Here is my trip North so far, on the days we have sailed all day, we have covered approximately 50 nm actual, but the prevailing wind has been North, with only one South, and some consistent run to beam reaching conditions.
My Bav 37 is sailing along nicely, typically at 6 knots on the nose, with some 8 knots averages on the reaching day.


DAY 1 Port Hacking to Sydney Harbour
DAY 2 SH to Norah Head
DAY 3 NH to Port Stephens
DAY4 PS to Broughton Island
DAY5 BI to Crowdy Head
DAY6 CH to Trial Bay
DAY 7. TB to Coffs Harbour
DAY 8. Coffs lay day
DAY 9 CH To Iluka
DAY 10 Iluka to Byron Bay
DAY 11 Byron to Gold Coast

We had to fix the auto pilot steer chain, see our fix in photos, we have two on board, and have enjoyed the experience so far.



The joys of all day passage making, near Port Stephens


The Dyneema chain repair, working perfectly, my main steering chain is fine, ok!
Tramping along, close hauled and doing 7 knots

Parked in Coffs, we were next to another Bav, a 40 mines in the background


The view out the cockpit at night in our current location.

So with the Beacon to Beacon in hand we will work our way through the inland route over the course of the week end.

Cheers Richard

Hi Richard,
Looks great, thanks for the great pics.
A few of us would be sporting a 'green tinge' looking at them.

Keep the pics & info coming Richard!!

I didn't get things sorted to go north this year - but definitely next year.
There is a closed Facebook group "Cruising Qld 2019" with plenty of info & members: www.facebook.com/groups/278181553081259/

Where did y anchor in Byron Bay and how did you find the night there?
Something I always wanted to do!

yeah byron wasnt right for us either. Noosa was though. loved noosa, but the lifeguards will not let you bring a dinghy ashore and leave it on the beach


Noosa. Was blowing pretty hard this day. about 25 knots about 2 m swell. was flat as in Noosa. Slightly rolly but pretty good. When the flags came down i moved the boat in the corner a bit. We had a great nights sleep and headed for WBB at about 4am

Going quick! Took me 6 months to go Cronulla to Southport haha.

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saltiest1 said..
Going quick! Took me 6 months to go Cronulla to Southport haha.

ooooh careful or the authorities might try calculate how many days you spent at anchor , making you a criminal :)

Great photos and enjoyed the update Richard, thx!
Tomorrow night there is a race starting from Green Island'ish then heading north out of the bay to Moolloolaba. They race back on Monday am, so you might run into the fleet somewhere.
Where are you anchoring up in the bay?

Great photos.
I plan to head north in June but you'll be way ahead of me.
I'm also in the facebook group mentioned above. There's a great crowd heading north this year.

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Bundeenabuoy said..
Hi Richard,
Looks great, thanks for the great pics.
A few of us would be sporting a 'green tinge' looking at them.

I'm sorry Bundeena, I can't believe I'm actually doing it, after watching so many other enjoying the journey. At Southport we met up with a group doing a rally to Noumea, there is so many events on!

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Tamble said..
Where did y anchor in Byron Bay and how did you find the night there?
Something I always wanted to do!

Let's just say nowhere near as delightful as Iluka! It was more a necessity than must do spot, I was leary of Ballina, and it got us a further 15 nm up the track. In south conditions it would give shelter, and the holding is very good, it snapped one of my snubbers.

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McNaughtical said..
Great photos.
I plan to head north in June but you'll be way ahead of me.
I'm also in the facebook group mentioned above. There's a great crowd heading north this year.

Yes I joined that FB group too, we may run into you up there, I'm not heading back until late August early September

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shaggybaxter said..
Great photos and enjoyed the update Richard, thx!
Tomorrow night there is a race starting from Green Island'ish then heading north out of the bay to Moolloolaba. They race back on Monday am, so you might run into the fleet somewhere.
Where are you anchoring up in the bay?

Hello Shaggy,
we are currently in the Spit, but today Saturday plan on running up the channel, and will see were we end up, I was told Tangalooma was a spot to camp, I need to study the Beacon to Beacon to see what is achievable, but we will look out for Fusion

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Stockie said..

shaggybaxter said..
Great photos and enjoyed the update Richard, thx!
Tomorrow night there is a race starting from Green Island'ish then heading north out of the bay to Moolloolaba. They race back on Monday am, so you might run into the fleet somewhere.
Where are you anchoring up in the bay?

Hello Shaggy,
we are currently in the Spit, but today Saturday plan on running up the channel, and will see were we end up, I was told Tangalooma was a spot to camp, I need to study the Beacon to Beacon to see what is achievable, but we will look out for Fusion

We are in Moreton Bay, arrived out of inland passage last night and camped at Horseshoe Bay. Heading out to Moreton Island, Tangalooma as I write, not enough wind to fly sails here, registering 1.7 kt
i bet you racing will be painfull today. Do you have AIS I couldn't find Fusion on ship tracker?
cheers Richard
P.S. What a wonderfull playground you have here, for a Southerner the only concern is sticking to the channels, we are not used to that so much!

We are currently outside Noosa, making for Wide bay, calm NE, but Southerly prediction tomorrow, so we will line up for a bar crossing into GSS after talking to Tin Can VMR in the morning, hope to be inside Fraser if the S come in large!
Hey Sector Steve, how far ahead are you mate?

Mooloolaba was a delightful stop, albeit shallow at the harbour entrance.

Richard

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Stockie said..
We are currently outside Noosa, making for Wide bay, calm NE, but Southerly prediction tomorrow, so we will line up for a bar crossing into GSS after talking to Tin Can VMR in the morning, hope to be inside Fraser if the S come in large!
Hey Sector Steve, how far ahead are you mate?

Mooloolaba was a delightful stop, albeit shallow at the harbour entrance.

Richard

Made the Wide Bay Bar crossing this morning in perfect conditions, the GPS coordinates give by VMR are essential, I can see how it could be confusing to find the channel without them!
Making good use of the incoming tide motoring up to Garry's

cheers Richard

Nice quiet bar


Ferry

I'm planning to leave Jervis mid June. Solo this time.

That will make 4 maybe 5 Top Hats going north this year.

I'm planning to leave the Camden Haven on Friday 24th May for correct tides for entry into the Clarence river on 27th May.
I hope the weather will be kind.

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Sectorsteve said..
I'm planning to leave Jervis mid June. Solo this time.

Ok, sorry I had it in my mind you were at Noosa, my mistake mate.
Blowing mid 20,s here now, came in at 11:30 pm , but the tide is holding us almost beam on, weird but we are not moving on the anchor. Under North white cliffs, near Kingfisher Resort.
Richard

G'day Richard,
I ended up not doing the race, work commitments sadly!
We were out yesterday playing in the light airs, the bay looked like a sheet of glass, the wind was averaging from 0 to 4 knots. I had never seen so many dugongs , they must like the calm water.
That SW change last night had a bit of a cold snap to it, the temp here is 13 degrees at the moment.
Yes, the bay is a great spot to sail, it's like Tangalooma was settled by yachties, its almost a perfect beam reach most days!

Hope you guys are having a good trip mate, and you packed a couple of beanies!

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shaggybaxter said..
G'day Richard,
I ended up not doing the race, work commitments sadly!
We were out yesterday playing in the light airs, the bay looked like a sheet of glass, the wind was averaging from 0 to 4 knots. I had never seen so many dugongs , they must like the calm water.
That SW change last night had a bit of a cold snap to it, the temp here is 13 degrees at the moment.
Yes, the bay is a great spot to sail, it's like Tangalooma was settled by yachties, its almost a perfect beam reach most days!

Hope you guys are having a good trip mate, and you packed a couple of beanies!

Hey Shaggy,

last St night we huddled in near Kingfisher Resort off Fraser, wind and tide there made for a strange sensation, it hit us about 11pm and we were on a beam reach at anchor, for a moment I thought we were on the bottom!
WEIRD!
As I Wright we are making a night approach to Bundaberg , look forward to some shut eye
, but what great reach across from GSS we are hitting 8 knots at times in my little Bav
cheers Richard

Good work Stockie, looks like you are about to overtake me! I'm in at Pancake Creek waiting to see how long it will take for this wind to blow out, I really want to get out to Musgrave but don't want to wait forever for the right conditions...

Looks like you guys have a strong SE for the next 24 hours or so. All 4 models from Predictwind show a bit of breeze, predominantly SE.

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Stockie said..

shaggybaxter said..
G'day Richard,
I ended up not doing the race, work commitments sadly!
We were out yesterday playing in the light airs, the bay looked like a sheet of glass, the wind was averaging from 0 to 4 knots. I had never seen so many dugongs , they must like the calm water.
That SW change last night had a bit of a cold snap to it, the temp here is 13 degrees at the moment.
Yes, the bay is a great spot to sail, it's like Tangalooma was settled by yachties, its almost a perfect beam reach most days!

Hope you guys are having a good trip mate, and you packed a couple of beanies!

Hey Shaggy,

last St night we huddled in near Kingfisher Resort off Fraser, wind and tide there made for a strange sensation, it hit us about 11pm and we were on a beam reach at anchor, for a moment I thought we were on the bottom!
WEIRD!
As I Wright we are making a night approach to Bundaberg , look forward to some shut eye
, but what great reach across from GSS we are hitting 8 knots at times in my little Bav
cheers Richard

Burrum heads is great. Great fish n chips. Good iga . Pretty sheltered. This is when I love my tophat.
Also go right into bundaberg. Its awesome. Everything is a short walk. Water right there at the jetty. Burnett heads in my view is crap


Very shallow at green marker in middle of this screenshot. High tide is totally fine . sit on bottom like we did and wait... Best place to provision. Chandlery right near jetty. Cheapest booze shop Even closer.

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Futurecruiser said..
Good work Stockie, looks like you are about to overtake me! I'm in at Pancake Creek waiting to see how long it will take for this wind to blow out, I really want to get out to Musgrave but don't want to wait forever for the right conditions...

We are on our way to Pancake now, arrival latter this evening if you are still there, I would love to do LM too!
currently 15 nm past Bundy, SE 12 kts so great conditions, you might get a reach or to LM

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Sectorsteve said..

Stockie said..

shaggybaxter said..
G'day Richard,
I ended up not doing the race, work commitments sadly!
We were out yesterday playing in the light airs, the bay looked like a sheet of glass, the wind was averaging from 0 to 4 knots. I had never seen so many dugongs , they must like the calm water.
That SW change last night had a bit of a cold snap to it, the temp here is 13 degrees at the moment.
Yes, the bay is a great spot to sail, it's like Tangalooma was settled by yachties, its almost a perfect beam reach most days!

Hope you guys are having a good trip mate, and you packed a couple of beanies!

Hey Shaggy,

last St night we huddled in near Kingfisher Resort off Fraser, wind and tide there made for a strange sensation, it hit us about 11pm and we were on a beam reach at anchor, for a moment I thought we were on the bottom!
WEIRD!
As I Wright we are making a night approach to Bundaberg , look forward to some shut eye
, but what great reach across from GSS we are hitting 8 knots at times in my little Bav
cheers Richard

Burrum heads is great. Great fish n chips. Good iga . Pretty sheltered. This is when I love my tophat.
Also go right into bundaberg. Its awesome. Everything is a short walk. Water right there at the jetty. Burnett heads in my view is crap


Very shallow at green marker in middle of this screenshot. High tide is totally fine . sit on bottom like we did and wait... Best place to provision. Chandlery right near jetty. Cheapest booze shop Even closer.

We got in late to Burnett Heads 22:00
missed your details sorry, I asked VMR about Barrum before we left Fraser, must have got the wrong guy, just a benign WE DONT GIVE ADVICE line!
spoke to a fellow yachts at Burnett, KOKIMO nice bloke, he advised us Pancake was a good sheltered spot when the SE picks up.

might hunkered down for a spell there?

Richard

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shaggybaxter said..
Looks like you guys have a strong SE for the next 24 hours or so. All 4 models from Predictwind show a bit of breeze, predominantly SE.

Thanks for Heads Up, the VMR was saying the same, at least the wind is on our tail, nice 12 kts right now, we have a single reef in to make it easy downwind, bit of luck we make Pancake before it gets nasty?
cheers Richard

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Stockie said..

Sectorsteve said..

Stockie said..

shaggybaxter said..
G'day Richard,
I ended up not doing the race, work commitments sadly!
We were out yesterday playing in the light airs, the bay looked like a sheet of glass, the wind was averaging from 0 to 4 knots. I had never seen so many dugongs , they must like the calm water.
That SW change last night had a bit of a cold snap to it, the temp here is 13 degrees at the moment.
Yes, the bay is a great spot to sail, it's like Tangalooma was settled by yachties, its almost a perfect beam reach most days!

Hope you guys are having a good trip mate, and you packed a couple of beanies!

Hey Shaggy,

last St night we huddled in near Kingfisher Resort off Fraser, wind and tide there made for a strange sensation, it hit us about 11pm and we were on a beam reach at anchor, for a moment I thought we were on the bottom!
WEIRD!
As I Wright we are making a night approach to Bundaberg , look forward to some shut eye
, but what great reach across from GSS we are hitting 8 knots at times in my little Bav
cheers Richard

Burrum heads is great. Great fish n chips. Good iga . Pretty sheltered. This is when I love my tophat.
Also go right into bundaberg. Its awesome. Everything is a short walk. Water right there at the jetty. Burnett heads in my view is crap


Very shallow at green marker in middle of this screenshot. High tide is totally fine . sit on bottom like we did and wait... Best place to provision. Chandlery right near jetty. Cheapest booze shop Even closer.

We got in late to Burnett Heads 22:00
missed your details sorry, I asked VMR about Barrum before we left Fraser, must have got the wrong guy, just a benign WE DONT GIVE ADVICE line!
spoke to a fellow yachts at Burnett, KOKIMO nice bloke, he advised us Pancake was a good sheltered spot when the SE picks up.

might hunkered down for a spell there?

Richard

Perfect place to be in those conditions. Ain't so fun in Northerlies. Too exposed to the north. I went into burrum a few times. Got 1.2m on the sounder at low tide in the shallows . High tides sweet for any draft. Not a tanker but ya get my drift

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Stockie said..

Futurecruiser said..
Good work Stockie, looks like you are about to overtake me! I'm in at Pancake Creek waiting to see how long it will take for this wind to blow out, I really want to get out to Musgrave but don't want to wait forever for the right conditions...

We are on our way to Pancake now, arrival latter this evening if you are still there, I would love to do LM too!
currently 15 nm past Bundy, SE 12 kts so great conditions, you might get a reach or to LM

I have read Musgrave is not great when the swell and/or wind are up and neither look great for the rest of the week so now leaning towards continuing on and trying to get out there on the way back.
I'll be sitting out the forecast 30knots tomorrow at least, might go on to Gladstone Tuesday depending on the conditions. Been blowing pretty hard here all day but hard to tell what it's like out the front.
I'd be wary of coming much farther in than the outer entrance if you get here in the dark, especially on a dropping tide. I actually anchored in Bustard Bay off Seventeen Seventy and then did the last 12 or so miles up here to come in on a rising tide the next morning.
Safe sailing anyway, when you get here I am the mono anchored up the creek a bit beyond the public moorings.

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Futurecruiser said..

Stockie said..

Futurecruiser said..
Good work Stockie, looks like you are about to overtake me! I'm in at Pancake Creek waiting to see how long it will take for this wind to blow out, I really want to get out to Musgrave but don't want to wait forever for the right conditions...

We are on our way to Pancake now, arrival latter this evening if you are still there, I would love to do LM too!
currently 15 nm past Bundy, SE 12 kts so great conditions, you might get a reach or to LM

I have read Musgrave is not great when the swell and/or wind are up and neither look great for the rest of the week so now leaning towards continuing on and trying to get out there on the way back.
I'll be sitting out the forecast 30knots tomorrow at least, might go on to Gladstone Tuesday depending on the conditions. Been blowing pretty hard here all day but hard to tell what it's like out the front.
I'd be wary of coming much farther in than the outer entrance if you get here in the dark, especially on a dropping tide. I actually anchored in Bustard Bay off Seventeen Seventy and then did the last 12 or so miles up here to come in on a rising tide the next morning.
Safe sailing anyway, when you get here I am the mono anchored up the creek a bit beyond the public moorings.

Hello Futurecruiser,

well we we took your lead and opted for Bustard bay tonight, I need to send out a search party, but we will try and call in tomorrow, if your still in Pancake.
we started off in 16 kt them for a while had a bit less, then right about Agness Waters it whipped up to plus 20
so happy to be in a comfy anchorage, not too bad considering the waves out the front.
cheers Richard

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Stockie said..

Futurecruiser said..

Stockie said..

Futurecruiser said..
Good work Stockie, looks like you are about to overtake me! I'm in at Pancake Creek waiting to see how long it will take for this wind to blow out, I really want to get out to Musgrave but don't want to wait forever for the right conditions...

We are on our way to Pancake now, arrival latter this evening if you are still there, I would love to do LM too!
currently 15 nm past Bundy, SE 12 kts so great conditions, you might get a reach or to LM

I have read Musgrave is not great when the swell and/or wind are up and neither look great for the rest of the week so now leaning towards continuing on and trying to get out there on the way back.
I'll be sitting out the forecast 30knots tomorrow at least, might go on to Gladstone Tuesday depending on the conditions. Been blowing pretty hard here all day but hard to tell what it's like out the front.
I'd be wary of coming much farther in than the outer entrance if you get here in the dark, especially on a dropping tide. I actually anchored in Bustard Bay off Seventeen Seventy and then did the last 12 or so miles up here to come in on a rising tide the next morning.
Safe sailing anyway, when you get here I am the mono anchored up the creek a bit beyond the public moorings.

Hello Futurecruiser,

well we we took your lead and opted for Bustard bay tonight, I need to send out a search party, but we will try and call in tomorrow, if your still in Pancake.
we started off in 16 kt them for a while had a bit less, then right about Agness Waters it whipped up to plus 20
so happy to be in a comfy anchorage, not too bad considering the waves out the front.
cheers Richard

Nice, yeah it's a little rolly in there but if you have enough wind to keep the swell off your beam it's fine.
I'll still be here tomorrow so if you do drop in come and say gday.