Hi sailors,

long time reader but new around here. I have just bought a keelboat in Cairns and am looking to bring it to Perth.
I'm interested in thoughts on best time and route to sail it back to WA. My window is June to October. I've sailed across the top a long time ago in October and it was a pretty benign sail with a few days becalmed across the top. I am aware of the SWerly winds which blow pretty hard the entire coast of WA and more particularly in the North Western half, so it would be on the nose for the best part of 2,000nm

Alternatively, sailing down the East coast would be on the nose for the most part for at least half way?? Thoughts on going across the Bight in September? I know the Southern Ocean can be a bit of a mixed bag of conditions, but would appreciate anyone's experiences or advice.
may break it up into legs of either:-
Route A:Cairns-Darwin, Darwin-Carnarvon and finally Carnarvon-Perth.

Route B: Cairns-Brisbane, Brisbane-Sydney, Sydney-Melbourne, Melbourne-Adelaide and Adelaide-Perth


Boat is a Northshore 38 and any advice graciously accepted.
Many thanks

Salty

Select to expand quote

Congratulations! Hope it's all you expected when you actually see it. Did it end up having the lead keel boot?

I'm a bit surprised with all the experience here that it doesn't look like anybody is jumping on board to make suggestions as to how to get it home. Unfortunately I can't help you there. Personally I would try the top route but I have absolutely no experience with either. I've been told that there are not a lot of hidey holes down the WA coast and as you say it's mostly strong onshore breezes and seas/swells.

If you get on the Northshore owners Facebook group I'm sure that Rob Large would help you with advice as to how to best get from Sydney to Adelaide as he has done that the last two years after competing DH in the Hobart in his 38. He is a helpful guy. (With no dodger till now either ha ha) He is also doing it this year to too. That still leaves Adelaide to Perth?? There are two other Adelaide guys on there who have travelled reasonably far afield in their NS38s so even if none of them have personal experience I'm sure they have rubbed shoulders with others that have travelled West from Adelaide. Are you thinking single handed?

Congratulations on your purchase.
I have circumnavigated Australia and been across the Bight a number of times on a 109m waterline ship (as the Engineer). Every time I have been across the Bight we have encountered a storm and in my experience it's a less forgiving area than the Bass Straight, due partly to the time your out there.

My preference would be over the top unless you're heading East.
Free Range Sailing has a good You Tube video of their Tassie to WA trip. It gives you a good indication of conditions, they did a major refit to get their boat up to the required level of seaworthiness for the passage.

Hi Salty,
I brought a 473 across the Top End from Brisbane to Perth a few years ago. I'll PM you over the next few days and if you like we can organize to meet up and we can discuss it if you like. Where abouts in Perth are you?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies thus far, I've been diligently contacting weathered sailors of varying degrees of experiences from hard core racers to cruisers and in between. Consensus is overwhelmingly to sail over the top and down the west coast mostly due to the unpredictability of the weather and lack of safe harbour in the Bight. Migrating whales and tides also considered, but it looks like thongs and t-shirts rather than jumpers, boots and foulies

The boat is in very good order and will be surveyed prior to handover. Not expecting to need to add much more than fuel, water, food and charts.

I won't be sailing it back solo because I don't know the boat well enough and although it's fitted out with nice gear, I don't know whether the boat has been fitted out with adequate redundancy for long distance cruising if something should fail, or the solar panels don't feed enough charge to keep fridge and autopilot and nav all running at once.
All this shall be revealed in due course. I'm still awaiting technical specs on the boat such as sails, fuel tank size, water tank sizes, battery capacity etc. It all looks good, but will feel better when I know the stats.

Really looking forward to a great adventure. Feel free to contact me via PM Toph. I'm NOR.
Thanks again for your considered responses

Fair winds,

Salty