Hobie Cat Forums

Finally I bit the bullet, and yesterday I sailed from Forster Boat Harbour at the ocean entrance to Wallis Lake, all the way south to Pacific Palms Rec Club.


The wind was quite strong, around 20 knots, so I got really soaked, but luckily the water was quite warm. I had a spray jacket, but left it in the drybag. It took 3 hours 15 minutes to reach Pacific Palms, and I spent half an hour or so at the beach having my lunch, and putting on another layer of Blockout. The wind picked up a bit on the return trip, and as you can see, I had to tack, which added a lot of extra distance to the return journey. There was a nasty chop, and quite often, the whole bow speared right through waves, burying me in solid water, and a few times the cockpit was totally full of water, and the crossbeam was no longer visible. I had to remove my sunnies, as they were covered in salt, with spray often going over my head, even with shade-cloth spray shields fitted. But by furling half the sail, I was able to keep moving pretty fast at 5 knots and higher (hit 7.2 knots to windward a few times!), so the return trip only took 30 minutes longer.

I slept well last night!

Tony,

Good to see where you sail, and to get some numbers. I'm still trying to figure out how people get the distances I read about in the forum. My longest day was about 6 nm out and 6 back. That was only about 4 or 5 hours, but even a 10 hour day would not have gotten me the 30 nm round trip you made.

Was your wind from the East? That is, were you tacking straight into a headwind on the way home, or more of a broad reach? Most of my close to home sailing is in a passage that funnels the wind parallel to the passage. Thus, I head out needing to tack across a headwind, and return at close to 180 degrees off the wind.

Also I can see that you push harder than I have the courage to do at this point. I don't think I'd even launch when the wind is 20 knots. But Australians and Hawaiians seem to think that 's when the fun begins. Maybe someday I'll feel better about half the boat being under water.

Looks like the country side gets a bit more rural the further south you went. Are there places to bail out of the trip and call home for a ride?

Congrats on a good day!

Interesting comments Puget!
Wind was ideal for the trip, predominantly easterly swinging towards north-easterly. The wind started off around 10 knots, and freshened as the day progressed.

It is indeed a rural area (150 kilometres north of Newcastle, which is in turn 150kms north of Sydney) The "isolated village" of Coomba Park is about 30 kms by road from Forster, and rumour has it you can hear the strain of banjos as you approach While there is a road all the way up along the coast, it is very sparsely populated.

A I live alone, I don't expect to have a bailout option, but instead have a small beach shelter tent on board, so would be prepared to sleep overnight on a beach if necessary

Good trip, Tony. Yes, you did put some miles on.

If I were Puget living near Puget Sound, Washington, USA, I might be a bit circumspect in my trips also. Current temperature is 42 deg F (5.6 deg C) Water temps are probably not much higher.

Keith

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I sail: S FL, Key Largo, Everglades to Cape Romano, Ft Desoto, Cedar Key

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

Thanks for the trip report Tony. How did the rear end fair after all those K's in that Nick Scarli leather chair of yours ? Did you get any photos ? Seal Rocks has got to be one of my favourite spots.

Don't be hard on yourself Puget. I think that once you know your own waterway and are confident in predicting the weather at your own spot, the miles or kilometres will build. I recently traveled to an area I'd never been before and had no local knowledge of weather changes or currents. I finished up bottling ( chickening out ) on part of the trip due to the rapid weather changes in that area that I just wasn't used to. Keep at it. You will be the local expert when we all come to visit one day

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

My bum didn't even notice! Also, sitting up so high, it is easy to aim at the Miragedrive slot. Bonus!

I had both a still camera and my Drift HD cam, but I was just too busy when there was anything interesting to capture! Must improve mountings to make 'em hands-free like yours...

Seal Rocks looks intriguing, but I couldn't see an easy way to launch from my trailer there.The local fishermen use tractors, but there is a huge hill they have to drag boats up.

I am planning the next Hobie Island Club outing at Smiths Lake on Sunday 17th March. Maybe you guys might like to drop in? I'll post more details next weekend.

17th march, sounds good. I'm sure my mate Allan with the Revo with sail and akas that would also like to attend. You’ll be surprised at how well it performs. What it lacks in speed it certainly makes up for in setup time and easy handling and simplicity. It’s a bit like comparing an SLR camera to a compact camera. Sometimes the thought of getting the SLR out of its bag to take a photo isn’t worth the effort compared to pulling the compact out of the top pocket. OK the results aren’t as impressive, but still. Allan probably goes out twice as much as me mainly because it takes him half the time to get in the water.

I’d like to launch the AI off No 1 or No 2 beach at Seal Rocks at some stage and sail around to Treachery. Have you ever done that ?

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

No, so far I have only had a brief look from the car. Not too thrilled about the gravel road into Seal Rocks either, but the water does look very inviting.

I hear there is an easy launch spot to the top Myall Lake off Seal Rocks road (turn off at the fish co-op), but haven't seen it myself. That will be our next Island club destination I think.

Great report Tony. We've stayed at Forster a few times and have sailed most of what you did on that trip, but in our old Oasis. We found the water very shallow in parts especially around the Pacific Palms and Green Point area. Did you hit anything?
A trip I'd like to do is to sail from Foster to Seal Rocks. We've been checking out coastal locations and that was one we had planned. In fact it would be possible to sail from Shoal Bay to Diamond Head as there are plenty of havens for landing with closeby campgrounds.
Regarding Treachery I've checked it out as well but couldn't find a safe place for landing.

Yes, the lake is very shallow in lots of places, shown by the rather dog-legged course I took, which was based on trying to find deeper water. My finder/plotter got plenty of work, but a lot of the time I relied on "centreboard braille", with my hand of the knob (steady! ) which enabled me to feel the centreboard running through seagrass leaves.

All my efforts are leading up to me doing the Forster/Seal Rocks/Broughton Island/Nelson Bay trip, and I have got all the gear on my TI (except overnight shelter so far).

Chekika is pushing for a response from down under for a worthy expedition!

Also, it is also only 44kms from Forster to Crowdy Head, which is a trip I am eyeing off too.

Any of these trips sound good to me. Is Smith Lake open to the ocean at the moment Tony ? To launch in at the beach just east of Bungwahl and go out and around Seal Rocks and return would be a good 30km outing. Those 5 or so little beaches just north of Seal Rocks look so good.

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

I only just found out that they dredge the ocean opening once in a while, but I don't know when. I will definitely check with the council asap, as that does sound like a very interesting trip to pop outside to Seal Rocks. I chose the launch spot at the boatshed on the 17th due to it being a less isolated place to leave vehicles while out sailing

Thanks for the encouragement! I guess that one season doesn't really give me much experience with the boat or the weather/currents/etc. In fact I just moved to the rear cockpit which smooths out the ride dramatically and allows tacks without pedaling. That should add a few kilometers over a day I would think.

And when ya all get here, the coffee's on, the TI's on the trailer waiting, and we'll look for a good tide. Just look for Mt. Rainier on the left, and pull hard right into Gig Harbor before you get swept through the Tacoma Narrows.

I just checked with Prue Tucker, the relevant eco expert at the local council, and she told me that the opening from Smiths Lake to the ocean was excavated on 24th February, and the next day the opening was 20 metres wide. She told me that the last time they opened the lake it took six months to silt up again!

So for sure I will at least check it out during our next Hobie Island Club meeting on Sunday week 17th March. Maybe a few more of you guys from south a bit might like to come see then as well?

I am certainly up for a trip out to Seal Rocks & back when conditions are suitable.

It's in the diary Tony. Family commitments always rein supreme, but so far things look good for me to attend.

Puget - Put the coffe on.

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.