60m away. So if I can fit my finger safely under the wire at 120m I am hopefully OK.