Loving Sailing, like to meet others, Australia, NSW to Qld

[Pedropete]

Hi Peter here, Sailing from Jervis Bay NSW to Mooloolabah QLD over Christmas, Like to meet others and chat about adventures.
Looking to share this trip with other pleasant Crew..Female/ male..
Peter

[sapient sue]

Hi Pedropete

Just saying hello and welcome to Cruiser forum. We have sailed your route many times, and can offer advice on anchorages, ports, weather, distances etc.

However we are travelling south - you will find most cruisers go up the cost in Winter and return in summer to avoid the cyclone season. We have lots of cruising friends up and down the coast and I am sure they will be willing to meet with you to share information. Most of our cruising club friends are also journeying south as the draw card of the wooden boat festival is on in Hobart in February 2017.

So I wish you luck in finding cruising company going north but please feel free to contact me via PM if I can be of any assistance. I suggest you look at the Cruising Club of Australia web page as members are located all around Aus and have port officers in many locations - their camaraderie is special.

Cheers Sue

[JPA Cate]

Hi, pedropete,

Welcome aboard CF. There IS a "crew wanted" section that if you're serious about trying to get crew for your trip to Moo town, you might want to ask a moderator to shift the post for you over to that section. It will still appear in "New Posts."

All you really need is Alan Lucas' Cruising the NSW Coast, and Cruising the Coral Coast. His advice about anchorages is quite conservative, and he has made all the soundings displayed on his chartlets himself, with the presence and assistance of his wife, Patricia.

You can meet people in anchorages by going over by dinghy to say hello. Look for boats with the CCA burgees (yellow burgee, blue sailboat), or foreign boats, with a blue Aussie flag at their starboard spreader, and a foreign ensign on their stern. People are usually glad to have a chat, but if they are immersed in a project, they will tell you so, and no insult is intended. The long term offshore cruisers all know they have to put the boat first, but they will try to tell you kindly, in most cases.

Ann

PS, Since you're new here, you may not know, but there is part of your registry page that can be filled out to tell others what your sailing & cruising experience is, you can click on the poster's screen name, and be directed to their page, so you can check their profile. You can also post your own. It is helpful to others to know your general location and some boat details, especially if you ask for help with a problem.

Ann

[Pedropete]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Hi, pedropete,

Welcome aboard CF. There IS a "crew wanted" section that if you're serious about trying to get crew for your trip to Moo town, you might want to ask a moderator to shift the post for you over to that section. It will still appear in "New Posts."

All you really need is Alan Lucas' Cruising the NSW Coast, and Cruising the Coral Coast. His advice about anchorages is quite conservative, and he has made all the soundings displayed on his chartlets himself, with the presence and assistance of his wife, Patricia.

You can meet people in anchorages by going over by dinghy to say hello. Look for boats with the CCA burgees (yellow burgee, blue sailboat), or foreign boats, with a blue Aussie flag at their starboard spreader, and a foreign ensign on their stern. People are usually glad to have a chat, but if they are immersed in a project, they will tell you so, and no insult is intended. The long term offshore cruisers all know they have to put the boat first, but they will try to tell you kindly, in most cases.

Ann

PS, Since you're new here, you may not know, but there is part of your registry page that can be filled out to tell others what your sailing & cruising experience is, you can click on the poster's screen name, and be directed to their page, so you can check their profile. You can also post your own. It is helpful to others to know your general location and some boat details, especially if you ask for help with a problem.

Ann

Thanks for the help and information, much appreciated.
peter

[Pedropete]

Thanks for the help, I will try that,

Could you tell me which anchorages you would recomend...

Peter

[JPA Cate]

pedropete,

The choice of anchorages depends on how long you make your days runs, or if you like to go overnight on the favourable breezes.

We often decide about 5 in the afternoon whether we want to go through the night or duck in at the next port. Usually don't stop for the day before 3.

Going northbound, from Sydney, we would anchor in the Hunter, although the marina in Newcastle is quite nice, if you prefer marinas, if we hadn't made it to Broughton Is. (But of course, you could duck into Pt. Stephens, which has both N and S wind
anchorages) as well as a public dock, some moorings, and a marina.

Forster-Tuncurry is a possible stop, but it has to work with the tides, as do Pt. Maquarie, which has a tricky entrance, but also a lot of impounded water behind it, too, as does Camden Haven, but all are interesting to visit. In S'ly winds, we've anchored off Cape Hawke peninsula, if we wanted a break. This, in a way, is something you have to decide based on whether, like a racing sailor, you want to sail whatever the weather gods give you, or whether you want to put energy into saving energy and making things easy on the boat. If it is your first time at sea, you may find the boat develops leaks (or indeed, other problems) once out of flat water. One way to look at it is where would you duck in for repairs? Anywhere that still has a fishing fleet will have something.

Between Sydney and Pt. Stephens, there are also two public moorings two places I am aware of: 2 in Towlers (or Morning) Bay, Pittwater, and 2 on the seaward side of the bridge into Lake Macquarie.

Next, going north are Trial Bay (southerly), and the Macleay R., if your draft is shallow enough, followed by Coff's Hbr. (the marina is closed, still, but you can anchor out), the Clarence river, anchor in Iluka or marina in Yamba, and then, on to Byron Bay (Southerly wind anchorage), and into Southport the next day.

There are other places to stop, and the trip up the Clarence is very pretty. It is really a very individualized issue, and it is your and your crew's preferences which should govern your decisions, not what Jim and I do, which might not be at all to your taste. A small example, is we prefer to anchor out, not use marinas; and I have decided that I don't like to wait for the tides of the barred harbors, so we prefer open roadsteads that we can leave when we want, but be warned, they can be rolly, particularly Byron Bay if the southerly quits.

By the way, Sapient Sue is off on a Bass St. crossing, but I will be around for a while here before we start south, and of course there are many others who will have input.

Ann