Planning on sailing our boat which we just bought back down to sydney. With the summer north easterlies gone have we left our dash too late. Maybe we wait until spring?
I have heard the winter winds are either very light or howling westerly
any ideas..
Get going next Sunday Monday Tuesday, but you may have to motor a bit. NW to NE winds around 5knots predicted.
Go to Pittwater, 8 hours, on first day, Sydney on second, about the same time.
To get out the Swansea channel, allow for 1 hour against the tide 20 to 30 minutes with the tide, to the bridge if you can do 4 knots in calm water, more time if slower.
Leave the lake on the first morning opening.
Radio MR Lake Macquarie more than one hour before the schedule opening to book the bridge.
Check with them the day before for opening times.
The westerlies are good to get you down here, if your boat can handle a strong breeze. I prefer the westerlies to the calms. The southerlies and sou' Easters are to be avoided at all costs.
Watch the tidal flow at the bridge, it can take you into the bridge on a strong ebb. You will want to go out at the start of the flood tide so you should be right.
It is an easy run to Pittwater, about 35nm. No major obstacles except the rocks on the right and a few reefs very close in. Pittwater to Sydney 18nm head to head. Only Long Reef to hit.
Overall, pick your weather and a pleasant fast sail is probable.
What sort of boat and what equipment/condition. I'd go with you to Pittwater if I could organise it.
I was sailing offshore yesterday. Glorious day with about 12 knots of wind from the East. The next 5 days look like the same. This time of the year often provides the best sailing of the year. Even when the Westerlies start the sailing inshore with a good breeze and flat water is ideal for going places. Seawater temperature is still well up even if the mornings are a bit cool.
I've done Lake Mac to Sydney a couple of times in my Top Hat solo. The last return leg from my log shows 40.5 NM from the courtesy bouy to my mooring in Careel Bay. Average speed was 5.4kts, and about 7 hours 30 mins. The Sydney leg is half that, depending on where you need to get to in the Harbour.
In my opinion, try to choose the last hour or so of the run in tide to make your way out the channel, its pretty fast, but easier to control not running into the bridge than with a run out tide. There is viirtually no slack water, the change there is pretty quick and about two and a half hors after the stated high or low tide due to the size and volume of the lake.
I had south easterlies last time that turned north later, made for good sailing, even though the swell was over 2 m.
Ramona is right, I reckon anything other than due south is pretty good winds for that trip, especially if there is west in it, it will make the seas really smooth and you'll just glide down with the dolphins....... 
thanks to everyone that replied!
at the moment the plan is to head down wednesday or thursday, out under the bridge at 7am then off.
should be good, have'nt done it before so taking someone with loads of experience
Should be a nice fresh SW by then. I'm off sailing this morning and it looks like the last of the NE winds for awhile. One advantage of the SW winds this time of the year is it blows early in the morning so you avoid the calm period in the mornings.
Hate to say it, but you should have been arriving in Sydney tonight with the last of the NE'er!
Select to expand quoteBoatin said..
Don't forget to let us know how you went. Interested to hear and good luck.
Made it!
8.5 hours swansea to middle harbour yesterday
3.5 hours middle harbour to botany bay (kogarah bay) today, solo
Left Swansea yesterday (Thursday) with a 7AM bridge, 15knots WNW for first half of day, then slowly built and went W. Once we rounded north head it was 18-20 knot WSW.
Have more confidence in the motor now, we motor sailed all the way, go Bukh ;)
Good trip and good times. Love those westerlies.
How did she handle the winds over 15kts? A bit better than my Duncanson it would seem.
Select to expand quoteMorningBird said..
Good trip and good times. Love those westerlies.
How did she handle the winds over 15kts? A bit better than my Duncanson it would seem.
Upwind over 15 knots was ok, although had a lot of windward helm and should have reefed. Was happy the way we handled waves though.
The high topsides gave me comfort in the swell on the second day ;)
Boat is a northshore 27 BTW
The northshore boats can handle it. And yes I am biased as are the number of other Northshore owners who tune into this forum. So its good to give our boats a plug. Well done Keen Sailor. You will find as I have that if you ask that there is a wealth of northshore boat experience to draw on in the forum.
I like Northshore built boats. The 38 is on my radar if I ever get a bigger yacht.
Hi keensailer, My son and I sailed my Mystere 25 from Careel bay to Kogarah Bay (Tuesday 21). We departed the mooring at 0713, Broken Bay Heads @ 0818, abeam Sydney North Head 1140 and in Botany Bay heads @ 1615. By the time we were a bit south of Bondi the wind came round to the south and that slowed us down a bit. At Maroubra I went to start the engine and we had flattened the batteries so no iron topsail. By the time we got to Towra Point we ran out of wind and into a runout tide. Finally after loosing ground for hours I called the Water Police and they came out and gave us a jump start (BIG thank you to the boys in blue).
Very pleased with the boat as she handled the conditions very well. We had up around 20 knots at times. On the way we saw lots of Dolphins, a Penguin and a Whale.
At the moment the boat is on my mates pontoon 3 north of Botany Bay Yacht Club.
Nice one Boatin!
Sounds like a good trip.
Only thing I would change next time would be to have some better gear to wear. Jeans and fleece don't cut it ;)
Glad you made it Boatin. You were lucky this time. Finding you have flat batteries just when you really need to start the engine is a bad blue. The sea is cruel and unforgiving. Just a suggestion, I think you need to put more thought into preparation for open water voyages.
One of the best onboard boating manuals to have is the "Queensland Transport Small Ship's Manual". It is the text book for USL Code training for commercial marine qualifications in Queensland. No doubt there is a similar tome for NSW.
The motor started easily in the morning as usual and we probably ran it for 30 minutes to the heads at Broken Bay. I would not have thought our radios would have flattened the batteries so I need to investigate the cause.
The funny thing is I have always said 'the first thing you do when you buy a second hand boat is to chuck the old batteries out and instal new ones'
Select to expand quoteBoatin said..
The motor started easily in the morning as usual and we probably ran it for 30 minutes to the heads at Broken Bay. I would not have thought our radios would have flattened the batteries so I need to investigate the cause.
The funny thing is I have always said 'the first thing you do when you buy a second hand boat is to chuck the old batteries out and instal new ones'
Yes we ditched the old battery in our boat, bought a 105Ah AGM Full River battery, apparently pretty good. Now just need to setup the solar panel so it does'nt go flat ;)
Hi,
Any thoughts on the run out down the coast from the hawkesbury? Had a struggle last time up the coast I'm wondering how far off shore the flow extends.
Cheers Obi
This time of year there is no current to speak of, maybe a slight northerly set of less than 0.25kts inside a mile or so. Keep the land on the right and keep clear of Long Reef.
Select to expand quoteObi said..
Hi,
Any thoughts on the run out down the coast from the hawkesbury? Had a struggle last time up the coast I'm wondering how far off shore the flow extends.
Cheers Obi
Down from the Hawksesbury to where? To Sydney will be fine. On the South coast the current has been hard down for ages, 2.5 knots out to the SE. The breeze on Sunday looks good. Generally this time of the year the breeze is SW and quite fresh early morning but eases during the day when its not a Westerly gale. So far this year the gales have been pretty much absent. Some of the best sailing is to be had this time of the year sailing inshore less than 2 miles out, good breezes and flat water. Listen to the surf report before you sail. Monitor the local trawler Vhf frequencies.
just about to do the pittwater to sydney in a 22ft bluebird. reading about currents etc, im not sure what to expect? Need to get the boat into sydney harbour within 4 weeks
