The weather in Sydney has not been unusually wild.
I use to have a Hood 23 moored at Woodford Bay, Lane Cove River. I was at the very back of the bay near the Longueville Sailing Club boatshed. That was a mill pond compared to where I am moored now. Bundeena Bay must be the most exposed mooring field in Sydney, particularly exposed to north-east swell. If there is any easterly component to a large southerly swell, however, it can also be dangerous for moored boats.
The main danger period at Bundeena is Autumn when Sydney gets East Coast lows at the tail end of the Summer cyclone period in the tropics. Here is a video of our boats from April 2025.
The first yacht is a Marzcraft 35 and my Cavalier 28 is the second yacht that comes into view. Sorry about the crap quality. Someone messaged me that video. The irony is that on this occasion none of us moved our boats! The forecast was 5m swell from the south which we should be fairly protected from. That turned out to be 8m SE which ricochetted off Bass and Flinders point and onto Bundeena. I called the mooring contactor the next day and told him to replace everything except the block. He ended up replacing some of the chain and this year he upgraded me to all 20mm chain.
While I was waiting for the mooring contractor, a couple of weeks later we had another southerly blow in and I moved my boat onto the public mooring in Gunnamatta Bay out of precaution and because the next day when the storm was due to hit I had to be at a funeral. While at the funeral the boating officer called me and asked why my boat was on the public mooring. I explained, and he said he needed it because he was dealing with boats breaking their moorings all up the river. A properly serviced mooring should be able to handle a southerly blow and bit of chop on the river. Nowhere else on the Hacking River cops the ocean swell.
I am now much more cautious in moving my boat up river, or, tucking into Jibbon and picking up one of the public mooring (although it can be a bit shallow there on the low tide). The problem with getting up the river is I need plenty of tide to get over the shoals.
Boats regularly break their moorings at Bundeena. In the past couple of years there have been at least four boats that broke their moorings.
The other problem with Bundeena is that the bottom is sand and that quickly wears out the chain. You should be on mud in the Lane Cove river.
