http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2015/02/10/red-zone-warm-water-pools-east-coast
if you Brizzy bogans stop peeeing in the water up there the sea temp would have been OK
Hey, being a Queenslander I object. I sailed from Qld to Sydney last October and all that peeing in the water made for a quite swift trip down the coast. The EAC and a strong wind warning from the NE saw my gps read 11 knots a few times. Thats something my boat would never normally see. Of course, when I head north again in the near future it will probably take me twice the time to reach the Gold Coast as it did to sail the opposite way.
People that go out with me get a shock when I perch up on the pushpit and do wees as we are sailing along. He he lol. 
I have been caught by the EAC north of Pittwater going north. Heading north doing 5kts and tracking north. Turned east onto the other tack, heading 090 doing 6.5-7 kts but tracking 150. About a 2-3 kt southerly set.
On Cisco's Second Wind took us many hours getting past Smoky Cape. Estimate 4-5 kts southerly set.
The IMOS website is very good to get an idea where the currents are.
Yes the water temp is a giveaway but not for the speed obviously. We had 26-27 deg in the EAC, low 20s out of it.
Select to expand quoteHG02 said..
Can you tell by the water temp when your in the current?
Not really. You will often sail into blue water from green and 2 degrees increase in temperature and have no current. The edge of the current is often visible with flotsam and jetsam and seabirds either sitting in the water or flying along it. Apart from sailing past fish traps the Gps is the best bet. When the current is hard down the fish traps will be a few hundred feet down.
I'm sort of wondering and question this in regard to buying a hull depth speed and temp sensor Ramona would it be an advantage or not?
Most sounders today display the temp HG02 and do the speed off your chartplotter/GPS
Select to expand quoteHG02 said..
I'm sort of wondering and question this in regard to buying a hull depth speed and temp sensor Ramona would it be an advantage or not?
The inbuilt temperature on fish finders/plotters is handy and is a conversation piece. They are only indicating the temperature at the depth the sounder transducer is mounted. If you monitor the VHF frequencies the professional fishermen use as you travel up and down the coast they invariably will mention water temperature and colour and current. They will often talk about the differences of the current at varying depths. We as sailers are really only interested in taking advantage or avoiding the East coast current, at the surface. So apart from the GPS it's all about powers of observation. Current lines, surface activity[fish and birds] temperature and colour and whether its a clear blue with sparklers. ****ty green water can run just as hard. Current past fish traps or FADs. 6 bubbles on a fish trap will pull under in about 2 knots of tide. The current can switch on and off in your position also in less than a minute [we use the term"roll over"] you can be approaching a fish trap and it will suddenly disappear just as you go to pick it up [and stay down for 6 weeks]. So its really local information you need. Generally the current is least inshore and strongest at the shelf. Often eases off out wide of the shelf. So locally we can expect not much inside 3 nm, fairly fresh by 8nm out to 22nm then maybe easing off after that. It will vary all the way up and down the coast. Or there may be none at all or running up!
So from what you are saying Ramona you are either in it or not and there is not much one can do about it??
The currents seem to be the worst just sth of where the land formation funnels the EAC for example Tacking Point, Smoky Cape & off Byron Bay. The old saying is in these location you sail with 'one foot on the boat & the other on the land'
Definitely!! Tacking Point and Smokey Cape, the only thing is to point directly into it. If you are going to tack out you need to go right out past the edge of the continental shelf because you just get washed further south.
If you point into it and use the motor if necessary (most times), once you have cleared the point you can duck into the bay behind and make some northing.
Cape Byron isn't too bad.
Select to expand quotecisco said..
So from what you are saying Ramona you are either in it or not and there is not much one can do about it??
Basically yes.
It's all about information and then strategy. How to reduce the effect or take advantage.
