Four days with winds from the north followed by four days with winds from the south. This used to be a fairly common weather pattern in my experience for the NSW East coast, which we took advantage of in many cruises over the years.
But this is very different from the weather we have received recently and this made me ponder what it would be like cruising this coast in today’s changed conditions. Just then, some old friends, Steven and Kathryn Iles rang and said that they’d like a chat because they were about to embark on a cruise to Grafton and back in a boat almost the same as ours and wanted to know if we would share our experiences with them.
Well sharing experiences is an essential part of cruising in our book so naturally we did and insisted that they returned the compliment on their return from a very successful cruise despite the vagaries of the current weather patterns. Here is what they told us…
Their boat, Sierra, is a Jarkan 925, locally designed and built in 1986 and sister ship to Gun Runner, which features in the Hobart each year. They are both experienced sailors including skiffs and yachts. Kathryn did her first trip to Hobart with her dad, Doug Brooker, in the family yacht when she was 8 years old, which was followed by a near Pacific cruise four years later. Having owned Sierra for a few years but now emancipated by retirement, this was going to be their first long cruise in their own boat. Unlike many cruisers, at this stage they do not have AIS or an auto helm, but keeping two hourly watches steering did not prove onerous and commercial traffic wasn’t a problem. They did invest in a 2.3m inflatable dinghy and small outboard, which fitted forward on the boat very conveniently and proved its worth carrying stores on many occasions. To keep track of the weather they referred to the usual BOM sites but found the European weather model (ECMWF) on Windy.com and PredictWind very reliable. Also used they believe by Roger Badham. They used a Samsung tablet powered from a 12v plug with C-Map and Navionics, both of which seemed to update regularly, which complemented their paper charts. A handheld GPS and handheld compass completed their navigation equipment.
They cruised Pittwater for six days at the end of April 2023 settling into the boat and awaiting a weather window for a direct sail to Port Stephens, starting in the dark of a very early morning to ensure a daylight arrival in Port Stephens. Here they continued past Nelson Bay and enjoyed a good calm anchorage for a few days in Salamander Bay. Crossing bars was one of their concerns for the trip but the westerlies gave them a calm exit from Port Stephens and Foster/Tuncurry was its usual kind self. It was the strength of the current in the narrow channel there that was a surprise to them and they paid extra attention when anchoring. With good weather still prevailing it was off the next
day to Laurieton, where local attractions and unfavourable weather entertained them for eight days. Anchored off the United Services Club, this gave them a great opportunity to enjoy what Laurieton had to offer, such as the showers at the club (a change from their solar shower), the quaint cinema, the friendliness of the locals and a
hike up North Brother Mountain, where this magnificent photo was taken.
(Ed. Unfortunately they didn’t get to see the museum, which is worth a visit). Whilst in Laurieton, they took a bus ride to Port Macquarie to upgrade their 100W solar panel, which had proved wanting when asked to,power the fridge on a long-term basis, to a 200W solar blanket, which has proved very effective.
May 11th saw them at sea for their first over-nighter for the 80+ miles to Coffs. As in other legs of the voyage sea life in the form of whales and dolphins provided entertainment and excitement as some of them took great interest in Sierra. The whales’ curiosity was fascinating. The yachts moored out in the outer harbour at Coffs were doing a good bit of rock and rolling, so Steven and Kathryn took refuge in the marina and caught up on sleep, before pushing on to the Clarence River. They arrived on 15th via the southern entrance, not without some concern. Time had got on a bit and around 1600 visibility was limited by heavy rain and the usual waves were breaking on the bar to the north.
However, they proceeded without incident and anchored in the quite shallow Iluka fishing boat harbour. Here they followed recommendations and walked the World Heritage Coastal Rain Forest behind the sand dunes to the north, which is worth seeing and leads to a constructed platform with views along the coast.
Fully rested they mainly motored up river observing the mixture of industries along the banks including small ship repair/building yards and sugar cane farms before anchoring just past the sugar mill at Harwood. They negotiated a convenient opening time for the old bridge and then walked the 3km to an Alpaca farm amongst the sugar cane fields, which proved very interesting and educational. Proceeding further up-river, they arrived at Lawrence on 21st . Here the river goes through an S bend and they had been warned that deep water was sometimes difficult to find as the river bottom changes with the seasons. In this case there had been major flooding recently, so they sought advice from a deep draughted yacht, who provided the attached mud map of a way through the shallows.
However, things got a bit shallow at one stage, so it would be advisable to get further local up-to-date advice if following in their wake.
Ulmarra proved an intriguing place but also a near disaster when returning after dark to the dinghy moored at a wharf. The ramp and the pontoon are at an oblique angle to one another and in the dark it proved very easy to walk right off it and into the water, which Kathryn managed to do, fortunately with no damage but a soggy trip back to the boat to change.
The boats at Ulmarra are moored on the far side of the river presumably to stay out of the main channel and tidal flow, but as in other parts of the river the centre of the river is shallower than the sides. Hence the need for a dinghy ride. At other places, the floating pontoon made dinghy tie-up very easy.
Grafton was the next stop and a good opportunity to stock up on groceries. The ‘Girl Guide’ wharf mentioned in Lucas was in poor repair since the recent floods, but landing was easy via the beach off the sailing club, and there was a new pontoon at South Grafton. In Grafton, they enjoyed a historical walking tour, following a map from the tourist information centre, and a dinghy trip to Susan Island which was once used for cattle grazing and is now in the process of being regenerated with native trees. With its low bridge, Grafton was the turning point of the journey, so it was now travelling with the current back down river with its flat meadows either side and grazing cows.
After stopping at the yacht-person friendly pub at Brushgrove, the 29th saw them tying alongside the very convenient wharf at Maclean, where, besides being a delightful little village with a Scottish heritage, there is water, sullage pumpout and a supermarket at the wharf ideal for restocking. Sometimes the staff even wheel your trolley down to the wharf for you! Through the old and magnificent new bridge to Yamba, where they enjoyed a visit to
another classic old cinema and a swim at the surf beach. Then it was back across the river to Iluka before setting off for a brief stop at Coffs. Exiting the Clarence proved interesting. They had been advised by “someone” local that due to the flooding, only the northern channel should be used. This is a bit inconvenient when travelling south, involving several additional miles around the outside of the extensive bar before proceeding south, so they went out onto the breakwater to observe it for themselves.
The wash from the waves breaking on the bar made the northern channel look most uncomfortable and whilst they were watching four commercial fishing boats departed the river. One went out via the north and three went out via the southern channel, so they thought they’d do the same. Now it’s not always wise to follow fishing boats, because they know things that we don’t but in this case it all worked out okay.
It was a nice run down the inside of the Solitary Islands except the jib fuller refused to unfurl. A solution wasn’t immediately obvious so out came the trusty spinnaker (see photo), which did the job brilliantly. The problem with the furler was easily rectified later when a restriction in the top swivel was solved with a squirt of WD40 (recommended in the Hood user manual!)
7th June was at sea en route to Laurieton, followed by stops at Forster and Port Stephens, then back to Americas Bay on 17th . Obviously, they had enjoyed living and cruising on the boat so much they were not hurrying to get back to their mooring at Bayview, because they “wound down” with a tour of all the popular spots in the Hawkesbury and Cowan Creek for another week, presumably enjoying having these places mid-week to themselves for a change!
They returned grateful to all the people who made them welcome along the way. People who offered them lifts, or to take them shopping or join them for a game of Bocce at Laurieton or advice on what to see locally. In particular to Marine Rescue with whom they were able to log on and off for each passage via the app. They could have done with fewer of the light westerlies they endured together with the consequent motoring. Steven would also have liked to have had less rain during his watches. Kathryn had none! Particularly at night they used 5 layers of clothes and being prone to some seasickness, they both took Kwells at the start of each leg with no undue side effects or bad sea sickness. Kathryn made up zip-lock bags of nibbles to sustain them on their watches and water bottles with just a drop of cordial in them. A hot drink was most restorative after two hours on the helm accompanied by Spotify via their Oppo phones and Telstra network. Their collapsible trolley was very useful when collecting fuel. One purchase of fuel was discovered to have some waxy substance in it. The problem was obviated, however, as the fuel filter had been set up so that the fuel was fed initially to the top of the filter (where any impurities will block it) and drawn off the bottom before going to the secondary filter. It was changed so that the fuel now goes into the top but down an internal tube to the bottom, where it rises through the filter leaving any impurities behind and is drawn off at the top to go to the secondary filter.
The things that Kathryn most welcomed on return, after of course family and friends, were a continuous hot shower and an electric blanket! They are already planning their next trip north, this time to Queensland.
(Ed.) So, despite our changed weather patterns, it still seems possible to enjoy a pleasant cruise along our coast. Steven and Katheryn appear to have spent no more time weather bound than we have in the past in our 4 and 4 weather pattern and like many cruisers they enjoyed the journey and not just the destination. Enjoy Queensland next year!
Glynne Attersall
SV Simply Irresistible
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