Sailing from Townsville to Sydney

[nautilee]

Hi IP40
I have IP440 on Gold Coast.
IP's are gaining awareness now in Australia and they are wonderful cruising boats and excellent at crossing oceans - Many circumnavigate, mostly starting in USA.
There is a small IP group out of the GC and Brisbane that occasionally keeps in contact. If you would like to know more, please message me.

[Moana Bella]

Hate to be a killjoy and mention insurance. Its an awesome trip and hope you enjoy it.
BUT, before you set out, my advice is to check your insurance policy and the associated hurricane clause that will be in effect now until 1st May. VERY CAREFULLY, and ask questions if you have them.
Our hurricane clause kicks in north of 26.5 degrees, which is around Caloundra. Not to say don't travel at that time, but you need to know exactly what risks you are up for while evaluating your various options for dodging named storms.
AND, read your policy carefully. I was in Townsville when I found out we were no longer covered for "Australia North".
Aparently a certain insurance company made an assumption and removed that part from our policy just because we happened to be passing through our land based home town down south, as we renewed the policy. We always said, and had the policy endorsed "permanently cruising", but even so, they jumped to a conclusion without asking any questions. But still attached the hurricane clause to the policy, just to distract us. Mmm...
Luckily no damage was done along route to Townsville, so the policy got fixed up without a big ****fight. Could have been very sticky if I hadn't asked the question though, and we had an accident.

[jipcho]

The stretch from Hervey Bay (Bundy) down to Tin Can Bay via the Great Sandy Straits is worthwhile, and beautiful, though timing the tides correctly is essential. Then from Inskip point down to Moloolaba is a good run. Also, from Brizzy down to Southport can be done using the inside channels. In NSW, Yamba (the Clarence river) is protected and easy to get in and out.

Have a great sail!

[Twoskippies]

Hi Morph, sorry this is a late reply.I am on the Central Coast, mooring at Ettalong.
I have a 35’ Pescott Summerhaven which started life as a Summersalt.
If you want to compare notes and boats let me know. (Peter on 0422221825)
Everything regarding your trip seems to have been covered above, however I suggest you drop in to Laurieton (Camden Haven) of your way south. It’s a beautiful river, an easy bar crossing, and the local club up the river near the public moorings has a free hot shower etc.
You will enjoy the trip south for sure 👍

[RaymondR]

Cyclones south of about Gladstone are very rare although not unknown.

Queensland's cyclones are generally generated in the Coral Sea or over towards New Cal and, provided one keeps an eye on them, provide plenty of time to flee to a cringe hole.

[Dan Morton]

Phil I’ve 2 seasons Brisbane to Whitsundays now and my advice is don’t sail to a schedule sail to conditions and pay professional subscription to PredictWind and plan ahead, thanks Dan on Muscat 7, 38ft LW 😊

[clownfishsydney]

Originally Posted by Kit_L

Joining this thread to be part of all this excellent advice. My 2¢'s worth:

Shellharbour Marina, where we are presently, has a protective, longer northern arm/breakwater which might help getting in safely in some conditions (the water inside is almost completely flat, and is protected from southerlies by Bass Point). Excellent local bars and restaurants, too, and comprehensive supermarkets, etc., for resupplying.

Actual name is Shell Cove Marina, and is well south of his proposed travel.

[Sheer Pleasure]

Phil,

The first thing is that I do not sail overnight unless I have to, so bearing that in mind you have Cape Bowling Green but it is very flat

Cape Upstart is a great place to pull into, in my yacht it took 12 hours in some good breeze I am sure you could do it in less (it is croc country)
Bowen maybe your next option or you could push on to Cape Gloucester and pick up a mooring from the resort
Then Airlie Beach it’s about 27nm check your insurance as you may not have any insurance if you are on a mooring or on your own anchor off Airlie or Shut harbour
Then gradually island hop if you have the time but remember the Whitsundays has tide variations of up to 8 metres at times
So more chain is best
Mackay is good, then a good days sail to middle percy where the A frame hut is with all the visiting boats names are placed
If you go into Port Clinton which is a wilderness and also a military training area you need to check for live firing dates with the coast guard
The Duke islands are nice
Anyway enjoy the trip but do your research there are lots of good publications to help
Hope this helped

[Apollo19.5]

Big difference between delivering a boat and cruising it. Difference in attitude and tactics. Ann's post summed it up pretty well.

[Morph]

Thank you again everyone. There is a huge amount of great suggestions. The insurance point was a good one-- I am just negotiating with my insurance people on just how many gold bars I have to pay so will keep an eye on this. We hope to kick off in late Feb to head south and will indeed upgrade our Predict Wind subscription. Phil

[Morph]

Hi Everyone, here is an update of the trip we did which got us from Townsville to Bundaberg. Firstly we lost 48 hours after I fell on one of the tillers (when a line suddenly let go) and I literally smashed it in half... So off to buy fibreglass and epoxy and thankfully the marina had a work space where I could rebuild it. After refitting the now far stronger tiller we took off, breaking all the rules of sailing to a deadline. And of course this was on a boat that we had only sailed once before. We sailed through the night from Townsville and of course it was all on the nose. Thankfully she goes to windward like a train with two long daggerboards. Not the most comfortable but she handled it just fine, including landing a wonderful mackerel that jumped on the lure. the first night was fine until a 1am squall came through with horozontal rain and ~30 knot winds. We were already reefed down and again she handled it just fine- alas my wet weather gear was found to be wanting. Finally we go to Double Bay (just north of Airlie) and slept. The next let was a glorious sail through the whitsundays down to Thomas Island-- wonderful glorious sail that had us in the southern end for the night. The next day we took off at lunchtime to sail to the Percy's-- we started off sitting on 8-9 knots and ended up having to slow down through the night as I did not want to sail into a bay that I did not know in the dark-- got there at 6am. Explored the island for a few hours and then took off at 3pm to head to Bundy. Two nights later we got there with a screaming shy reach 10-11 knots into 1-2m seas into the harbour entrance-- the adrenaline was flying. Again most of the trip was on the nose, but the seas were generally fairly low and we always threw a reef in at night. The only things that did now work was the anchor winch and a dinghy that tried to abandon ship at (again)1am when one of the davit lines broke. Very pleased with the performance of the boat, the systems are very good-- although I am not a fan of single line reefing-- will probably convert to double line slab reefing.
Phil

[ChrisJHC]

It’s very unusual that you had a couple of things go wrong at 1am - everything bad usually happens at 3am!

[RaymondR]

The stretch into the harbour down the nav channel into Burnet Heads is often the wildest part of that trip and it's a great relief to gain the lee if the breakwater. The next bit with a potential for excitement is the Wide Bay Bar.

[Morph]

Yup, that passage will start just before Easter-- will be studying Predict wind closely.



Does anyone know anything about mobile phone boosters for the Australian Coast?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Morph

Yup, that passage will start just before Easter-- will be studying Predict wind closely.



Does anyone know anything about mobile phone boosters for the Australian Coast?

Those that have them swear by Cel-Fi Go. We have an unboosted mobile antenna at the masthead connected to a router with SIM card. Works pretty good as long as there is line of sight with a tower and as an example 1 bar of signal at Lady Musgrave, while a next door boat with Cel-Fi Go had 3 bars.

We installed Starlink RV (now Roam) in Brisbane and now have uninterrupted high speed internet 100% of the time. Coming down the NSW coast (day hops or single overnights only) the mobile connection dropped out at least 50% of the time. Cel-Fi Go users report near 100% coverage.

If you’re staying in Australia and already have a data SIM with one of the big three then Cel-Fi Go is probably the best solution for you. But if you’re starting from scratch and can afford the 60W-80W power draw then Starlink Roam offers better coverage, speed and capacity. It would of course be an extra subscription in addition to your regular mobile, so probably a bit more expensive. We’re leaving Australia later this year so Cel-Fi Go didn’t make sense for us.