I am an old fart but new to sailing.
My dream, in years to come, is to sail up or down the east coast for a week or so then sail back. I would be leaving from Lake Macquarie.
Is there something out there I can use to plan my trip? Mainly in relation to safe anchorages at night and bad winds.
Cheers.
I'm doing a trip in a few months to bring a boat back home to WA. For the east coast stuff I bought Robs Passage planner and an Alan Lucus books which name escapes me right now. Neither are cheap but the Alan Lucus book would be a minimum in my opinion.
Honing navigation/ boat safety & handling theory wouldn't hurt if sailing is a relatively new recreation
www.navathome.com/
I have completed the coastal skipper and found it worth while, Especially if you want to think about extended cruising. I just need a boat now to put it all in practice Lol.
Find some paper and/ or electronic charts to start looking where you want to go.
Then you could find an east coast cruising guide. There are a few out there, others could tell you what are good ones.
Know your boat and have the right safety equipment. Take it out on heavier days in the lake. Then when your planning your coastal trip pick the right weather days. Once your confident in yourself and the boat it's all about the wind direction and speed when making coastal passages. You want to get to your destination as quickly as possible so you don't end up trying to navigate unfamiliar waters in the dark.
Secondly, and this is what we are finding having only made about a dozen coastal trips is the level of comfort. Our cockpit is wide open with no shelter and we don't have any form of tiller pilot etc. We need to address this before we did any serious coastal sailing like heading north to Whitsundays. Good luck, you will enjoy your adventures.
The most important part is to allow plenty of time, having to get to a location by a certain time means you might push the weather window past your abilities. Most mishaps occur when "I needed to get back to work tomorrow"....I will risk it!
Can you wait out a week or more than you planned due a series of deep lows etc..?
Completing a short coastal trip is (for me) very satisfying and rewarding.
i suggest you do as many day trips out to sea from the lake as possible, adding Sea State to sailing adds another dimension to it, add Single-handing to that and it's a new ball game.
+1 for Robs passage planner and Lucas's Cruising the NSW Coast.
one of the chart plotting apps for iPads/tablets make it easy to plan trips and look at various anchorages.
Thanks
Where is the best place to buy these books?
I plan to do many single handed in the lake, then some day and overnight trips in the ocean.
Will have to fit my boat out for an auto tiller.
I have a tiller lock, but am finding it hard to get the boat balanced so that it works. Hope i get it to work.
Coastal skipper and nav courses sound like a good idea.
Cheers
I too can vouch for the Navathone course mentioned above.]
I dont know where you can purchase said books on the east coast. I bought mine at the Chart and Maps shop in Fremantle WA. They have an online store and post free of charge for anything over $75 (the price of just one of those books)
www.chartandmapshop.com.au
You can get lucas books from Whitworths.
Do some short trips first go to Newcastle for the night.
Then you can either go to Pittwater or port Stephens.
Boat Books in Crows Nest has most of what you need. www.boatbooks-aust.com.au if you prefer online
Just bought copy of Cruising the East Coast from Whitworths.
Some light reading ahead of me.
Getting in and out of LM is the hardest part. Tides bridges chop. But it's an awesome base for nth and south adventures
Download Navionics on your phone / tablet/ laptop. Pay the very reasonable price for the maps
