No, I plan to go in November for the annual rally.
August might be problematic if westerly winds close the lagoon.

KidFinn said..
Nice, is November good for the wind there? We were hoping to go over for abit of kiting and heard the wind is the best around august.

Hi Finn. I sent you a message. Give me a call tomorrow. I have been over a few times.

keensailor said..
As a matter of interest would a Northshore 27 in good condition be suitable for the trip.

Lots of small yachts do ocean passages. Ian Hansen solo sails his 24ft ketch over.
i wouldn't do it in anything less solid and stable than my boat. The boat and crew need to be able to handle say 12 hours of 40+kts and the commensurate seas. You might have 2-3kts of current against that wind. My boat gets hammered and pounds from wave to wave in these conditions.
The S&S heaves to really well. The NOrthshore will need to be able to do the same.

MorningBird said..

keensailor said..
As a matter of interest would a Northshore 27 in good condition be suitable for the trip.

Lots of small yachts do ocean passages. Ian Hansen solo sails his 24ft ketch over.
i wouldn't do it in anything less solid and stable than my boat. The boat and crew need to be able to handle say 12 hours of 40+kts and the commensurate seas. You might have 2-3kts of current against that wind. My boat gets hammered and pounds from wave to wave in these conditions.
The S&S heaves to really well. The NOrthshore will need to be able to do the same.

If you had the luxury of time on your hands are there not weather forecasts that could predict fairly accurately what the winds and swell would be over the next week. I know you would need to be fully prepared for 40 knots on the nose as that could potentially happen but I would have thought it would be relatively avoidable.

I don't trust forecasts beyond 24 hours. Even 24 can be too much and you get caught out.
For example, in 2014 Havefun and I arrive at Lord Howe Friday evening too late to get in on the tide. I call the LHI met officer on the satphone at about 1600. Forecast is 15-20 from the south all night. We heave to about 10 miles out. By 1900 it was 35-40kts and didn't drop below 40 all night. Gusts to 55. The seas were tremendous with waves exploding against the hull like shotgun blasts.
Another example. I leave Pittwater in 2012 on Friday afternoon 2 handed for Broughton Island. Forecast is for not easters 15-20, not great but doable. At dusk it is up to 20 so we reef. By the time the reef was in it was gusting 30 so the 2nd reef went in. An hour later it was 35 or more. I turned around back to Pittwater. That night it was up to 50kts. A Queensland cyclone had changed direction and deepened.
Yet another one, this time with Cisco. We leave Lord Howe and a day out from the island I call my yachtie sister for the forecast. A nice 20 or so soueaster. We had visions of a fast trip home. A few hours later the wind built to a steady 30+ from the souwest, on the nose.
After doing a lot of met training in my Navy days, flying at sea for a career for 15 years and now 20 years of sailing offshore, forecasting is not accurate for the time it takes to get to Lord Howe.
My message would be make sure your boat and crew can handle it.

MorningBird said..
I don't trust forecasts beyond 24 hours. Even 24 can be too much and you get caught out.
For example, in 2014 Havefun and I arrive at Lord Howe Friday evening too late to get in on the tide. I call the LHI met officer on the satphone at about 1600. Forecast is 15-20 from the south all night. We heave to about 10 miles out. By 1900 it was 35-40kts and didn't drop below 40 all night. Gusts to 55. The seas were tremendous with waves exploding against the hull like shotgun blasts.
Another example. I leave Pittwater in 2012 on Friday afternoon 2 handed for Broughton Island. Forecast is for not easters 15-20, not great but doable. At dusk it is up to 20 so we reef. By the time the reef was in it was gusting 30 so the 2nd reef went in. An hour later it was 35 or more. I turned around back to Pittwater. That night it was up to 50kts. A Queensland cyclone had changed direction and deepened.
Yet another one, this time with Cisco. We leave Lord Howe and a day out from the island I call my yachtie sister for the forecast. A nice 20 or so soueaster. We had visions of a fast trip home. A few hours later the wind built to a steady 30+ from the souwest, on the nose.
After doing a lot of met training in my Navy days, flying at sea for a career for 15 years and now 20 years of sailing offshore, forecasting is not accurate for the time it takes to get to Lord Howe.
My message would be make sure your boat and crew can handle it.

Can appreciate what you are saying, it is good advice. I'm surprised forecasts have not improved with current technologies to the point of being reliable.

Hey Gents - if you're still around on this thread?
Loads of great advice above but I have another question about LHI.
If you had to pick a month to go - with the main priority being a safe passage (and then about what it's like when you get there, but mostly the passage) which month would you pick?
Thanks in advance
Dutchy.

Thanks MB, thats exactly the advice I was after. Still got to plan for the worst, but I like to put the odds in our favour! We'll be in a Hanse 455 with a few bells and whistles so highly capable of a great passage.

Hort said..
First LH trip I did was many years ago during March , two handed in an old Holland 30 half tonner. Great trip out, on the way back we had 3 days with the kite up, then got smacked by a southerly. We were aiming for Port Hacking , ended up pointing at Newcastle & in the end made Broken Bay. The problem with these sort of passages in small boats is you can't sail fast enough to stay in the favourable weather window. You need to be flexible and prepared to tough out some heavy weather. Subsequent passages were in the Gosford LH race in much faster boats. Even then we always seamed to either get smacked on the way there or coming home.
Also the lagoon can be twice as windy as at sea. We got caught one year & couldn't get out to our boat to get underway. It was blowing 50kn across the lagoon but only 25kn at sea.

In 2016 DrRog and I both got seasick in the lagoon getting on the boat to depart for home. As MB headed out of Erscotts we had really horrendous conditions (watch DrRog's video of the trip), we shouldn't have tried to get out but we did, and got hammered for a long time.
In 2015 Havefun, Cisco and I were stuck onboard for 24 hours in the lagoon because of the wind. Cisco and I had a few beers, watched the cloud formations on the mountains and read a book or two. Havefun doesn't imbibe, I'm not sure what he did.
Yep, the lagoon can be nasty. It would be absolutely horrible in the strong westerlies in winter and I am sure that you would have to leave the lagoon and either stay at sea or maybe anchor open ocean on the other side of the island in over 10 metres of water.
And then you would have to come home against that wind.
I have been allocated the best mooring this year (North Passage 3) for the November rally. I am still after crew with offshore experience if anybody is interested. PM me.

cisco said..
MorningBird I believe has the best handle on doing the LHI Rally trip on the forum with four or five attempts and only one aborted.

The time I went with him was a great experience and we did not really get slapped around much at all. The sail back was great except for a few wetties when I was on watch a day or two out from Broken Bay.

The worst of it was the diabolical currents on the way out. See below.




It is the big blue briny, i.e. the Tasman Sea which freaks many Yanks out of the crossing so they leave their boats for sale in Fiji.

The rally occurs in November and has done for so many years probably because that is the best weather window.

The voyage is really well worth it as the island is quite unique and rich in history. If you do the rally I can assure all that the sailing cameraderie is also quite unique. The dinner at the Moorings Restaurant the night before the Ned's Beach BBQ was completely hilarious with the musically talented performing the funniest sailing ditties you will ever hear.

This be the place.

Well said cisco. We had a pretty good trip back but getting there was unpleasant. I've got the same mooring this year as when we went.