Hi all,
I've just joined - what a great community! I'm hoping someone may be able to offer some advice on moorings in Sydney Harbour.

Today I'm having a yacht (31 foot) pulled out of the water for survey, and all being well, I'll be buying her tomorrow. I'll obviously need somewhere to keep her.

I'll be sailing on Sydney Harbour - Wednesday twilight races at CYC in Ruschcutters Bay, and weekend cruising with friends & family/swimming off the back/picnic etc around Manly/Quarantine Beach/Milk Beach etc, ie in the main harbour. So ideally I'd be getting a private mooring in the Ruschcutters Bay/Elizabeth Bay/Double Bay area, but all have a waitlist at the minute.

According to the Transport for NSW Private Mooring map, the closest mooring area with no waitlist is Greenwich Baths.

Does anyone keep their yacht at Greenwich? And if so, how do you find it in terms of exposure to wind, wash etc? How is dinghy storage and access? How long does it take you to sail from there into the main harbour, e.g. to Fort Denison or thereabouts?

Some other possibilities with no waitlist, but further from the CYC, are Drummoyne Bay and Woodford Bay - so any thoughts on those mooring areas would be appreciated as well.

And finally does anyone know of any commercial moorings in the eastern suburbs I could rent by the month while waiting for a Double Bay/Darling Point/Point Piper waitlist mooring? (I've tried Double Bay Marina and Elizabeth Bay Marina but neither have anything available.)

Hope this is not asking too much! And thanks in advance

The reason Greenwich Baths has mooring spots available is because it is very exposed to weather and harbour traffic. Very few want to leave their boat there.
I had my boat in Drummoyne off the Sailing Club. It was very good and I had a dinghy rack at the club.
I had an earlier boat up the Lane Cove river, very good and sheltered but a long way from the main harbour.
I also had a boat up in Morrisons Bay. Also good but a long way away from the harbour proper.
All the good mooring areas have a wait list. Take a mooring that you can get and join the wait list for a better area.

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MorningBird said..
The reason Greenwich Baths has mooring spots available is because it is very exposed to weather and harbour traffic. Very few want to leave their boat there.
I had my boat in Drummoyne off the Sailing Club. It was very good and I had a dinghy rack at the club.
I had an earlier boat up the Lane Cove river, very good and sheltered but a long way from the main harbour.
I also had a boat up in Morrisons Bay. Also good but a long way away from the harbour proper.
All the good mooring areas have a wait list. Take a mooring that you can get and join the wait list for a better area.

Thanks MorningBird - I saw your earlier posts from 2016 about Drummoyne Bay. There is no waitlist there currently according to the TfNSW map. Would you recommend it? It's still fairly close to where I want to sail.

I'll add in my $0.02.

I used to have a mooring in Betts Bay. Absolutely beautiful surrounds, very sheltered with a nice shallow beach to launch from. However, it was the wrong side of Gladesville bridge and Hunters Hill council decided in their infinite wisdom to start charging for dinghy storage on the beach (with no shelter or anything provided). I'd be ok with that in theory, but as a non resident, they wanted to charge $485 a year.

Thus, I moved over to Drummoyne Bay. The bay itself is pretty open to nor'easters (though that did make sailing off the mooring easier), but a tiny bit closer to things. The other disadvantage is that the main launching area (Rea Reserve) is pretty much a rock platform and can be a bit slippery/bumpy at times.

If you're playing in the main harbour though, you're looking at some fairly serious travel times. From Greenwich, as an example, it's about 3 nautical miles to the top of Rushcutters Bay, so you'd need to plan on getting off your mooring about 45 mins before you needed to be at CYC. (assuming 5-6kts motoring speed)

If you were willing to come across to the dark side though, there is, of course, some amazing racing to be had in the West Harbour if that helps you out. Drummoyne on Tuesdays, Greenwich on Wednesdays and finally, Balmain organises races Friday afternoons, Friday Twilights and combined West Harbour clubs every second Sunday.

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Planeray said..
I'll add in my $0.02.

I used to have a mooring in Betts Bay. Absolutely beautiful surrounds, very sheltered with a nice shallow beach to launch from. However, it was the wrong side of Gladesville bridge and Hunters Hill council decided in their infinite wisdom to start charging for dinghy storage on the beach (with no shelter or anything provided). I'd be ok with that in theory, but as a non resident, they wanted to charge $485 a year.

Thus, I moved over to Drummoyne Bay. The bay itself is pretty open to nor'easters (though that did make sailing off the mooring easier), but a tiny bit closer to things. The other disadvantage is that the main launching area (Rea Reserve) is pretty much a rock platform and can be a bit slippery/bumpy at times.

If you're playing in the main harbour though, you're looking at some fairly serious travel times. From Greenwich, as an example, it's about 3 nautical miles to the top of Rushcutters Bay, so you'd need to plan on getting off your mooring about 45 mins before you needed to be at CYC. (assuming 5-6kts motoring speed)

If you were willing to come across to the dark side though, there is, of course, some amazing racing to be had in the West Harbour if that helps you out. Drummoyne on Tuesdays, Greenwich on Wednesdays and finally, Balmain organises races Friday afternoons, Friday Twilights and combined West Harbour clubs every second Sunday.

Thanks Planeray. I was down looking at Greenwich Baths yesterday and met a lovely chap called Ken who had a small boat in the bay there and another one around the corner; he's a member of Greenwich Flying Squadron and mentioned the Wednesday twilights - suggested I think about joining GFS and racing there, and as you say save a ton of time getting to the start line. So I think that's what I'll do.

Bearing that in mind, Drummoyne is still an option nearby but that entry sounds a bit hairy. Otherwise Woodford Bay or Greenwich Baths.

Any comments on Woodford Bay in terms of dinghy storage, entry & exit, and protection/exposure?

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Glaucus said..

MorningBird said..
The reason Greenwich Baths has mooring spots available is because it is very exposed to weather and harbour traffic. Very few want to leave their boat there.
I had my boat in Drummoyne off the Sailing Club. It was very good and I had a dinghy rack at the club.
I had an earlier boat up the Lane Cove river, very good and sheltered but a long way from the main harbour.
I also had a boat up in Morrisons Bay. Also good but a long way away from the harbour proper.
All the good mooring areas have a wait list. Take a mooring that you can get and join the wait list for a better area.

Thanks MorningBird - I saw your earlier posts from 2016 about Drummoyne Bay. There is no waitlist there currently according to the TfNSW map. Would you recommend it? It's still fairly close to where I want to sail.

Yes I would if you join the Sailing Club and get a dinghy berth there. I'd recommend it anyway. I rarely couldn't get out to the boat because of weather conditions, and it is an interesting part of the harbour.

Woodford Bay is sheltered and the dinghy storage is free on the shore, but you have to register with the council. Only problem is no floating pontoons nearby to load crew.

We had an RMS mooring at Woolwich many years ago.. It sucked and I'd never go back. Parking is scare and the ferries go very close. I'd go with Woodford bay too. See why the dinghy storage is free.
www.google.com/maps/@-33.8323033,151.1718487,3a,75y,52.98h,83.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sn_NSILueJBwZTfyGZJvQ8Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Thanks all. I've applied for a mooring at Woodford Bay and applied to join Greenwich Flying Squadron for their Wednesday twilights.