Hi John,

Martime map shows one courtesy mooring off providence beach.


www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/index.html
www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/docs/maps/portstepn_front.pdf

MorningBird said...
Thanks Keith. 15-20 noreasters for Saturday when we will be there so no good unfortunately. We might be able to use a private one in Esmerelda Cove if we are lucky.

Apart from those pain in the arse NE forecast for the weekend we are now expecting heavy Easterly swells Sunday as Qld's weather moves South.

Seabreeze has an entirely different take on the forecast compared to the Bom one. We are supposedly having a light NE here now according to Seabreeze, Bom is spot on as usual.

I'd say it's the BOM over-estimating the wind strength to cover themselves. 40% stronger in the gusts and all that...

We left Pittwater at 1300 on Friday and sailed up at 7 kts in a 15kt ENE wind. The track to Broughton Islands is 040 mag so as we got outside the wind went to??? 040 mag.
As it turned out Seabreeze was pretty close on Friday night. We had 20-25kts right on the nose. The sea was choppy but not too bad.
We could a heading and course of about 350/000 mag on starboard tack against about a 1 kt set close into the coast. We were doing about 5.5kts with a VMG of about 4 -4.5 kts towards Broughton Is.
However when we tacked out the best heading we could get was about 095/100 mag and with the set we were going south at a fair clip. We had a good boat speed of over 6 kts and a comfortable ride but course over the ground was closer to 130 mag.
At 2100 we had made good 24 nm to Broughton Islands, about 3 kts VMG, with 57 nm to go. At this rate we were going to get there late Saturday, after we would have to turn around to get back in time.
The wind then started picking up, quite unusual off the east coast when the sea breeeze should be dying off. We put in a reef and furled up some heady but she was still over canvassed and we couldn't point as high with the lump of sail on the forestay.
I had some dinner but at this point it wasn't fun anymore, my crew was suffering mal de mer, so I decided to go with the wind. We were back in Pittwater 3.5 hours later.
The return was the first time I have used the Fleming vane downwind. It handled the boat brilliantly holding a course 10 degrees off the wind with no hint of getting close to a gybe.
Spent two days in Pittwater drinking our alcohol supply.
My sister planned to meet me at Broughton Is but rang before departure to say she was going south instead as she has two weeks off and could wait for a better weather window. I didn't have the time available so headed north. As much as it pains me to say it, my kid sister made the right call.

MorningBird said...

The wind then started picking up, quite unusual off the east coast when the sea breeeze should be dying off. We put in a reef and furled up some heady but she was still over canvassed and we couldn't point as high with the lump of sail on the forestay.
pains me to say it, my kid sister made the right call.

Bom had the NE to blow late evening on Saturday night at 30 knots, and it did all night, dropping off to 25 knots at about 0900 Sunday. You certainly made the right call.
Driving down from Sydney this afternoon it was just a light Easterly but the swell is rising.

Spare a thought for the Queenslanders getting a hiding at the moment. Flooding rivers are giving people some concern. Couple of Poms on Yachting World forums this morning asking for the best position to anchor in Mary River. Rivers are already flooding and some yachts have been reported washing down rivers[TV reports!]

Hey Cisco, unbelievable the shots coming out of your area. Boats crashing into other boats and breaking moorings. How is your old girl doing on the hard, as we,ve had reports of major damage to most marina,s and slipways . Stay safe
Cheers
Ken

Yeah I'm just on anchor at Redland Bay (37 ft Cat) and the Mono that anchor's next to me is in the mangroves (along with quite a few others). Mine didn't move. Were it not a violation of the laws of nature, I'd make that anchor my wife
Same at Victoria Point. My brother in law said there's boats and bits of boats all over the rocks there Many broke moorings. I feel less bad about being too tight to pay for a mooring and just leaving her on anchor nowadays......

cisco said...
^^^Biggest danger in the yard has been boats being blown over. Imagine the domino effect of that. So far so good.

Wind and rain has gone but there is still a huge volume of water coming down from the catchment area.

I find the situation so sad for so many people that I have refused to take any photos or vid.

Not so for the rubber neck bogan bottom feeders.

Rumour has it around Cairns that your boat is safer on the hard stand than in the water.....I don't really understand how that works , I'm currently in bluewater marina it's the only marina from Cairns area to port douglas that allows you to keep your vessel moored if cyclone is forcast .