Hi All,

Im considering a bit more of a perm base for my yacht and I....am currently in Sydney and whilst the harbour is fun its also very busy...Pittwater is the next stop but also very busy and it takes up to 1.5 hours to get to some areas (ie Newport) from where I am (which is inner sydney)! So I was thinking Lake Macquarie...Ive a 35 footer and I do enjoy the occasional coastal run but for most part happy to get out on the water and enjoy a sail...as such was wondering if anyone can share their experiences of being there and sailing there....from what I see the marinas are a helluva lot cheaper than Sydney for starters....

I don't think you'll regret keeping the yacht at LM for a while at least. Look for an area that is quick & close to a freeway exit.
I know the commercial moorings in Toronto would be relatively cheap compared to Sydney.
Good base too, good day sails to Newcastle, Port Stephans, Pittwater from there.
cheers & how about a few photos of the new boat

If you just want to do weekend sailing for the most part, you would be hard pushed to find a better place to keep your yacht than Lake Macquarie. I was only there for a week when I bought my yacht from there but I fell in love with the place.

Smooth water sailing mostly, not much commercial traffic, plenty of marinas and moorings. I did the trip up from Sydney a couple of times and I think you are looking at the best part of 3 hours to get there. Once you are on the Gosford Expressway it is a fairly fast run.

Its a great place to sail , plenty of depth and plenty of
places to shelter from any type of weather you wont be dissapointed
if you relocate your yacht up here .My boat is moored in bonnells bay
near morisset which is one hour from hornsby on the freeway
cheers Ray

Hi Holdfastom
Lake Macquarie is a great cruising area , I believe the channel is good at the moment , a call to marine rescue lake macquarie will let you know.
The channel can silt up at times particularly when they let the dredging lapse , however yachts drawing 1.8m can usually work the tides to get in and out.
Once in the lake its great flat water sailing in summer with the Noreasters coming across from the ocean.
There is a good sized island in the lake , it is unihabited and has a couple of anchorages protected from the south or west.
There are not too many shallow areas in the lake if you keep away from parts of the eastern shore.
Wangi , Toronto and Belmont have the most clubs , marinas, wharfs and short walks to supermarkets and servos for fuel
We consider the lake to be busy on Saturdays with many fleets racing although from what i have experienced on the harbour or Pittwater we are very spoilt.
The rest of the time it can be uncrowded, particularly south of Wangi .
A good introduction to the lake would be take a commercial mooring from RMYC at Toronto ( its only 15 minutes from the M1 motorway ), join the club for showers , drinks, meals dinghy storage, easy parking etc and start exploring
Pilgrim

As per the above comments, it is a most worthwhile cruising ground.

We took our Northshore up from Wollongong to a regatta and decided to keep it there for a few months and explore.

Another place not mentioned was over at Rathmines. Albeit somewhat quieter, there is some interesting wartime history there as a Catalina airplane base.
We took shelter in a strong southerly and when that abated, enjoyed the walks along the shoreline.

A friend here, finds it worthwhile enough to take his Bavaria up to Marmong marina each year for haul out.

With a little forward planning to get through the channel/bridge at Swansea and you will enjoy the area.
It is a very large body of water inside the Lake and suffers little tide variation.

We found the club at Toronto friendly enough. The pub up the hill had the bar propped up by us on occasion as well.

Regards,

C.R.

Thats brilliant info thank you all :) Looks like the perfect choice...Ive actually got an idea around some youth work and sailing and was looking for a reasonably safe but just as fun environment and LM seems perfect...

As to Swansea channel/bridge are there any guides on that...would I need to anchor somewhere (or catch a mooring) to wait for bridge opening times (guessing that they would have a schedule or is it on demand within certain times?) ...and below is a very recent pic of her :)

She looks great Holdfastom. As a previous owner of a Bounty 35 I know you will have many years of safe ,dry ,great sailing .
I'm jealous.

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Bananabender said..
She looks great Holdfastom. As a previous owner of a Bounty 35 I know you will have many years of safe ,dry ,great sailing .
I'm jealous.

Do tell more please! :) I've sailed a few different similarly sized yachts with varied levels of comfort and wondered what she would be like for coastal passage and maybe some offshore stuff also...I'd love to sail her up to the Whitsundays or maybe Lord Howe....or is she more of a inshore cruiser (which will be just as fun:) )?

I agree with all the positive comments regarding the lake, a great place to sail.

If you plan traveling from Sydney, and are looking at a marina berth then also have a look at Wyee Point. Very low key but well protected from the south and west. The marina is more exposed to the NE. The southern end of the lake is generally less crowded than the northern end, with better overnight anchorages.

Re entering the lake. Depth at the bar is tide + 1.5 m. Depth in the channel varies with condition. Slack water in the channel is around 2 to 2.5 hours after high tide at Newcastle or Sydney. It is best to plan the trip up the channel at around this time. There are public moorings both sides of Swansea bridge. Pick up one of those, have a coffee, relax for a while. Bridge openings are on the hour, booked through marine rescue.

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holdfastom said..

Bananabender said..
She looks great Holdfastom. As a previous owner of a Bounty 35 I know you will have many years of safe ,dry ,great sailing .
I'm jealous.

Do tell more please! :) I've sailed a few different similarly sized yachts with varied levels of comfort and wondered what she would be like for coastal passage and maybe some offshore stuff also...I'd love to sail her up to the Whitsundays or maybe Lord Howe....or is she more of a inshore cruiser?

Hi mate, great solid boats, I have raced one to Hobart, lord Howe, and mooloolaba, and then enjoyed the cruise home each time. Just before I started sailing on the boat, the owner did a pacific cruise for about 12 months.
I would take a good one just about anywhere.

Cheers

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LMY said..
I agree with all the positive comments regarding the lake, a great place to sail.

If you plan traveling from Sydney, and are looking at a marina berth then also have a look at Wyee Point. Very low key but well protected from the south and west. The marina is more exposed to the NE. The southern end of the lake is generally less crowded than the northern end, with better overnight anchorages.

Re entering the lake. Depth at the bar is tide + 1.5 m. Depth in the channel varies with condition. Slack water in the channel is around 2 to 2.5 hours after high tide at Newcastle or Sydney. It is best to plan the trip up the channel at around this time. There are public moorings both sides of Swansea bridge. Pick up one of those, have a coffee, relax for a while. Bridge openings are on the hour, booked through marine rescue.

Great info, I would be looking at a berth for the time being also and prefer the less crowded and closer to sydney end...Wyee Point looks great actually (just googled mapped it) thanks!

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Supersonic27 said..

holdfastom said..

Bananabender said..
She looks great Holdfastom. As a previous owner of a Bounty 35 I know you will have many years of safe ,dry ,great sailing .
I'm jealous.

Do tell more please! :) I've sailed a few different similarly sized yachts with varied levels of comfort and wondered what she would be like for coastal passage and maybe some offshore stuff also...I'd love to sail her up to the Whitsundays or maybe Lord Howe....or is she more of a inshore cruiser?

Hi mate, great solid boats, I have raced one to Hobart, lord Howe, and mooloolaba, and then enjoyed the cruise home each time. Just before I started sailing on the boat, the owner did a pacific cruise for about 12 months.
I would take a good one just about anywhere.

Cheers

That does inspire...I knew I had a good feeling about her :)

She was actively raced with the ORCV for years and handled everything chucked at her.
I saw herup for sail a couple of years ago up where your going . Hull is now white but still had two spin. poles ,one being anodised gold
With such a high freeboard and deep cockpits they are dry boats to sail and as you know have heaps of room below .
We were well and truly knocked down twice with spinnaker

of

f the coast and both times once the kite was released she just popped up.
I preferred tiller as you could keep down low in rough weather and I felt I had a better feel of the helm.
If of any use I have her IOR rating certificate which shows all measurements etc. etc.and other data which I will happily copy and send to you.
I would sail one anywhere if properly set up

LM looks great. Loved the pittwater though. Sydney harbour def much busier than pittwater. Winter in the harbours been great. Think this summer may be our last in the harbour too and will be used to jump up and down the coast over xmas.

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Bananabender said..
She was actively raced with the ORCV for years and handled everything chucked at her.
I saw herup for sail a couple of years ago up where your going . Hull is now white but still had two spin. poles ,one being anodised gold
With such a high freeboard and deep cockpits they are dry boats to sail and as you know have heaps of room below .
We were well and truly knocked down twice with spinnaker

of

f the coast and both times once the kite was released she just popped up.
I preferred tiller as you could keep down low in rough weather and I felt I had a better feel of the helm.
If of any use I have her IOR rating certificate which shows all measurements etc. etc.and other data which I will happily copy and send to you.
I would sail one anywhere if properly set up

thank you, please do send any info if you could I will pm you my email etc as I have next to no info on her...yes my yacht did come from LM as I found some evidence of it onboard..its also been up whitsundays at some stage (got a plaque inside), shes got a sail number of H 94 (i think from memory)...

I grew up on Lake Macquarie so might be a bit biased. We currently have our boat down here at Drummoyne but can't move back up there fast enough.

It's not just scenically beautiful but a great place to sail