Hello tigers,

Your brother crazy Serb here,

I am planing to jump on my sailing boat ( 26f) early in the morning, around 5 am and head down south towards botany bay and try to get back to Woolwich around sunset. It that possible? In the morning I will be using the engine max speed 6knots, will try to keep 5 knots with 70% of the open throttle. With little bit of luck I should get to botany around 11 am. On the way back the wind behind me should push me up (southern wind) towards the heads. If I am stuck I can use engine and sails.

This is my hypothesis. I have never done something like this but I really want to do it. What problems I can came across? Why people are so scared of open waters? How far should I sail from the shore?
Any info will be cool. If to demanding I can try to reach pittwater and than back. That looks a bit better option to start with. I am over enthusiastic? I had enough of sailing around goat Island and bloody shark Island.. whent out of the heard couple of times but really want to go a bit more further. So far I managed to come close to dee way but ended up very close to some rocks and the small island in the ocean. Maybe get a friend to go with me because around the heads waves can make me feel sick and it is impossible to leave the tiller even for a single sec..
What sailing trip I could do to improve my confidence and slowly getting one of dreams done

I sail like this most of the time (emphasis on sail- hate engines). I sail just for the sake of it. But I don't plan a destination. Sometimes I just head east (from Mooloolaba) and turn around when I've had enough (often reluctantly) - no where to go but ocean, safe away from the hard bits that go bump. Open waters aren't the scary bit. It's the rocks on the coast and the ****ing jet skis etc that are scary. The further away from that stuff the better. Just a suggestion: if you feel comfortable, don't restrict yourself to a sunset deadline. Sailing at night is magical.

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Serb1980 said..
Hello tigers,

Your brother crazy Serb here,

I am planing to jump on my sailing boat ( 26f) early in the morning, around 5 am and head down south towards botany bay and try to get back to Woolwich around sunset. It that possible? In the morning I will be using the engine max speed 6knots, will try to keep 5 knots with 70% of the open throttle. With little bit of luck I should get to botany around 11 am. On the way back the wind behind me should push me up (southern wind) towards the heads. If I am stuck I can use engine and sails.

This is my hypothesis. I have never done something like this but I really want to do it. What problems I can came across? Why people are so scared of open waters? How far should I sail from the shore?
Any info will be cool. If to demanding I can try to reach pittwater and than back. That looks a bit better option to start with. I am over enthusiastic? I had enough of sailing around goat Island and bloody shark Island.. whent out of the heard couple of times but really want to go a bit more further. So far I managed to come close to dee way but ended up very close to some rocks and the small island in the ocean. Maybe get a friend to go with me because around the heads waves can make me feel sick and it is impossible to leave the tiller even for a single sec..
What sailing trip I could do to improve my confidence and slowly getting one of dreams done

Hi, why go to port botany when just a little further you get to port hacking, spend the night at jibbon beach and have a pleasant sail back the next day. Good anchorage protected from everything except the west, or anything with some west in it, and some good bushwalking right there.

You shouldn't have any issue if you go to sea on the way south and stay close to shore on the way back, out of the southerly set.

Depends on how long you are staying in the bay time wise. The offshore racers go down and back in a few hours. Sometimes if sailing it'll take longer to get out of the harbour.

A good idea is to invest in an auto tiller. Having to be on the helm the whole time is exhausting. A Raymarine ST1000 or ST2000 can free you up to be your own decky snd allow you to rest on longer passages.
I won't sail without it, even if I don't use it, in an emergency, it's nice to have a backup. I solo quite a bit so it's pretty much essential.
DM

Hi Serb
You will get a lot of suggestions of what to buy/add to the boat to make it safer/ faster / easier to sail.
As Action Sports WA has said, nothing beats a tiller pilot.
Nothing!
When you eventually get one you will kick yourself for hesitating.

It add so much safety and freedom to sailing that you will be amazed.

gary

As everyone has said, get the tiller pilot. It's the best thing for single handing. Second best thing is a stack pack and lazyjacks for the main.

Pittwater is a little further than Botany Bay, but it's got plenty of places to stay, going up and back in a day is possible, given the right conditions. Jibbon in Port Hacking is also a must do, at least once.

Pick your weather, rather than the destination. If I'm going out, I'll sail to windward on the outbound in the hope that there's a downwind to bring me home easy. Have fun!

Hi Serb,
one thing to consider is that around the heads and the coast south has a lot of cliffs and rocks which create a confused lumpy swell due to rebound off the rocks.
I had one of the most uncomfortable sails ever going from Sydney to Botany Bay.
Heading north is better because there are a lot more beaches and less rebounding swell to mess things up.
A day with a NE sea breeze would be good to sail north for a bit then come back running downwind.

G'day Serb,
Lots of really good advice here already.
What Stray said is a good point and not something that is not evident on a chart, and that's how headlands can screw with the wind and current.
Sailing at night offshore is one of those bucket list thing I wish everyone gets to do. With a new moon the stars are so vivid it's kind of humbling. I have to catch myself from just staring at the sky with my mouth hanging open and remember to pay attention to the boat.

I like doing a really rudimentary passage plan. It can be a bunch of meaningless squiggles to other people but as long as it makes sense to you . It isn't to scale and I make no effort to draw the proper shoreline for example, it might just be a lump drawn on the edge of the page.
I look at the weather predictions, then look at where I want to go. I rough out a time line (lemme see....I'm going to be about here in 12 hours..) then look at the weather predictions for that area. This helps me think through what sail plan I should be running, what angle the wind should be and what is the trend?
I've often found weather predictions to be pretty good for wind strength and direction, but out on the timing. So you look at the predictions to gauge a general idea of the trend. Then when you're out there, you're going "Ok, it is still easterly, so the expected change to the North has not happened yet." Or..."Oh, its gone Northerly already. So now it is expected to get weaker and start backing to the West".

I find if I bother to draw a few (admittedly child like) mud maps prior to leaving the dock it helps me enormously.
And an autotiller or vane? A gamechanger, great idea.

Serb,
Have a look at Predictwind for weather forecasting, it's free for the low res models and a very handy tool.
Like any model, its only a prediction, but they give you four (hmm...now six?) different algorithms which is nice. You can turn each one on or off if you prefer one over the other.
Personally I look for averages across all the models, I don't get too hung up on the specifics. But it is interesting to compare and build up a simple map of what the wind is expected to look like and when.
And its kinda fun .
Cheers!

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garymalmgren said..
Hi Serb
You will get a lot of suggestions of what to buy/add to the boat to make it safer/ faster / easier to sail.
As Action Sports WA has said, nothing beats a tiller pilot.
Nothing!
When you eventually get one you will kick yourself for hesitating.

It add so much safety and freedom to sailing that you will be amazed.

gary

Windvane self steering gear beats a tiller pilot hands down. I would not clutter my boat with a tiller pilot. The noise alone sends me troppo.

Lots of good points above.
I would often take Morning Bird out from Pittwater about 1100 and head to sea on a reach. At 0300 I'd turn around and come home. On my own, windvane or tiller pilot steering. Awesome.
If you are staying close in to the coast on passages the tiller pilot will keep you on a heading clear of the coast. The windvane will steer to the wind and, in my case, wind changes took me in closer to the rocks on a couple of occasions. Ideally you have both.
On the longer ocean passages being on my own at night in the cockpit was my favourite time. Except when the weather deteriorated quickly and I had to get the crew up from their kip to reduce sail.

The only real danger with coastal sailing will be from amateur fishermen. Particularly late in the afternoon and the first few hours after sun set. Keep an eye out under the headsail. They will often only be visible at the last second.
Close in offshore off Botany Bay just after dark with the traffic and the lights and aircraft low overhead can be exciting!

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MorningBird said..
Lots of good points above.
I would often take Morning Bird out from Pittwater about 1100 and head to sea on a reach. At 0300 I'd turn around and come home. On my own, windvane or tiller pilot steering. Awesome.
If you are staying close in to the coast on passages the tiller pilot will keep you on a heading clear of the coast. The windvane will steer to the wind and, in my case, wind changes took me in closer to the rocks on a couple of occasions. Ideally you have both.
On the longer ocean passages being on my own at night in the cockpit was my favourite time. Except when the weather deteriorated quickly and I had to get the crew up from their kip to reduce sail.

+1
One of my favourite memories is moonrise over Bass Strait, boat doing 5 knots over a gentle swell in almost total silence.

Not sure what the "small island off Dee Why is". There is no small island off Dee why. Little Reef is a small island off Bungan Head further north and is the only island between the harbour and Barrenjoey. You shouldn't be anywhere near so close in to have an issue with Dee Why rocks or any rocks. Keep well out from Long Reef and the harbour north and south head cliffs where the wind can do anything or nothing. Wedding Cake Island off Coogee is the only island south between the harbour and Botany Bay. Again you should be well outside it. Cape Banks on the north head of the Botany Bay heads is extremely dangerous, especially in a mid-large swell but in any swell. Yachts have been washed onto it with dire results. Be aware that Botany Bay is nowhere near as deep as the harbour. Over at Quibray Bay and Towra the sandbanks extend well out. The Georges River mouth from the bay to the Capt Cook bridge, and Kogarah Bay, need dredging urgently but the Quibray and Towra sand banks would be too big a task.