Newbie to circumnavigate Australia, looking for advice

[SVPP]

Good for you. It is a great plan. Totally achievable in the time you have allowed to prepare.

The Plan:

I owned a 42’ cat for a number of years – best boat I ever owned. And next year am selling our mono and am getting another one. Truthfully our cat was the only boat my wife really enjoyed.

Anticlockwise is the correct direction so make sure you time your time up North with the cyclone season. Also download and get used to working with online weather sources. Try to get an appreciation for what they are predicting and how accurate it is with what you are seeing. When they are different try understand why. Start with looking at BOM.gov.au, willy weather. Etc. Later move onto paid services like predict wind. These systems have weather routing function that suggest the safest route.

South Pacific is a great place to take your adventure but workout how to be in and out for the cyclone season.

Lack of experience fades quickly when you are actually doing it. Take small steps and you will be fine.

Experience.

I would advise against buying an small boat. That boat will take time and most likely be an expensive way to learn how to sail a boat that isn’t close to what you want to end up with.

Join the local yacht club. Put your name on the crew list and sail for free on lots of different boats. If you fall out with an owner, choose not to sail with them. If you fall out with the club, join another club. Social membership is usually cheap.

You don’t need a boat licence if your boat goes less than 8 knots and is less than about 75feet – crazy I know. But get one anyway because your best asset on a catamaran is a fast dinghy. You will need a licence for that.

Crewseekers.net and findacrew.net are worth a look also. Some people will pay for you help them move their bot watch out - some of these people are hard task masters. And really do you want to be someone's employee when you are really just trying work out if sailing is your thing?


But don’t think that by learning the Service NSW boating handbook back to front that the list of nav rules listed in that publication will really any of your questions.

Good start having booked 5 days of liveaboard training to get a day skipper license. Many of the people running these courses are top notch. Look at trip advisor to find what people think who sailed with them previously.

I would recommend you both do a first aid course. You both need that information as you wont know which one of you may need it. Carry a First Aid Kit. Open it often, check the use by dates. Know what is in there.

Maintenance Experience:

Great point. Learning by doing: you can get lots of experience here by coming over and working on my boat

You have relevant experience already – probably more than most. A boat consists of about 14 different trades so most people don’t have the skills to fix everything all the time. . You won’t be able to fix everything yourself. Just learn enough fix the easy stuff: 12V wiring (buy a multimeter and learn how to use the basic functions) , fault finding the engine ie change oil and fuel filters, how to mix up epoxy and run an epoxy fillet, fixing deck gear and anchor issues. Often you just need to know enough to understand when you are getting ripped off by someone you engaged to help you. Most help is free so give freely and get humbly. But one day you will need help and also be proactive to offer help to others. If you are a half decent human being you will make friends on the way and learn how we all help each other out.



The Pets:

I have no idea sorry. My dog is 12 and once was great onboard but I wouldn’t take to sea for any extended period with this great mutt. Others do, but not us.

The Internet:

Think about getting a Satphone for email and weather – data is a lot cheaper if you buy a plan. Mostly you will use 5G and your VHF for weather when you are out of range. Offshore, you can use a HF Radio and a Pactor modem for email and weather but personally these systems are a bit slow a bit of a pain to setup and operate. Some people love them – I am not a fan . The HF is handy though for talking to other yachts. A good safety device also but I wouldn’t want it as my primary source of weather data. You will need a new email address that you only give to loved ones and ensure they don’t send you files with rich HTML and massive attachments. There are ways to filter these things out but just beware that email addresses that accept lots of SPAM will cost you a fortune on a Sat phone.

Also fit a long distance WIFI antenna on your mast connected to a internet WIF router.

Silly questions:

There are none

Newcastle has massive resources for yachts. It has one of the best marinas on the East coast. It is no longer a sleepy fishing town where you need to raft up to a fishing boat that wants to leave harbour at 3am.

On a cat, you can anchor in the best spots due to your lack of draft. You will often want to anchor as your preferred way of mooring. Anchoring gives you more options and keeps you away from the maddening crowds. Assuming you have good anchoring system: seek a sheltered spot and account for where the wind will be during your stay, try to go for somewhere in close out of the rolling waves, you ensure you enough water (allow for tide), opt always to anchor in sand, turn your anchor on at the switchboard, make sure you have your engine running as these winches chew a lot of power, use the deck switch or remote(if you have one) and lower the anchor. Put on your anchor snubber (google it) Put out a lot of chain but beware of surrounding boats so if the wind changes you don’t want to get tangled up with some other vessel. You really want as much chain out as it is safe to lay. Take sight to ensure you aren’t “drifting” . Set your anchor alarm. Sleep like a baby.

You never need to pay to anchor in Australia. You can’t anchor everywhere though so check your chart. Overseas you often do need to pay but not here.

Try to take your dinghy to a wharf owned by a club. If you need to leave it moored off a beach take the kill switch dongle with you and padlock the outboard to the transom. Sometimes you need to pull it up on a beach so think about installing a decent set of wheels on the boat.

My dinghy has my boats name engraved in the side. I did this neatly with a hot knife. If you have an inflatable dinghy, think about spraying your yachts name on it somewhere and try never to have a brand new looking boat that is the pick of a bunch. Don’t leave stuff in your dinghy. Take a back pack for items like sunglasses, snorkelling gear etc.


In Australia, it is highly unlikely someone is going to come onboard and steal your laptop. It could happen but I do have a camera on board and I advertise the fact.

Go for it. It is a great plan. What you learn

[MichSn]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

If that was "Gypsy Moth II" I believe it was sailed onto Gabo Island by the wind vane self steering gear. Gabo Island is off the north coast of Victoria or maybe southern New South Wales on the east coast of Aistralia.

However Western Australia has it's fair share of ship wrecks.

What is the reason for those ship wrecks? Small islands and shallow water in between them?

[MichSn]

Thank you everyone for all the responses. I have started studying websites as advised here, looking for the literature and will go visit a few clubs on the weekend or Friday.

Thanks for the book offer @picklesandjesse . I prefer electronic books, and if i don't find this one, i would deffo contact you

[Moana Bella]

Hi Michael
Its a good plan, and you shouldn't listen to the naysayers who just lack familiarity with sailing boats. Once you start to mix with sailors you will find they think your plan perfectly normal.
The RYA Day Skipper course is great, but I think you will find it a bit much as the first-off thing you do. Usually you would start with Start Yachting and Competent Crew, before having to tackle navigation, tides etc. I have done all 3 of these plus the RYA Day Skipper theory/navigation course. Maybe I am dumb, but I would not have passed the Day Skipper course without some experience and prior learning. And I would not have got so much out of Day Skipper live aboard without doing the Day Skipper theory first. Navigation is extremely important to long distance cruising, so don't skimp on the learning. And it's not something you learn much of from people at the yacht club. The day racers don't really know that much about it.

You will also need the Radio Operators certificate of competence to operate a VHF and/or HF radios in Australian waters. Do the combined course if you can, just in case you buy a boat with HF radio. (they will all have VHF, so that one is a given)
Someone else mentioned SSSC the safety course - definitely both of you do that one. Its very valuable learning, and if you race offshore in Australia, there needs to be a certain % of crew on board who have this certificate, depending on the category of race.
I believe you also need a recreational boat licence in all states of Australia if you are the skipper.
As for practical experience - YES you definitely need to start sailing ASAP.
Don't wait until you have a boat as you will choose more wisely if you have some experience before you buy. Look for racing boats at the yacht clubs, as they are always needing crew. Cats and monos - all good experience.
There are plenty of yacht clubs in Melbourne. Royal Melbourne, Sandringham, Brighton, Geelong etc. And the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria run some excellent off shore passage races for people wanting to head out long distance. You should check them out whichever club you choose so you get practice on long passages.

And add to your list of books, Cruising Victoria by Cruising Yacht Association of Victoria - can be ordered online from Boat Books. Gives heaps of details about navigating Victorian coast, ports, anchorages and of course famous "The Rip" at the entrance to Pt Phillip Bay. Don't try that one without good advice.
Good luck - enjoy your sailing.

[Lucky Luke 1]

Originally Posted by SVPP

p.

You don’t need a boat licence if your boat goes less than 8 knots and is less than about 75feet – crazy I know.

Just like to point out that that's state dependent. In Tas a motor boat licence is required to operate a vessel 4hp or more (except for a hire and drive vessel).

WA used to have a license for life, one fee and that's it. Unlike must states were its a yearly cost. not sure if thats still how it works but a mate of mine has one and i hate him every year. lol.

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by MichSn

Hello guys,

Maintenance Experience:

- Is there a way to somehow get hands-on maintenance experience without owning a boat?

Hello Michael and welcome to the forum!

Lots of questions! But it shows that you're seriously interested in this lifestyle, that's an important start!

As for maintenance experience, I can offer you lots of that on my 45' steel sloop, which is moored on the Lane Cove river, Hunters Hill. Oil change, re-building the head, building a new fridge, cleaning the hull, climbing the mast as often as you want (it's 17 m), grinding away on deck, painting and more...

Having said that, we can also go out sailing in between all the fun! What I noticed with all the guests and friends I had on board in the last 10 years, is going out The Heads quickly separates the wheat from the chuff.

So PM me if you want to chat over the phone.

Too bad my website is down ATM, the hosting provider in France had a big fire last week. Otherwise you could've seen some pics upfront.

[Moana Bella]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke 1

Just like to point out that that's state dependent. In Tas a motor boat licence is required to operate a vessel 4hp or more (except for a hire and drive vessel).

WA used to have a license for life, one fee and that's it. Unlike must states were its a yearly cost. not sure if thats still how it works but a mate of mine has one and i hate him every year. lol.

LOL, yes I too have a boat licence which is good for life (South Australia). Its nearly 30 years old now, so thank goodness they brought in electronic licences. My trusty old piece of paper is getting a bit tatty by now. And they won't give you a new one!
Sounds like it would be a good idea to get an Australian boat licence, if you are cruising around Australia, to cover you for whatever vessels you find yourself driving, in whichever state cares about that type of thing.
In SA you need a licence for any boat with an engine - any size boat, any size engine - whether or not you are using the engine.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Moana Bella

Hi Michael
Its a good plan, and you shouldn't listen to the naysayers who just lack familiarity with sailing boats. Once you start to mix with sailors you will find they think your plan perfectly normal.
The RYA Day Skipper course is great, but I think you will find it a bit much as the first-off thing you do. Usually you would start with Start Yachting and Competent Crew, before having to tackle navigation, tides etc. I have done all 3 of these plus the RYA Day Skipper theory/navigation course. Maybe I am dumb, but I would not have passed the Day Skipper course without some experience and prior learning. And I would not have got so much out of Day Skipper live aboard without doing the Day Skipper theory first. Navigation is extremely important to long distance cruising, so don't skimp on the learning. And it's not something you learn much of from people at the yacht club. The day racers don't really know that much about it.

You will also need the Radio Operators certificate of competence to operate a VHF and/or HF radios in Australian waters. Do the combined course if you can, just in case you buy a boat with HF radio. (they will all have VHF, so that one is a given)
Someone else mentioned SSSC the safety course - definitely both of you do that one. Its very valuable learning, and if you race offshore in Australia, there needs to be a certain % of crew on board who have this certificate, depending on the category of race.
I believe you also need a recreational boat licence in all states of Australia if you are the skipper.
As for practical experience - YES you definitely need to start sailing ASAP.
Don't wait until you have a boat as you will choose more wisely if you have some experience before you buy. Look for racing boats at the yacht clubs, as they are always needing crew. Cats and monos - all good experience.
There are plenty of yacht clubs in Melbourne. Royal Melbourne, Sandringham, Brighton, Geelong etc. And the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria run some excellent off shore passage races for people wanting to head out long distance. You should check them out whichever club you choose so you get practice on long passages.

And add to your list of books, Cruising Victoria by Cruising Yacht Association of Victoria - can be ordered online from Boat Books. Gives heaps of details about navigating Victorian coast, ports, anchorages and of course famous "The Rip" at the entrance to Pt Phillip Bay. Don't try that one without good advice.
Good luck - enjoy your sailing.

Good stuff!

[Moana Bella]

Originally Posted by MichSn

What is the reason for those ship wrecks? Small islands and shallow water in between them?

LOL, not enough water under the keel, or too much water inside the boat.
The Australian coast is littered with shipwrecks.
Mostly they are pretty old. Remember there were no charts until people charted the coast, and boats did not used to have engines, GPS, sonar, radar, AIS or even VHF radios. And traditionally sailors did not learn to swim, or wear life vests.
Even now, there are a lot of uncharted hazards and areas of Australia that were last charted by Captain Cook. Albeit with some recent updates via satellite.
I know of a boat in SA last year that was wrecked on an uncharted rock in a fairly popular anchorage. Luckily there were other boats there to take the crew, and nobody was hurt. Rock has since been charted by one of those boats - they were pretty traumatised by it, as was the poor owner of the wrecked boat. He is now done with sail boats. He's racing blow-carts nowadays and sticking to land sailing.
You really gotta watch out, and it sometimes still requires some luck.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

If that was "Gypsy Moth II" I believe it was sailed onto Gabo Island by the wind vane self steering gear. Gabo Island is off the north coast of Victoria or maybe southern New South Wales on the east coast of Aistralia.

However Western Australia has it's fair share of ship wrecks.

Gabo Island is about 5 Nmiles from the bottom east corner of Australia,
Near Green Cape,
Its the far east corner of Victoria,
The bottom of NSW,

It has a good reef for mooring 100 feet from the cliffs half way between the lighthouse and the end of the Island,
Spent four days anchored there last week to avoid a Gale blowing thru,

Cheers, Brian,

[ilenart]

Hi Michael,

lots of good answers already so I wont bother with items already addressed. I’m planning on heading around Oz later this year, (COVID willing!) and I’m planning anti clockwise as well. For communication I have purchased a Iridium Go for isolated areas (ie most of WA, NT and accross the GAB) plus I have purchased the Telstra compatible Cell-Fi cellular booster for everywhere else. Forget about trying to have online meetings unless you are next to a major town or city. Iridium Go is voice and data at about 2.4 kbps (and no that is not a mistake). To get a satelite system for business (ie regular email, sending photos etc) would cost $1,000 of $.

Good luck, Ilenart

[Gerrycooper56]

World Cruising Routes would be a very good book to buy.

[Gerrycooper56]

Originally Posted by SVPP

Good for you. It is a great plan. Totally achievable in the time you have allowed to prepare.

The Plan:

I owned a 42’ cat for a number of years – best boat I ever owned. And next year am selling our mono and am getting another one. Truthfully our cat was the only boat my wife really enjoyed.

Anticlockwise is the correct direction so make sure you time your time up North with the cyclone season. Also download and get used to working with online weather sources. Try to get an appreciation for what they are predicting and how accurate it is with what you are seeing. When they are different try understand why. Start with looking at BOM.gov.au, willy weather. Etc. Later move onto paid services like predict wind. These systems have weather routing function that suggest the safest route.

South Pacific is a great place to take your adventure but workout how to be in and out for the cyclone season.

Lack of experience fades quickly when you are actually doing it. Take small steps and you will be fine.

Experience.

I would advise against buying an small boat. That boat will take time and most likely be an expensive way to learn how to sail a boat that isn’t close to what you want to end up with.

Join the local yacht club. Put your name on the crew list and sail for free on lots of different boats. If you fall out with an owner, choose not to sail with them. If you fall out with the club, join another club. Social membership is usually cheap.

You don’t need a boat licence if your boat goes less than 8 knots and is less than about 75feet – crazy I know. But get one anyway because your best asset on a catamaran is a fast dinghy. You will need a licence for that.

Crewseekers.net and findacrew.net are worth a look also. Some people will pay for you help them move their bot watch out - some of these people are hard task masters. And really do you want to be someone's employee when you are really just trying work out if sailing is your thing?


But don’t think that by learning the Service NSW boating handbook back to front that the list of nav rules listed in that publication will really any of your questions.

Good start having booked 5 days of liveaboard training to get a day skipper license. Many of the people running these courses are top notch. Look at trip advisor to find what people think who sailed with them previously.

I would recommend you both do a first aid course. You both need that information as you wont know which one of you may need it. Carry a First Aid Kit. Open it often, check the use by dates. Know what is in there.

Maintenance Experience:

Great point. Learning by doing: you can get lots of experience here by coming over and working on my boat

You have relevant experience already – probably more than most. A boat consists of about 14 different trades so most people don’t have the skills to fix everything all the time. . You won’t be able to fix everything yourself. Just learn enough fix the easy stuff: 12V wiring (buy a multimeter and learn how to use the basic functions) , fault finding the engine ie change oil and fuel filters, how to mix up epoxy and run an epoxy fillet, fixing deck gear and anchor issues. Often you just need to know enough to understand when you are getting ripped off by someone you engaged to help you. Most help is free so give freely and get humbly. But one day you will need help and also be proactive to offer help to others. If you are a half decent human being you will make friends on the way and learn how we all help each other out.



The Pets:

I have no idea sorry. My dog is 12 and once was great onboard but I wouldn’t take to sea for any extended period with this great mutt. Others do, but not us.

The Internet:

Think about getting a Satphone for email and weather – data is a lot cheaper if you buy a plan. Mostly you will use 5G and your VHF for weather when you are out of range. Offshore, you can use a HF Radio and a Pactor modem for email and weather but personally these systems are a bit slow a bit of a pain to setup and operate. Some people love them – I am not a fan . The HF is handy though for talking to other yachts. A good safety device also but I wouldn’t want it as my primary source of weather data. You will need a new email address that you only give to loved ones and ensure they don’t send you files with rich HTML and massive attachments. There are ways to filter these things out but just beware that email addresses that accept lots of SPAM will cost you a fortune on a Sat phone.

Also fit a long distance WIFI antenna on your mast connected to a internet WIF router.

Silly questions:

There are none

Newcastle has massive resources for yachts. It has one of the best marinas on the East coast. It is no longer a sleepy fishing town where you need to raft up to a fishing boat that wants to leave harbour at 3am.

On a cat, you can anchor in the best spots due to your lack of draft. You will often want to anchor as your preferred way of mooring. Anchoring gives you more options and keeps you away from the maddening crowds. Assuming you have good anchoring system: seek a sheltered spot and account for where the wind will be during your stay, try to go for somewhere in close out of the rolling waves, you ensure you enough water (allow for tide), opt always to anchor in sand, turn your anchor on at the switchboard, make sure you have your engine running as these winches chew a lot of power, use the deck switch or remote(if you have one) and lower the anchor. Put on your anchor snubber (google it) Put out a lot of chain but beware of surrounding boats so if the wind changes you don’t want to get tangled up with some other vessel. You really want as much chain out as it is safe to lay. Take sight to ensure you aren’t “drifting” . Set your anchor alarm. Sleep like a baby.

You never need to pay to anchor in Australia. You can’t anchor everywhere though so check your chart. Overseas you often do need to pay but not here.

Try to take your dinghy to a wharf owned by a club. If you need to leave it moored off a beach take the kill switch dongle with you and padlock the outboard to the transom. Sometimes you need to pull it up on a beach so think about installing a decent set of wheels on the boat.

My dinghy has my boats name engraved in the side. I did this neatly with a hot knife. If you have an inflatable dinghy, think about spraying your yachts name on it somewhere and try never to have a brand new looking boat that is the pick of a bunch. Don’t leave stuff in your dinghy. Take a back pack for items like sunglasses, snorkelling gear etc.


In Australia, it is highly unlikely someone is going to come onboard and steal your laptop. It could happen but I do have a camera on board and I advertise the fact.

Go for it. It is a great plan. What you learn

In some parts of the world having your boat name on your dink isn’t a good idea - lets the nefarious know if a boat at anchor is attended or not.

[CaptainChuck2]

Just take it a day at a time. You will learn something every day. Have fun . . .



Captain Chuck

[deepwaterport]

Joining a race boat as crew, eg twilight sailing or Saturday can quickly improve sailing skills. Most skippers are happy to have reliable bodies that can pull on a rope (sheet). Are you in Sydney? I'll pm you.