# Cruising Broken Bay / September School Holidays



## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Any Aussie Sailnet members going cruising over the School holidays in September?

I'm planning on taking the 3 kids up to Broken Bay from about the 23rd of Sept till the 29th of Sept. Will most likely wind up in America's Bay/ Refuge Bay most nights as they love the beach & waterfall.

Would be good to say hi to other sailnet members.


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## St Anna (Mar 15, 2003)

Hiya W.
sure are going for a sail, but a bit north of you. 
cheers


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Nothing much better than Refuge/America for youngsters but holiday time it is a nightmare for a couple of old farts like us. Out of season a different story. Nonetheless, enjoy.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

tdw said:


> Nothing much better than Refuge/America for youngsters but holiday time it is a nightmare for a couple of old farts like us. Out of season a different story. Nonetheless, enjoy.


Yes it does get a tad crowded but hey if the kids are keen to go cruising for a week I'm more than happy to oblige


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

wopalx said:


> Yes it does get a tad crowded but hey if the kids are keen to go cruising for a week I'm more than happy to oblige


... and so you should be .... happy that is. I hope the weather is good for you.

Now I don't know how well you know the area so excuse me if I am stating the bleeding obvious but there are a couple of really good spots in Smiths Creek and Jerusalem Bay. First bay to starboard as you enter Smiths has three or four maritime moorings and a sand flat that dries at low tide. At high tide you can take the dinghy up stream to a couple of small waterfalls. Worth spending an evening there. If you see a wee Triton 24 "Skoota" say g'day and tell them Andrew and Wendy send their best. The tip of JB is also good for the kids.

What's your boat btw ?


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Yes there are heaps of great spots, I grew up sailing in Pittwater as we kept our first 2 boats in Careel Bay from when I was 13 or so. As long as I can tie up on a mooring I'm happy (hate anchoring overnight unless 100% necessary).

We have an X-Yachts XP-38, Solveig II, luckily my old man insists on spending the inheritance on quality yachts ..... not that I have any reason to complain



tdw said:


> ... and so you should be .... happy that is. I hope the weather is good for you.
> 
> Now I don't know how well you know the area so excuse me if I am stating the bleeding obvious but there are a couple of really good spots in Smiths Creek and Jerusalem Bay. First bay to starboard as you enter Smiths has three or four maritime moorings and a sand flat that dries at low tide. At high tide you can take the dinghy up stream to a couple of small waterfalls. Worth spending an evening there. If you see a wee Triton 24 "Skoota" say g'day and tell them Andrew and Wendy send their best. The tip of JB is also good for the kids.
> 
> What's your boat btw ?


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

wopalx said:


> Yes there are heaps of great spots, I grew up sailing in Pittwater as we kept our first 2 boats in Careel Bay from when I was 13 or so. As long as I can tie up on a mooring I'm happy (hate anchoring overnight unless 100% necessary).
> 
> We have an X-Yachts XP-38, Solveig II, luckily my old man insists on spending the inheritance on quality yachts ..... not that I have any reason to complain


Sydney Boat Show, either and XP38 or an XC42, cannot remember which but an XC42 is one of the few new boats I would happily buy if I wanted a bit more zip that we get from our Malo. Being me I'd still probably end up going for a newer Malo or an Hallber Rassey but gee that X was impressive.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

The XP-38 at the Sydney show was ours.

The XC-42 is a nice boat, not as sorted for racing but for cruising a great yacht.



tdw said:


> Sydney Boat Show, either and XP38 or an XC42, cannot remember which but an XC42 is one of the few new boats I would happily buy if I wanted a bit more zip that we get from our Malo. Being me I'd still probably end up going for a newer Malo or an Hallber Rassey but gee that X was impressive.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Ha ... I thought that name sounded familiar. Solveig is something of a legendary name but I thought I'd seen it recently.

Lovely boat. The Wombet will verify that as we left the show I said that while there were a couple of other nice boats the X was the only one I really liked. Couple of half way decent catamarans and Bluewater do nice work but overall, a somewhat disappointing show this year. 

Mate of ours has an older X but I've never been on board. Him and his wife crewed on our boat for the Heaven Can Wait 24hr race on Lake MacMacquarie last year. For me, being the doddery old cruiser that I am the XC would be more my speed.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

I'd love to do the HCW race, unfortunately we optioned the deep keel on our boat so given we bounced over the bar in our X-37 several years ago I don't think Lake MacQ is on our agenda.

We have always named our boats over a maiden of the sea from the region the boat was built. Solveig was certainly legend in her time, raping and pillaging while hubby was off pretty much doing the same thing . The new boat we decided should simply be called Solvieg II as our last X was so much fun and we named it Solveig.

The XC's are great, the 42 would have been a great purchase & the owner I'm sure is very happy.



tdw said:


> Ha ... I thought that name sounded familiar. Solveig is something of a legendary name but I thought I'd seen it recently.
> 
> Lovely boat. The Wombet will verify that as we left the show I said that while there were a couple of other nice boats the X was the only one I really liked. Couple of half way decent catamarans and Bluewater do nice work but overall, a somewhat disappointing show this year.
> 
> Mate of ours has an older X but I've never been on board. Him and his wife crewed on our boat for the Heaven Can Wait 24hr race on Lake MacMacquarie last year. For me, being the doddery old cruiser that I am the XC would be more my speed.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

We are not doing the race this year but a couple of things for future reference ....

There has been a fair bit of dredging going on in the channel and I believe it is now a minimum three metres deep. That is inside the bridge. You would still need to go over the coal seam at high tide. 

Mate of ours who lives on the lake will come out and give you a tilt over the shallows. Its something of a bizarre experience but thats how we got in and out last year. He takes your spinnaker halyard to his boat and away he goes. Price was a brick of Becks. 

The Toronto MYC who sponsor the event is a fabulous wee club. Gave us a free mooring for a couple of weeks after the race before we bought our girl back to Sydney. 

I'd highly recommend doing the race when they finally move it to later in the year. Quite frankly the weather end of September is usually rubbish and last year it was 24 hours of sheer and utter misery even in what was probably the most comfortable boat in the race. Rain , freezing temperatures , plus 35 knots wind on the nose and for freaks sake HAIL. Oh yes and we plus 35 again on the nose coming up from Sydney though going back was not too bad. 

Andrew B


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## ozsailer (Aug 25, 2007)

Hi TDW,
We are heading out for a cruise from Lake Macquarie up to Newcastle on the Weekend of the 15th and then were thinking of heading north to Port Stephens or South to Pittwater and Sydney for a few weeks. Not sure which way to go yet but if we head south I'll give you a heads up. I love it on the water this time of year, Great days and cool but not really cold nights.
Just for the info of people thinking of coming into the lake there have been many yachts coming in and out of the lake with 6ft draft no problems at all. There is a current working party (yes another one) putting together another proposal to keep the channel permanently dredged to three metres at low tide. This would be greatly beneficial not only to all boaters but many business's on the shores of the lake. Would you beleive that Tugerah lakes has a proper dredge to keep the lake open to keep the fisherman happy yet the lake is not navigatable from the lake to the sea. (For our overseas friends Tugerah lakes is north of Sydney but south of Lake Macqarie. It is a shallow lake with a large surface area mainly used for small off the beach catamarans, runabouts and ski boats. No large craft utilise the lake due to its depth and no access to the ocean.)
If you would love to see the channel to Lake Macquarie continually dredged so that all boaters could visit our wonderful lake please go to the following website and put forward your thoughts Swansea Channel Framework | A Sustainable Framework for Navigation in Swansea Channel NSW

Greg and Sue
Southerly Miss (formerly Chicquita)
Cheiftain 38
Lake Macquarie NSW 
Land Down Under


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

ozsailer said:


> Hi TDW,
> We are heading out for a cruise from Lake Macquarie up to Newcastle on the Weekend of the 15th and then were thinking of heading north to Port Stephens or South to Pittwater and Sydney for a few weeks. Not sure which way to go yet but if we head south I'll give you a heads up. I love it on the water this time of year, Great days and cool but not really cold nights.
> Just for the info of people thinking of coming into the lake there have been many yachts coming in and out of the lake with 6ft draft no problems at all. There is a current working party (yes another one) putting together another proposal to keep the channel permanently dredged to three metres at low tide. This would be greatly beneficial not only to all boaters but many business's on the shores of the lake. Would you beleive that Tugerah lakes has a proper dredge to keep the lake open to keep the fisherman happy yet the lake is not navigatable from the lake to the sea. (For our overseas friends Tugerah lakes is north of Sydney but south of Lake Macqarie. It is a shallow lake with a large surface area mainly used for small off the beach catamarans, runabouts and ski boats. No large craft utilise the lake due to its depth and no access to the ocean.)
> If you would love to see the channel to Lake Macquarie continually dredged so that all boaters could visit our wonderful lake please go to the following website and put forward your thoughts Swansea Channel Framework | A Sustainable Framework for Navigation in Swansea Channel NSW
> ...


Oh yes to being out and about this time of the year, for cruising. Look at the weather this weekend. Glorious sunny days but last evening rainy, cold, squally. Blech. We spend pretty much every weekend on the boat. Only specific events , family mostly, keep us shore bound. This weekend was one of them and I am mightily pissed off not to be typing this from the cockpit. For me however the changeable weather makes that race more of a trial than I'd willingly go through.

Not knowing how well you know Port Stephens so excuse me stating the bleeding obvious but if you head north get up to the Broughtons. We went out from PS late January this year to Broughton Island for a day. Stayed a week. Gobmsackingly wonderful spot, I know of no better on the NSW coast.

All up Port Stephens can be a tad disappointing really. North Arm Cove is a pleasant spot and our favourite anchorage in PS but thats about it really. Nelson Bay good for bars, shopping and restaurants but they don't do LPG which is a bugger. The marina up at Cromarty Point is the place for that.

Pittwater/Broken Bay has more to offer. If you don't know it well let me know and I'll give you some ideas, same goes for Sydney. Should you make it down here, by all means let me know and we'll meet up.

We may btw still go to Lake Macquarie the weekend before the race and leave the girl up there for a few weeks. Maybe help out the organisers for the race if they need assistance. Just not doing the race itself.

Cheers

Andrew B


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## ozsailer (Aug 25, 2007)

Currently starting to watch long term weather formations. Looks like the big winds may hang around for a while. At the moment we have a 3 metres sea and a 3 metres swell. Winds are forecast from the east for next weekend so we are just playing the wait and see game at this time. Nobbys head were recording wind at 39 knots this afternoon. Not fun to be out in


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Yes unless your best friend is a sail maker the current weather is a tad dicey

Had hoped it would be okay for a sail with the kids tomorrow... Oh well.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

SeaBreeze showing 30 odd knots mid north coast but dropping off through the day and light ot moderate rest of the week, picking up again Thursday with a SE change up to 30knts but again falling away quite quickly. Not so bad, typical September really.

Sydney is showing all good. Certainly bloody lovely at the moment. 

BOM issued a strong wind to gale warning earlier on but that has since been cancelled. 

BTW ... if you do not know SeaBreeze (.com.au) then you should. I find their predicting to be more reliable than the BOM but used in conjuction you can get a very accurate idea most of the time.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Guys,
We didn't get out at all this weekend .... blame it all on my mother .... but after the forecasts from both BOM and SeaBreeze what the hell was that wind in the middle of the night ? Neither predicted that.


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## ozsailer (Aug 25, 2007)

Hi Td,
Following weather patterns at the moment as well and will be brining the boat in tomorrow to start preparing for for going offshore. Not a lot to do other then fuel and get food and clothes on board and give her a good go over safety wise. I have been looking closely at the long range BOM. Wind Guru and Sea Breeze with all indicating a high coming through with little wind and small seas. While the forecast looks good I have been caught out more then I care to remember one more than one occasion with unpredicted weather storms.


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## St Anna (Mar 15, 2003)

Well, we had a constant 15 kn from the SE. A lovely time muckin about the bay. I did however break the block on the genoa traveller. Luckily I had the line going through another just next to the dodgy one or I would have lost some stanchions.

All I got was a wondergul bruise on my shin as the genoa sheet smacked into it.

I was crankin on the genoa sheet to make a windward beacon. As it was I had to tack anyway. Otherwise all good. Today I am going to swap the genoa for a 100% [ more in order to get a sailmaker to stitch a new UV strip on the 150% er.

School holidays coming up and we will be out unless wet and rotten.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

The family & I had a lovely week cruising Broken Bay and Pittwater, returned to Sydney yesterday.

Very few boats out so always had our choice of moorings, great weather, nice breezes to sail most days.

For reference the fuel wharf at Akuna Bay is under repair so very limited space to tie up and no water unless your game to use the fire hose. We simply sailed down to Pittwater for fuel / water at the RMYC which is always a pleasure to deal with.

Highlight for the kids was a pod of Dolphins as we were leaving Yoeman's Bay on Friday morning, kept them amused for ages 

I'll post up a couple of pics when I have time.


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## St Anna (Mar 15, 2003)

Good stuff WopalX.

We had everything from wet, windy and stormy to perdfect. The day that was perfect, the camera stopped working.

A beam reach gave us a good speed










A storm produced a bit of breeze

















Saw a few dolphin, turtles and a baby whale in the southern bay - [ was looking for but missed the whales' mum!]

Back to work tomorrow.....


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Some pictures as promised, sorry I only took the iPhone so not the worlds best pics.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

And a couple of pics of the Dolphins.


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Great pics guys! Great looking kiddos Wopalx!! Man, your anchorage was stacked with boats! Wow.

Hey St Anna, when my knot meter hits 35, I hear the distinct rumble of legos and matchbox cars cratering across the floor. You too!???

Brian


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## St Anna (Mar 15, 2003)

Cruisingdad said:


> Great pics guys! Great looking kiddos Wopalx!! Man, your anchorage was stacked with boats! Wow.
> 
> Hey St Anna, when my knot meter hits 35, I hear the distinct rumble of legos and matchbox cars cratering across the floor. You too!???
> 
> Brian


Hiya Brian.

The next generation is a little old for legos now!









This activity is quite rare so I took a photo.

He wanted to head off in the breezy conditions. I negotiated that we wait until it dropped to a mild 20kn before we took off.

Our anchorage had only us in it until this gentleman arrived and dropped his anchor on ours. His stern was about 15-20 ' away so I didnt sleep much that night as we both had about 80' of chain out!

Anyway. Hope all is good with the cd crowd.

cheers
DC


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Brian,
That crowded anchorage (Refuge Bay and America Bay - they interlock) is probably the most crowded in all of Australia during holidays but it is full of moorings (used only casually) so anchoring is not necessary. It also has a couple of nice wee beaches, one complete with waterfall. 
Not good for grumpy old anti social misanthropes like a certain fuzzball I could name but outside of the holidays it can be almost deserted. 

StAnna ... had the same thing happen on Saturday evening. There were three of us anchored with plenty of room between us and that left most of the bay unoccupied when this knobhead lobs in around 2200 and anchors in the middle of the three of us. Sigh. 

Wopalx ... I've never seen dolphins that far in. Very cool.

Andrew


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Cruisingdad said:


> Great pics guys! Great looking kiddos Wopalx!! Man, your anchorage was stacked with boats! Wow.
> 
> Hey St Anna, when my knot meter hits 35, I hear the distinct rumble of legos and matchbox cars cratering across the floor. You too!???
> 
> Brian


The picture of the anchorage was not where we were cruising. It is a general area of moorings out the from of a yacht club and cafe. I was just tied up on their short term mooring while I went ashore for a coffee and muffin.


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

Compared to Christmas / New Year there was almost no boats in the Refuge Bay area last week.

Has been some rockfalls at the waterfall beach since I was last there.



tdw said:


> Brian,
> That crowded anchorage (Refuge Bay and America Bay - they interlock) is probably the most crowded in all of Australia during holidays but it is full of moorings (used only casually) so anchoring is not necessary. It also has a couple of nice wee beaches, one complete with waterfall.
> Not good for grumpy old anti social misanthropes like a certain fuzzball I could name but outside of the holidays it can be almost deserted.
> 
> ...


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

wopalx said:


> The picture of the anchorage was not where we were cruising. It is a general area of moorings out the from of a yacht club and cafe. I was just tied up on their short term mooring while I went ashore for a coffee and muffin.


My goofup .... I was thinking that was you moored in the section joining America and Refuge. Is that off the shop/cafe adjoining the RMYC at Cottage Point ?


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## wopalx (Feb 13, 2012)

tdw said:


> My goofup .... I was thinking that was you moored in the section joining America and Refuge. Is that off the shop/cafe adjoining the RMYC at Cottage Point ?


Yes that's correct.


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