tophatyachts.com

Hi Guys / Gals ,

Due to my current employment situation , where I work long hours , six days a week , I am unable to get to our Mk1 as often as id love to . Though on my last outing at Easter , I found that I visually could not fit under The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge enroute to Refuge Bay , at high tide . Reversing out from underneath , just in time as the mast looked like it may have hit the underside of the bridge . So we waited a few hours for the tide to go out , and clearence to gain .

Just wondering if what I was visually concerned about , was correct . By way of clearence height at high tide , with standard mast height of Mk1s ?

Brad
DESIREMK1

I went under the bridge a few weeks back in my Top Hat. Close but still good clearance. Were you going under the south most Span between the port and starboard marks? The other spans are too low. I think the min clearance is 11.7m which should accommodate a Top Hat. I was surpassed at how fast the tidal current ran through. The other thing I noticed was that you have to be careful of the pillars for the old bridge on the Eastern side if the wind and current are pushing towards them.

Hi Storm Petrel ,


I went under 1/4 span , the Southern Side of unused pylons .

It's the South most full Span I think. It has a port and starboard marker on the pillar on each side of the Span.

Yes I would have been in between Channel Markers , just been a long week , heading up to Mooney Mooney Creek to do a spot of maintenance tomorrow , always good to be onboard my Mk1

I am sure it was the Southmost full Span, south of the pillar from the old bridge. I just checked a chart which gives the clearance as 11.8m MHWS.

Sadly, not enough wind this weekend to get Sorm Petrel off her mooring.

Cheers,
Mark

Brad, Top Hats will fit under both the road and Rail bridges.
Both John Lewis in Oberon 2 and Felicite have made it all the way up to Windsor at separate times with no problems. My family last did it in 1998.
Its very deceptive to look up and estimate if you will hit the bridge.
The current is far more a problem as Mark said and whirlpools around the pylons were a big problem.
Greg.

Hi Dolphin ,

Thanks for your added advice , at the time it looked too close to proceed . So discretion was called upon !!!

Brad
DESIREMK1

If you call Maritime at either Hornsby or Pittwater, they can look up on their database and tell you the high tide bridge height. It is also marked on the chart, that you should have on board, from what I remember.

Brad, you of course could haul one of the kids up to the mast head and if they can see the far side of the underside of the bridge then proceed with confidence.
IF, they start YELLING AND SCREAMING, back off.

Regards, Greg