Summer Cruising Brisbane and Sydney

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by StuM

Nope, that's correct. the minimum depth along the lead line at last survey was 3.7 metres below LAT.

I don't know why the phrasing confused me, it just seems awkward. Since all depths on the chart are referenced to LAT, but I get it now.

The text in the referenced page talks about boats with over 1m draft having to wait for tide, but I guess this is in an area beyond the min 3.7m line.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I don't know why the phrasing confused me, it just seems awkward. Since all depths on the chart are referenced to LAT, but I get it now.

The text in the referenced page talks about boats with over 1m draft having to wait for tide, but I guess this is in an area beyond the min 3.7m line.

You can't rely on minimum charted depth when you have waves over shallows. There are plenty of holes or troughs in confused water where you can drop a long way below the notional tide level.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by StuM

You can't rely on minimum charted depth when you have waves over shallows. There are plenty of holes or troughs in confused water where you can drop a long way below the notional tide level.

+1

Of course, the minimum depth over a bar is limiting.

But the 'holes', as StuM calls them are much more limiting.

In the wrong situation (state of the tide, windwave and swell), the Wide Bay Bar becomes quite dangerous.

One of the links StuM provided (Getting over river bars safely - MySailing.com.au) helps explain the overtide phenomenon when the incoming flood tide is reinforced by reflected harmonics of the tide wave. That's behind the advice to cross in the final hours of a flood tide, once those overtides have calmed down.

And the advice not to cross on an ebb tide. The outgoing water meets the incoming swell and windwave, creating steep wave peaks and deep troughs.

Back in Sept 2003, racing yacht Belle was heading S from a race in the Whitsundays and crossed the Wide Bay Bar a few hours before low tide (i.e. on an ebbing tide, a no no) but only into a 5 - 10 knot E or SE. Belle was one of three yachts crossing the bar in a group. Dan Jenner, on the yacht just in front of Belle, snapped this photo of Belle falling off one of those sharp wave peaks on the bar and into the next trough. No damage from memory.

[Paul L]

Yes, I have plenty of respect for bar crossings. We have a few in the Pacific Northwest too. I was really trying to get an understanding of how to read the local bar descriptions like the one referenced. Every place writes their descriptions and warnings a little differently and it's hard to relate these to a bar you haven't seen when you are not familiar with the description style. This description talks about a minimum depth of 3.7m and then talks about going in on a rising mid-tide if you are more than 1 m draft. In reality I don't​ see the 1m comment as very useful. If there's a sea of any size then any draft probably ought to wait for a slack or flood.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Paul L

This description talks about a minimum depth of 3.7m and then talks about going in on a rising mid-tide if you are more than 1 m draft. In reality I don't​ see the 1m comment as very useful. If there's a sea of any size then any draft probably ought to wait for a slack or flood.

I agree with you, Paul L.

Instead of nominating a possibly arbitrary 1 metre draft to discriminate among boats, I think more sense would come from discriminating among:

* sailing keelboats with auxiliary engines;

* planing hull boats with lots of engine power on tap and often great manoeurvability from twin engines; and

* commercial fishing boats, both displacement and semi-displacement hulls, with lots of engine power on tap.

For that matter, some pundits reckon that sailing keelboats with auxiliary engines can be usefully divided into those with maximum beam forward (cod's head and mackerel tail) and those with max beam aft. Such pundits included Alan Lucas who maintained (or did so decades back) that the two hull forms behave differently when crossing a bar.

[theway]

Well, I’ve made it to Sydney and a big thanks again to all.

I cleared in at Bundaberg and made stops at...
Mooloolabah
Bribie Island
Brisbane
Gold Coast
Coffs
Port Macquarie
Camden haven
Forster
Broughton Island
Port Stephens
Newcastle
Broken bay
Then Sydney

Some useful links...

All things weather
http://www.bom.gov.au/

Bar crossing webcams!
http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/u...ras/index.html

Courtesy mornings in NSW (there’s actually more out there not shown on these maps)
http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/m...ring-maps.html

Broken bay moorings
http://www.yachtcharter-australia.com/pittwater-map/

[Akapeterc]

You missed one of the best spots Lake Macquarie just south of Newcastle. 7 times the size of Sydney harbour the largest salt water lake in the Southern Hemisphere

[theway]

Originally Posted by Akapeterc

You missed one of the best spots Lake Macquarie just south of Newcastle. 7 times the size of Sydney harbour the largest salt water lake in the Southern Hemisphere

It’s on the list of stops for the way back up
Thanks for mentioning it.

[Jim Cate]

glad that you are enjoying Oz... we sure have!

If you have any southing left in you, Jervis bay is worth a visit, and of course there's Tasmania, which gets a vote as our favourite non-tropical cruising grounds of all time.

So many anchorages, so little time...

Jim

[theway]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

glad that you are enjoying Oz... we sure have!

If you have any southing left in you, Jervis bay is worth a visit, and of course there's Tasmania, which gets a vote as our favourite non-tropical cruising grounds of all time.

So many anchorages, so little time...

Jim

So far I’m not enjoying Sydney
Too much wake, too many party boats... maybe too many boats period, and too much going on in general. Currently in Rose Bay and already wanting to be back in Broken Bay. But maybe it’s just the weekend. I don’t do busy very well. But I hear there’s some nice spots up middle bay.


I’d love to make it to Tasmania and places between but I think I need to rest and use some of that time going slower back up and seeing places I missed on the way down. Plus, I’m more of a tropical person and don’t enjoy sub-seventy temps.

I got a recommendation for Boatworks the other day and saw that was where you were, what do you think of it there? I don’t think I need any major work, but want to have the bottom painted and rigging checked... and maybe find a place to service the life raft and epirb


austin

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by theway

I’d love to make it to Tasmania and places between but I think I need to rest and use some of that time going slower back up and seeing places I missed on the way down. Plus, I’m more of a tropical person and don’t enjoy sub-seventy temps.

I got a recommendation for Boatworks the other day and saw that was where you were, what do you think of it there? I don’t think I need any major work, but want to have the bottom painted and rigging checked... and maybe find a place to service the life raft and epirb


austin

Hi Austin,

Yep, Tassie does involve lower temperatures, and we (also tropicalized) feel the cold, much to the amusement of our Taswegian friends)... but for the short summer, it is usually pretty much ok.

We did slip at Boatworks last August. It isn't cheap,but it iis far and away the pleasantest yard we've ever been in. They really work hard at making the experience a nice one for their customers. The only yard where they not only accept that we live aboard, but have amenities to expedite your doing so. They also accept any degree of DIY that you may wish to do, but have numerous pros available for those tasks that you don't want to do yourself. There is also an on site chandlery that is well stocked and surprisingly competitive in pricing. To top it off, there are three vehicles available for loan should you need to do some shopping, etc.

For the first time ever, we hired out the bottom painting. We used Affordable Antifoul Solutions and they did a competent job for us. They had some personnel issues that caused us to have a couple of extra days on the hard... and voluntarily knocked the price down enough to cover the extra charges. I thought that was pretty good response to the situation. We did not do much price comparison, and there may well be better deals to be had,but I'd likely go back to them again if needed. And there are definitely riggers on site... dunno about the life raft service, but I suspect that such will be available somewhere in teh Gold Coast marine megopolis .

So, continue to have as much fun as you can stand, and enjoy your time in the Sydney/Pittwater area.

Jim

[theway]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hi Austin,



Yep, Tassie does involve lower temperatures, and we (also tropicalized) feel the cold, much to the amusement of our Taswegian friends)... but for the short summer, it is usually pretty much ok.



We did slip at Boatworks last August. It isn't cheap,but it iis far and away the pleasantest yard we've ever been in. They really work hard at making the experience a nice one for their customers. The only yard where they not only accept that we live aboard, but have amenities to expedite your doing so. They also accept any degree of DIY that you may wish to do, but have numerous pros available for those tasks that you don't want to do yourself. There is also an on site chandlery that is well stocked and surprisingly competitive in pricing. To top it off, there are three vehicles available for loan should you need to do some shopping, etc.



For the first time ever, we hired out the bottom painting. We used Affordable Antifoul Solutions and they did a competent job for us. They had some personnel issues that caused us to have a couple of extra days on the hard... and voluntarily knocked the price down enough to cover the extra charges. I thought that was pretty good response to the situation. We did not do much price comparison, and there may well be better deals to be had,but I'd likely go back to them again if needed. And there are definitely riggers on site... dunno about the life raft service, but I suspect that such will be available somewhere in teh Gold Coast marine megopolis .



So, continue to have as much fun as you can stand, and enjoy your time in the Sydney/Pittwater area.



Jim

If I didn’t spend a month in Bundaberg waiting on the exhaust elbow I might have made it down to Taz... but life goes on.

Thanks for the yard info, I’ll have a look at a few other places on the way back up and do Boatworks if nothing else sparks my interest.

Will do, overall oz has been an amazing place.

[RaymondR]

Lucas's Cruising the Corral Coast is pretty well all you need to cover the Queensland coast. He keeps it up to date by printing updated versions every few years.

The Great Sandy Straits are as far as you need to go south to avoid cyclones (yes they do get an odd errant one which travels that far south but they are very rare)

If you cleared in to Bundaberg you probably already transited south through the GSS, if not there are a couple of detailed charts titled Great Sandy Straits North and South. Not sure where I got them from but I have digitized copies I use with OpenCPN.

I have found the Navionics charts on the downloaded Navionics App I use on my Android tablet to be not too bad for coastal navigation between the Great Sandy Straits and Busseltown in WA. Where there are errors the water is usually deeper except S of the Crocodile Islands in the Northern Territory.

One Hundred Magic Miles is good to have if you decide to spend any time in the Whitsundays, it was compiled by the charter boat crowd and has pretty well all the anchorages there detailed.

Noel Patrick's Curtis Coast is good to have if you are going to spend any time cruising between Bundaberg and Bowen. It has more anchorages than Lucas. The stretch between 1770 and the southern end of the Whitsundays is my favorite on the whole coast between Sydney and southern WA.

Whilst I am safely away from the weather nasties up the Mary River at the Mary River Marina at Maryborough as hot as it's been I would probably rather be down in Tazzy with Anne and Jim this summer.

Boatworks has put nice little stickers on the boat I now have to show where the travel lift slings go.

[theway]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

...
One Hundred Magic Miles is good to have if you decide to spend any time in the Whitsundays, it was compiled by the charter boat crowd and has pretty well all the anchorages there detailed.
...

I’ll have a look at this...

I have the older Lucas books. Between them and a decent internet connection I’ve had no trouble finding anchorages and info.

[theway]

Anyone have experience as to which phone data service works best up north around the reef and beyond?... My readings say Telstra then Optus.

I have Optus now and has worked everywhere just fine except in the smaller creeks of broken bay... and it was nice to not have the phone