Brisbane to Sydney

IanBat · Mar 29, 2015

Hi Guys,

Have a great trip coming up.

My fishing partner pulled the trigger on a 36 Luhrs we checked out up in Queensland about 6 weeks ago now. Surveys all checked out good, required work and a few extra bits and pieces have been completed.

My mate and another are flying up on Tuesday to the Sunshine Coast, due to Business commitments I can't get away until Wednesday and will fly to Brisbane.

All up the trip back down the coast will be around 540Nm, and be all open sea, once we leave the Gold Coast. We will have several River Bar crossings to navigate to moor up for the evening.

Time wise we are looking for a stress free run of 5-7 days, however this will be dependant on fishing and the weather window.

Will update you all with a few photos and reports

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ph321 · Mar 29, 2015

Let me know if you need any advice on where to stay et . I brought my 48DA back from the Gold Coast last year. Loved everything about the trip except the fuel bill. We did it in three days, had the current with us most of the way averaging 26 knots.

Paul

IanBat · Mar 29, 2015

sweet said:
Let me know if you need any advice on where to stay et . I brought my 48DA back from the Gold Coast last year. Loved everything about the trip except the fuel bill. We did it in three days, had the current with us most of the way averaging 26 knots.

Paul

Thanks Paul, that's the only issue with running at that speed! Lol

The brother in law, took his 58 Riv, from Brisbane to the Whitsundays a few years back at a similar speed....I am aware of what his fuel was. Coming back we had one prop a bit out of vibration, so we ran the whole distance back at 10kn, which on the Cats was 873RPM, and the fuel bill was less than a third.

At least with this run, I'm not paying fuel!

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northern · Mar 29, 2015

We are from Canada and go north towards Alaska most years. This will be a good year to go as fuel seems lower this year.
What are the swell height and what kind of winds can you expect. When we go north 1 meter swell is normal and low winds are normally 5 to 10 knots and high can be 50 if there are storms (not very often). We do not cross open water unless the swells are less than 1.5 meters. With 10 knot wind the tops just start to blow off the tops of the swells.
What sort of cruising speed do you do. In open water we go 7 to 9 knots and in protected we go 6. If we have too we can go 18 knots but that is 50GPH at 3800RPM so can run out of fuel quickly.
What are water temperatures.
Sounds like you will have a good trip.

swordfisherman · Mar 29, 2015

Hi Ian, how are you? Good luck on your trip, it surely would be fun especially if you get good fishing too. It has been quite stormy up and down your area lately. Stay safe mate!

northshore · Mar 29, 2015

Have a good safe run Ian!

And pictures - lots of them

BritLady · Mar 30, 2015

Have a safe and enjoyable trip Ian!

Chris Nowell · Mar 30, 2015

All the best to you and your pals Ian. Day by day reports and pics would be great if you can. Take care.

thegotoguyr · Mar 31, 2015

May you have fair winds and following seas.
I know your.not sailing but still, good luck.

katricol · Apr 1, 2015

Fair weather Ian !!

IanBat · Apr 2, 2015

Well interesting start, Monday I sent 2 rod tubes and a pallet of gear up. Well Tuesday, one tube arrived, Wednesday another tube arrived. The pallet......Umh it's omewhere, but not here, and TNT don't know where!

Which means we have rods, no reels, no lures, I have no clothes, and the list keeps going!

So a trip to Kmart this morning, underpants, shorts and shirts. A web sales site, found a Penn International 50 setup for sale 5km from where I was so grabbed that. Ian, who's boat we are bringing back, went to the local tackle store, organised a Finnor 50 setup. When I got to the boat we discussed this, mad a call to the tackle store and organised a penn 850 spin outfit.....the guy at the store believe it or not, spooled both reels and delivered the outfits to us at 6.30pm on Thursday evening before Easter!

The guy at the marina was working on the aircon on the boat until 5pm...and then cam back down at 6 to give us a few skirt lures!

Safety wise, we have set up two ditch bags, with a brand new GME GPS water activated EPIRB, handheld VHF floating and submergeable as backup to the fitted unit. Both ditch bags are in the Flybridge with the life jackets.

All systems have been serviced and checked and we are ready to head off tomorrow.

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swordfisherman · Apr 2, 2015

How's the weather Ian?

IanBat · Apr 4, 2015

Today's trip.

Interesting day, had breakfast to find out we had totally flat batteries, and could not start an engine!

Then discovered that with the generator running the batteries are not receiving any charge.

Discovered the 3 outlet charger had 3 blown fuses! So bush mechanics, Perry did a marvellous job of bending some picture hangers into the same shape, and they worked.

So we boiled a pan of water on the stove tap, sat back and enjoyed it, and by that time, we had enough in the batteries to start the engines.

We then did a run to Newport, tied up outsidemy brother and sister in laws new residence. Many thanks to my young nephew, who had ran out and picked us up a deep cycle battery for the anchor winch.

Also his girlfriend, who dropped us at the local shopping Center whilst she picked My older nephew up from the train station. So whilst Ian and Perry went in to top up a few supplies and more importantly a few small metal lures and plastics.

I went to Repco and bought a few necessary bits and pieces and cringed at the price of everything I picked up!

Then I played Pawn Stars and walked next door into the Cash Convertors, managed to pick up a battery charger.

Then straight back to the boat and straight out. I had tried calling two marine chandlers for a winch solenoid. But no luck.

After we stopped tonight, a Gerry rig on the winch electrics, we now have a working winch. Also removed the picture hangers in the charger and replaced with new fuses.

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IanBat · Apr 5, 2015

Well we spent a very relaxing night off Russell Island, awoke to a beautiful morning.

Started the generator up, and had breakfast. Lifted the Anchor using the winch, the Gerry rigging worked well, just needed the bedroom hatch open, so Perry could yell at me buried under the bed operating the battery master switch. The procedure worked much better when we actually opened the hatch!

We then did the run down to Surfers, which with a few 6kn zones, there is no choice except for it to be leisurely. Pulled up at the fuel wharf, guy asked us how much we were putting in, then said it clicks off at 670L, so we will need to reset and I'll give you 6c a litre off.

Whilst doing this we saw a police vessel with a maritime officer come up alongside and start photographing the vessel..........there was no rego numbers on the boat!
So this started fairly uncomfortable. I will try and keep the explanation short....Queensland Boat, no address in Queensland so Ian could not transfer the rego. Tried to transfer it to NSW rego, but RMS need to sight the boat as anew rego, and a boat code has to be affixed. Qld rego papers mean nothing.

And we copped some of those take no prisoners officers...whilst we are discussing the rego, I'm filling the boat, the fuel hose clicks off, and I'm chatting with Perry about how much fuel we put in. And the nice policeman says and 2L in the Gold Coast seaway!
As the hose clicked off, the overflow breather dumped a litre out. So the photographed that as well!

Then they wanted to see all the safety gear, so life jackets (brand new) and the two ditch bags. They looked at the Brand New GPS Water Activated EPIRB. Where's the rego sticker? Huh, what rego sticker, well ANSA send out rego stickers you have to place on them, well it was only registered last week!

Luckily Ian had his IPad with us, with an email acknowledging the online registration. They then settled Down a bit, told us you should actually carry a copy of that letter to verify the registration, and that there is a delay with ANSA getting the labels out!

They then left, the maritime guy needed a new notebook, honestly he filled his pages, and a camera as he had no room left on it!

We headed out and tried a fish, first time we have ever been to a FAD and been the only boat on it and anywhere near it......probably because there was no fish.

So we decided to get some miles under our belt as it was only 1.30pm. So the run South started good, a nice long rolling swell but after about 30 mins, something happened..........the wind picked up, the waves stood up, and it became a hard wet run, we decided to run into Ballina. A little bit after Cape Byron, it improved a bit.

As we got off the bar crossing at Ballina, we radio'd in to inform them our intention to enter. And asked for advice on crossing.
Just stay clear of the southern wall, and try and pick it, it looks good then it stands up, there's no timing to the sets.
What type of boat are you in?
A 36' Flybridge
Oh ok, just hit it

It was an interesting crossing, to say the least! But the boat handled it like a dream.

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Havana Shamrock · Apr 5, 2015

Following your trip. Keep it up.
be safe

IanBat · Apr 6, 2015

I probably should of written on yesterday's post, that you know it's going to be an interesting bar crossing when a whole bunch of locals have migrated down to the break wall to watch the boats coming in!

So this morning we had a leisurely start, arrived at the bar at 7am, which meant we at least were a couple of hours into the incoming tide. A study of the bar showed no waves breaking this time, just long rollers up to 3m, so it was a comfortable quick run out.

Sea conditions once out were excellent, so we marked three fishing FADs on the way and headed to the first one. We saw quite a few turtles today and a lot of dolphin. Bird life though was definitely on strike for the day though.

We managed a few small Mahi Mahi and two keepers, which again provided a great evening meal.

Sea conditions were kind enough, that I was able to prepare some fresh smoked ham and egg sandwiches for lunch.

We pulled into Coffs Harbour at around 4pm, and for the first time moored up in a Marina for the night.

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IanBat · Apr 18, 2015

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Apologies that this thread seemed to stop. We ended up in Coffs Harbour for several days for a few reasons, not needed to go into.

Anyway a commitment was made to head off on Saturday Morning and do the final run in 1 day. The weather on Friday was not good, and there was a 3-5M surf break running into the harbour entrance.

Saturday Morning saw the same swell except without the break, so it was a relative easy run through the entrance and about 1nm out before turning right and setting plotter marks, and 'otto' the auto pilot that we had all come to love.

The seas weren't too bad, 2.5 - 3M swell with a 15-20kn wind which we were punching into. We were confident from all the weather checks we had done that this would ease throughout the day.

We run up to 2300Rpm which was running around 20kn, which was a nice spot for the boat in the conditions, albeit we were punching into the sea and wind.

Myself and Perry are both ex service, so we had agreed, on 2 on the bridge, and 1 resting downstairs for 2 hours at a stretch, as this would ensure always 1 fresh body upstairs.

The run to Port Stephens was harsh, with the conditions above all the way.

I have done far rougher water, I have done longer travels, 28 hours running a boat down the Queensland cost 4 years ago. But this was the longest hardest run I've done. I do Pilates once a week to strengthen my back, I discovered core muscles in my back, stomach and neck even my therapist doesn't know about!

Hitting smooth water just before Port Stephens was Heaven. We pulled into Port and fuelled up. As we motored out of the marina. I had food laid out on the saloon bench, fired up the generator and turned the stove top on. Within 5 minutes I was serving a plate to each of us with toasted bread sandwiches, filled with fresh thick sliced ham, cheese, tomato and fried egg, with a coffee.

On the way out of Port, I walked up to take a shift on the bridge as Perry said I need to go to the toilet, take over will you. So I sat down, and started checking everything. Otto was on and maintaining our course, the track on the Garmin was good and showing deep water all the way through, all gauges reading perfectly.

I was also looking around, we had a yacht heading directly towards us and off to our Port, which was fine. Then out of nowhere, around 100M in front and exactly halfway between us and the yacht, a 6' wave lifted up in dead calm conditions and broke, followed by another.

****, sandbar, looked at the plotter, it's not meant to be there, anywhere there!

So Otto, off and change course to starboard, as I do this, I notice the yacht doing exactly the same, all went well.

The run from there to Sydney was a breeze.

All up it was a 15 hour day, and we berthed her at the Club around 9.30pm. It was good to get home.

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