ACTAndy forum posts in last 60 days

Thanx JonE and thanx Ramona for the picture.

Here's the abridged version of the trip down...

First - big shout out to Ramona and Jim for their welcome at Greenwell
2nd - big shout out to the Marine Rescue Services up and down the coast - they feature (briefly) in my post below.

Day 1 - Sunday 9 August - Motor sail from Powder Hulk Bay to Port Hacking, solo, uneventful except for the lovely young peeps on the yacht next to mine going through the spit bridge - I yelled to them that this was my first time through the bridge, so they took some photos of me, asked for my mobile number, and sent them - to the wrong number. Asked for my number again and still sent them to the wrong number - so 2 recipients have pictures of me going through the spit bridge and have no idea why!

Day 2 - Monday 10 August - Sat on the mooring buoy all day, weather was crappy, strong wind and rain, and the swell in from the North was worse.

Day 3 - Tuesday 11 August - DISCLAIMER - all the following is MY FAULT, as the captain I take full responsibility, regardless of what occurred. Picked up my 1st mate for trip (a stranger who told me he had Whitsunday sailing experience). I was aiming for Shell Harbour, with Wollongong as a backup. Logged in with Marine Rescue with the app on my phone. Put out the headsail (wind was up a bit) and motor sailed out. At about 10 mins into the trip my 1st mate quickly got ill with seasickness, to the point of being less than useless. Ah well, at least he might be able to yell mayday in the radio if things go south. A couple of hours later the wind kicked up, so I decided to drop the sail. The furler jammed, the auto pilot failed and 1st mate couldn't/wouldn't hold the wheel so I could go forward to investigate. So we sailed on. But the wind was coming from SSW, exactly where we were headed, so I ended up taking the boat further off shore to keep the sail happy. Abeam of wollongong the wind got stronger, so I decided to bite the bullet and plead with the first mate to just 'slump' over the wheel and keep us into the wind so I could sort the sail out. This took about 5 minutes, but felt more like 30. My boat has a 2 line furler that runs under the deck at the bow. It turns out the line had got twisted/knotted under the deck and wouldn't pull through, this is mainly due to the lines being old and stiff (my fault). Once the line was sorted I went back to the cockpit and furled in the headsail, but the very old sail had taken some damage and she now has a couple of small tears in her :( I Put 1st mate back on the cockpit seat and motored into Wollongong - It was here when Marine Rescue contacted me. They had seen I had 'dropped off' their system and they hadn't seen me pass Port Kembla - Turns out in my scrambling at the front of the boat, I had managed to turn off my phone! It was nice to know someone was watching over me. I let them know the situation and picked up the courtesy mooring at Wollongong.

Day 4 - Wednesday 12 August - Solo, Motor only with a 4am start to get to Greenwell as early as possible. Weather was awesome with a following swell so I made good time all the way up to 7 mile beach, then the wind came up again off the starboard quarter and took me from 5kts to 0 kts!!! I had to punch directly into the wind for about an hour before it eased a little, then onto the Greenwell bar. Got there 4 minutes before low tide. As I approached the tide kept me below 1 kt, but as it turned at the mouth I hit 2.5kts. Then it was just a matter of follow the buoys against the current and on to the 'incorrect' mooring - and another shout out to Marine Rescue, they knew I was new in Greenwell and they radioed to let me know I could moor at the jetty and they had a room sorted for me for the night and they had watched me go the 'wrong way' (they didn't know I'd already organised a mooring)!

A great 'adventure' with some learnings learned along the way. Now to get to Greenwell as often as I can to fix the 'old girl' up so I can sail with the family!

I now have a 'first mate' booked in, so crossing fingers for the weather.

Yes Ramona, the boats you mentioned are the same I was told were previously on the mooring, I just hope my boat doesn't look too shabby next to yours!!!

Cheers

ACTAndy

Thanx all for the inputs,

The boat is a Hunter 33.5. She has a top speed of 6.9 kts and a draft of 1.4m.

I was hoping to do the trip in 2 hops, Middle harbour to Port Hacking, then on to Greenwell Point, with Shell Harbour as the backup. Obviously that is all weather dependent.

The boat has all the correct gear on board for the passage, it's the captain that worries me the most (me).

My preferred window for the trip is anywhere between 8 August to 16 August, but again I'm not going to rush to keep to a date, no-one is complaining that I'm still on the old mooring.

My expectation is that I will plan the trip to the nth degree, taking fixes and positions every hour, charting my progress, only to find it is super uneventful, cross fingers!

And the offer still stands for a first mate or companion vessel for the trip ;)

Cheers
ACTAndy