Hi all,
I posted a while ago about sailing my new top hat down to bunbury from mandurah a while ago.
Never managed to set sail due to delays but am now finally ready to go.
On board the boat now, will leave at first light Sunday morning.
Expect to arrive in bunbury around 10pm-midnight tomorrow nite.
Thanks all for the tips and advice, couldnt have done it without you :)
Will take some pics and update if i make it :P
Cheers
Immerse yourself in the great outdoors, be mindful of the weather and sea conditions and enjoy the solitude. I envy you. Of course you will make it, eventually, just be a cautious risktaker. All the best
Mark
Well done SP, hope to hear all about it when you get there!
Pics, or it didn't happen.....
Enjoy the sail. Remember with a sailing trip it is the actual voyage as much as the arrival that is enjoyable. Don't rush and make hasty decisions, take care.
SP,
Don't forget to post your trip on the Top Hat site, as we are waiting to hear how you went! 
Thanks guys
Anchored safely in koombana bay. Took 11 hours and 10 minutes. Dream weather, easterly the whole way. Will post a YouTube vid from my phone when I get back to land.
Thanks again
No worries.
Here is a little video i made with my phone. I took little 1 minute clips every hour or so of the journey but they all look the same so quite boring :P
I filmed ships, yachts and the bunbury skyline but none of them are visible on the camera. My phone sux :P
Turn down the sound and that looks like a great day out.I'm flying to perth tomorrow and whatever the movie is I reckon you've had the better trip.
U got it. If I did it again the only thing I would do different is wear ear plugs :p
Thanks Paul
Well, it is a pretty straight forward trip. The secret for me was to wait for a day with 15 knot easterlies all day. I could have left a few times but the winds werent right. I originally planned to motor down on a windless day at roughly 4 knots in 17 hours. But those easterlies knocked 6 hours off the trip.
Just pick a longitude line outside the reef, keep your compass at 180 the whole way then turn left when you near bunbury :)
This time of year has the shortest days so only had 11 hours of daylight to work with. Left at first light 6:30am and arrived 20 minutes after last light around 6pm.
I expected to arrive in the dark and was surprised to be in bunbury at sunset so those easterlies were a god send.
If i had of left in december, i would have had light from beginning to end.
Just pick a good weather day, head south with plently of food and water and there should be no dramas.
I took 30 litres of diesel and 45 litres of petrol.
I used zero diesel and only 17 litres of petrol.
I took 30 AA batteries for my handheld GPS and only used 2 with it on all day.
I had backups of everything and went overkill and ended up using zero of my supplies lol.
Also had an iphone with navionics which was handy, but could easily do it with just my charts and handheld.
I could do it again with no charts or gps. As one guy said, keep australia on your left and your there :P
Its an easy trip, just watch the weather and have fun :)
What boat are you doing it on?
hey stonedpirate me and a mate did a similar trip a while back was pretty cool. We made a video
Hi Ky
Cool vid and great trip :)
Did you sail at night and did you catch anything?
Love that song
Cheers
Coming home we did it in one hit. About 24 hours from memory. Big lightning storm over mandurah was cool to see. We had perfect forecast 15 plus easterly . Had a lure out the entire trip and caught nothing. But im a hopeless fisherman. Even no joy with the red heads. When you heading back? Thinking of taking my knew boat for a bit of a cruise nect week depending on the forecast.
Cool, same conditions as me.
I was so tired after 11 hours lol, cant imagine 24. Great effort.
Was going to keep it at the marina for the winter but have decided to just stay there. I like geographe bay and the fishing is ok so will stay put.
Did you run your outboard all the way? Why? Looks like the wind is good and you have lot of slack in the main!
3 knots sail only
4 knots outboard only
5-6 knots outboard plus sails
Should have reefed the main but didnt know how so when it got gusty i just let the main out a bit.
If i was to do it again i would use sail only but this wasnt a pleasure cruise. Basically my time ran out at the marina and needed to relocate and being an inexperienced sailer, scared of the approaching winter, i just wanted to move as fast as possible. Next time will be sail all the way.
