Felicite

[Dolphin]

Port Hacking to Windsor NSW. 2000
Bruce and I had intended to sail Felicite to Broken Bay on Saturday but a southerly came through on Friday and it was forecast to swing NE on Saturday so the logical decison was to take off on Friday night. It turned out to be a great night sail, I usually hate night sailing.
Ingrid took the car up to RMYC BB on sat and we met her there. Bruce brought the car back to the shire and left it at Kevins place as he was going to sail back with us. He'd take the car up to RMYC BB and Ingrid could drive home. ( I love it when a plan comes together).
I used Lucas's cruising the NSW coast and Cruising the Central coast (forgot the exact title). Invaluable!.
Stopped at America Bay, resupplied at Brooklyn, Stopped at Wisemans Ferry overnight, Bumped over some sand bars on the river. Dodged low and unmarked power lines near Gentlemans halt (?) Saw a flathead that a bloke caught that when he held it at shoulder height its tail was on the ground ! Stopped at the reach just before Windsor. Next day went into Windsor, refueled by jerry can and returned home. Motored all along the Hawkesbury River, no wind. Windsor is 70 miles from Brooklyn by water. The tide is 7 hours late at Windsor. Four days on the river and not another yacht on it. Great trip in itself.
We had a great 20 knot NEr on the way home and passed the RMYC fleet racing to the harbour, including Bruce.

[Dolphin]

Pt Hacking to Great Keppel Island July to Oct 1992.
Packed Felicite. Friends were minding the house for free.
Day 1 the toilet discharge seacock broke, had to replace it. Left late. Passed Pt Jackson at dusk.
10 Miles NE of Barrenjoey a strong wind warning was issued. Ducked into America cove and Broken bay for 4 days till it eased off.
Next stop Pt Stephens. arrived 10pm, Someone had vandalised the leads, Got caught on a fish trap, had to cut the trap free. Coastal patrol guided us in from Fly pt. Met Jim and Sandra, in Intrigue an Adams 32. They'd come from Sydney via Lake Macquarie. It was good to have some company.
Next stop Foster. Went too wide of Sugarloaf Pt and got in the current. Arrived at Foster an hour before sunset. We motor sailed nearly all the way as the weather was either blowing hard or calm, we did that most of the trip.
Stayed at the wharf at Laurieton, luxury.
Trial bay, fogged in late in the night arrived just in time to anchor.
Next day beautiful calm day. Set off for Coffs. About Sawtell the swell unexpectedly started picking up from the NE. then the clouds appeared, whales breaching, rain & wind to 25 knots. Great day. Ingrid was extremely sea sick most of the time but this tipped her over the edge. Got to Coffs and checked out a doctor, he gave her Rohipnol and knocked her out for 2 days. I nearly gave her a train ticket. Don't know how she put up with it.
Jim and Sandra recommended Travacalm tablets. Half a tablet and she was as good as gold all day. Made the trip hugely more enjoyable.
Then we went on to Yamba, left at 0200 and a whale passed under the boat and the spray from his breath passed over the boat, impressive but scary. Dolphins at night and the phosphorescence from the fins and snout was increadible.
Yamba to Ballina, good sail.
Ballina to Byron bay, couldn't anchor in Byron due to a NE sea and current sweeping past the beach. Motorsailed through the night to Southport.
Southport via the inside passage to Tipplers. Intrigue broke a propellor blade off and we towed them back to Labrador. Turned out their Bukh wasn't running right and had to be overhauled, The lead keel was bent from when they entered lake Macquarie and hit the coal seam (the bar). Tipplers to Dunwich. Dunwich to Tangalooma and the wrecks. Tangalooma to Mooloolaba. Mooloolaba to the Great sandy straits, Tin can bay, Garry's Anchorage, Urungan, Burnett heads, Bundaburg, Lady Musgrave Island, Pancake Creek, Gladstone, Black Swan Ck, through the narrows and across the cattle crossing to Gt Keppel island. Left the island to get the tide at the narrows, fogged in, couldnt see more than about 50 m. Back through the Narrows to Gladstone. Pancake Ck.
Pancake Ck to Burnett heads. Great Woody Island, Mary river, Southport, Coffs Harbour, a long night sail but Ballina wasn’t an option. Trial Bay but a predicted SW changed made us change our minds and go into the Macleay river. We couldn’t go to Kempsy so we stayed in the river mouth. When conditions eased we left for Port Macquarie. Arrived covered in salt, about 10 litres of water and 10 litres of diesel left.
Port MacQuarie, rain and strong winds, waited 4 days for the weather to clear. Strong winds during the day easing at night so we made an overnight trip to Port Stephens.
2 metre seas running in the port with strong westerlies, so we stayed in Nelson Bay.
Next stop Broken Bay Coasters Retreat. The next day the winds were SE at 20 kts so we had a lunch stop in Sydney harbour at Quarantine beach.
Arrived back in Port Hacking and rafted up with some friends. It was a great welcoming back.

Excellent trip. Notes, if you do a trip like this with just 2 you must be setup to effectively sail single handed incase one gets sick. Which is what I effectively did. When I did it I thought I knew a lot but after racing I’ve learnt so much more, some good and some bad things. I wish I had a good mentor to show me the traps.

[Dolphin]

Port Hacking to Lake Macquarie
23/10/2000 Monday
Prepared Felicite after checking out the lake the weekend before. I visited the Coast Guard, they overlook the bar and have a good view of the ocean and the sea conditions. Coastal Patrol are on the west side of the bridge and know the lake conditions.
It was too windy today with the winds NE 15-20 knots. Tuesday was still too windy with N-NE 15-20 knot winds.

25/10/2000 Wed
I finally departed Port Hacking at 1035. The wind had gone around to the NW –W and was blowing 15-20 knots. There were red tides between Maroubra and Broken Bay.
I arrived at Coasters Retreat about 1800 and made dinner. Things weren’t quite right in the cooling water department and I replaced the impellor hoping that that might fix it.
With nothing much else to do I fell asleep about 2000. I awoke about 2230 and it was a beautiful starry night with a light 10kt breeze blowing out of Coasters. I thought this might just be a katabatic wind and if it held I’d go out through the heads and see if it had become a land breeze. I set the alarm for 2400.

26/10/00 Thu.
The breeze had in fact become a land breeze so I radioed in with CG Sydney and continued on to Lake Macquarie.
A dolphin came to have a look at me and left the usual Phosphorescent trail. They’re great at night and a good omen at any time.
There had been several storms during the day and one persisted overnight. I guess it was about over Newcastle and it was flashing in competition to the Norah Head light. The wind was a steady 10 knots and Felicite just loved it, there were stars everywhere and it must have been one of the best night sails I’d been on. I usually hate sailing at night. Did I say that before? Felicite hit 6.6knots at one time (with a bit of fossil fuel help).
The dawn eventually broke, that is the slowest time of the day I reckon. From first light to just when the sun first pops over the horizon. I just keep saying come on, come on, get up and give us some light to see where we’re going.
There were a few bushfires around and I couldn’t see Moon Island. Using a collier going south to Catherine Hill Bay and the Coast Guard we approximately fixed my position. We booked the bridge opening for 0800. I arrived on the bar at 0700 so we timed it pretty well. Coast Guard gave directions. At that time there were 3 red bouys on the channel entrance. The middle one was on the bar and I was advised to stay just 10 ft from the buoy going in. A set of back leads on the south side takes you across the channel and up to the bridge. The trip up the channel was uneventful and I didn’t even touch.
From “The drop off” I went over to Styles Bay near Rathmines. This is supposed be an all weather anchorage and is the only one in the Lake. I fell asleep for about 1 hour. I noticed that there was no cooling water coming from the exhaust. We’d made a power take off for the engine as the alternator on the Hatz had broken long ago and the drive to the raw water pump came through this. That drive had broken and I don’t know how long the engine had been running with no water.
There was a cold front predicted to come through tonight so I thought I’d tie up at the RMYC. There should be just enough protection from the sou’wester there, or so I thought.

[Dolphin]

Lake Macquarie and return to Pt Hacking.
27/10/2000 Fri
The phone was flat as I had left it on . I called Ingrid to bring the charger up for the batteries on the boat. It was very rough along side and it was blowing 20 30 kts from the south.

28/10/2000 Sat.
I went to move the boat to the north side of the marina to get some protection. When I went to start the engine there was water dribbling from the air intake. The rocking of the boat had pumped seawater through the engine and it was coming out of the inlet. Gingerly I cranked the engine over by hand and there was no hydraulic lock so I fired it up. Slowly the engine built up speed to its normal speed. The whole exhaust pipe was full of water. Once it was purged the engine ran ok so I moved it the north side of the marina. Withdrawing the dip stick from the engine I dropped a few drops of oil on the hot stove and it sizzled. There was water in the oil, so I set about changing it.
There was about 40 litres of water in the bilge.
The RMYC had a 30 mile race on today.
Ingrid, my wife and Adam my son, and I went to the RSL for dinner. We reckoned that the RSL was about the best spot in Toronto.

29/10/2000 Sunday.
Went for a sail to Pt Wollstonecroft and had lunch. Continued around Pulbah Island and back to the RMYC. Ingrid left to go back to Sydney. A bit of shopping and John Fallon joined me for the trip home. He had caught the train to Fassifern Stn and then the bus to Toronto. The rail line used to go to Toronto but it was a branch off the Main Northern Line. They had pulled up the tracks long ago and the destination board on the bus reads “The Train” So you catch “The Train” to Toronto.
We went around to Wangi Workers where mooring on the wharf is free. A beautiful seafood basket and a few glasses of red and everything was looking very rosy.

30/10/2000 Monday.
Departed Wangi at 0650. Got the 0800 bridge opening. The minimum depths were 1.9m west of the bridge and 3.2m east of the bridge. The bar was flat calm and you could clearly see the coal seam.
The wind was an easterly of about 10 to 12 knots and we arrived at Refuge Cove at 1630. We had a sumptuous meal of pasta, sweet and sour, fried Spam and 2 eggs. Washed down with a couple of reds. Life really is good on a top hat! I think I can see a slow morning ahead.

31/10/2000 Tuesday.
We were up at about 0600. Had breakfast and did a little fishing. We caught a medium sized bream.
At about 0935 we departed Broken bay. No bridges to organise this time.
Off Bangally Head (Whale Beach) we passed 2 Humpback whales who were cruising south. These must have been the last ones of the season. We saw a catamaran go between the reefs off Long Reef. I would not have believed it but I’ve got a witness. He must have had a lot of local knowledge. John reckons he was probably a surfer.
There were a couple of dolphins off Sydney Heads too. Heading further south we ran into more red tides.
The wind gradually began to swing more to the east from SE at 10 kts to NNE at 10 kts. The sun came out and it was a beautiful day.
Just before we entered Port Hacking we had the biggest downpour of rain I had seen in a long time. I dropped John off at Bundeena, where he lives and I continued on to the mooring at Gunnamatta Bay. That was a great trip.

[Dolphin]

Port Hacking to Lake Macquarie.
The plan is to depart on Monday 14th Sept 2009 and sail to Broken Bay.
If the weather permits we will stay a day or 2 there and cruise around.
Thu 17th Sept we plan to travel to Lake Macq. High tide is 1900 1.82m. The slack water at mid tide is therefore at 1600 so the tide will be slack on the bar.
We will stay on the courtesy moorings on the east side of the bridge and go through the next morning at 0800. The tide is 0735 1.56 on Friday. Giving 2h30mins delay means the high tide in the lake is 1000. We should therefore arrive at the drop off with a rising tide.
My able crew will be Gary from Galini.
My son will be at home and monitoring Cbreese so as to give us more info. If the wind shifts to the North or NE we wont be going.

[Dolphin]

Well the previous post was the plan but like all things sailing it didn’t work out that way.
On Sunday Ingrid and I packed the boat and prepared things. Gary from Galini was keeping us informed of developments with the weather through Cbreeze which is usually accurate. We’ve found that the Bureau is usually pessimistic and errs on the side of stronger winds. Cbreeze gives a more detailed forecast too, its broken down into 90 minute segments.
Monday was forecast to be a SE 18 to 22 knots …but turned out that it blew in at over 30 knots so we declined to go.
The next day, Tuesday, was forecast to have afternoon sea breezes NE 10 to 15 kts.
Plan B wait until tomorrow and leave early.
The trip to Broken Bay is usually a long one but if we motor sailed we usually do it at 5 knots. That means a 6 hour trip. If the sea breeze comes in early afternoon then the earlier we get under way the better. I don’t like sailing to windward, although Felicite doesn’t mind if the wind is about 60 degrees apparent and 10 to 15 knots across the deck.
Working backwards then, if we want to get to Broken Bay before the Nor easter kicks in we need to leave at first light, about 0600.
Gary joined the boat on Monday night and we went onto the mooring. Pulled the dinghy on deck and lashed it down. Removed the Danbuoy from the mooring to relocate it to Lake Macquarie. Set the alarm for a good nights sleep.
0600 breakfast and get under way. There was absolutely no wind. We logged on with Coast Guard Sydney. Raised the main and sheeted it in hard to stop rolling. It was a great motor to Broken Bay. The fridge was cold, the batteries charged and the auto helm was doing a great job of taking the drudgery out of the trip.
I looked up and saw that 3 of the sail slugs had broken and the main was starting to zipper away from the mast. Luckily the broken slides were below the second reef, which is always rigged so we just reefed and continued on.
Around Bangally Head the first ripples of a real sea breeze started to ruffle the water but it was too late for us to use. We tried to log off with Coast Guard Sydney and although we were seaward of Barrenjoey we couldn’t raise them. Coastal Patrol Sydney relayed our log off for us. It was a good trip. We averaged a little over 5 knots. Lunch on the go with ham cheese and lettuce sandwiches.
Next stop Brooklyn for fuel and an ice cream. The Hawkesbury river yacht club looks a classic. Off to Refuge Bay and a well earned rest.
A little navigation, we stepped off the 5 mile stages with the dividers. EIGHT hours to Lake Macquarie!
We had planned to stay a few days in Broken Bay. A SE Change of 10 to 15 knots was forecast overnight. NE winds tomorrow afternoon. The tide tomorrow was 0600 1.39m. Thursday, the day after next was going to be N/NW winds 20 to 30 knots. After that it was going to be Northerlies and Noreasters again. The logical decision was to beat the Noreasters by sailing overnight to get the 0600 tide at the Lake. Eight hours before 0600 and give it an extra hour for the trip to the heads and, bugger 2100 start.
Plan C, That means a few hours sleep and start again, and a night sail to boot. Did I ever tell you I hate night sailing?
We left Refuge Cove at 2100 after checking safety harnesses. Gary put on his self inflating life vest and harness. Again more motoring due to a lack of wind. There were numerous ships anchored along the coast waiting to go into Newcastle even down as far as Broken Bay. We sailed east to get to the 40m line and then NE to the 50m line to clear Tuggerah Reef, which lies off The Entrance, and the reefs around Norah Head. The GPS indicated the ETA at Moon Is as 0640. Is it too late to go over the bar? What if we are held up further? We’re starting to look at Newcastle as an alternative.
As we passed The Entrance we noticed the occasional flash of lightning. The sky was getting darker and the stars had disappeared. Over the land a thin sliver of light was all that was left. The shape of the coast was almost indiscernible. We could barely make out Bird Is. The wind started to pick up to about 15 knots and the ETA at Moon Is gradually got earlier and earlier to about 0440. Now we had to slow down, we didn’t want to overshoot and have to bash back. A big dig out to sea and Gary suggested waiting for first light to reapproach the coast. Brilliant strategy. We thought we’d seen the Moon Is light an isophase 2s white coming up the coast but the first time we sighted it it was only 1.7NM away.
VMR Swansea radio base opened up and asked for our position report. They would log us off when we crossed the bar as they overlooked it. They asked if we needed the bridge opened and booked the 0700 opening for us. During the week the 0800 and 1600 openings don’t operate as it’s peak hour.
We went slightly north of the leads and headed back to the first buoy. All the buoys are lit. It was hard to see the blue lead lights with tired eyes. Lining up on the leads and the entry was easy. The depth on the bar was about 3.5m. The water was so clear you could see the sand patches on the bar and the black coal seam. The crossing leads are not visible until about 50m from the crossover. Navigation up the channel was easy and we furled the main, picked up a mooring and had breakfast.
Seven minutes before 7am we dropped the mooring and mooched around waiting for the bridge. Pedestrian gates began to shut, traffic lights went red, boom gates shut, alarms warbled. The twin bascule spans began to raise and in no time we had a green light and were pushed through the bridge with a 1.2 knot current. All this just for US! What a welcome to Lake Macquarie!
Navigation up the channel was pretty straight forward. There are patches of sand encroaching into the channel in places but generally the depth was good until the drop off which was about 1.8m. We didn’t search around for a maximum depth as we were very tired.
Next stop Lake Macquarie Yacht Club.
What a great trip. It was even better to have some company this time and it made all the difference as Gary had some good ideas, methods and lots of experience.
We were going to spend some time on the lake but with a cold day and the prospect of 30kt winds tomorrow we decided to pull the pin and do the lake another day in a couple of weeks time.

[Dolphin]

Just included here a few pictures from my last sail last week.
Winter is a great time to sail if you can stand the cold, 11 deg C overnight with crisp clear evenings and foggy mornings. The night was so clear you could see all the stars in the sky.

Unfortunately the wind didn't co-operate the next day and I had to motor home via the channel to check out the depth. Minimum depth was 2.2m just 100m before the drop off.

I set up the autohelm and it calculated that it had 4 deg of Deviation.

Early morning at Pt Wollestonecroft looking to Freemans Waterhole and Heaton Gap

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