Coffs Harbour to Pittwater

Sunday 18th and Monday 19th  October 2015

Finally, the last leg of our trip is upon us. We set out from Coffs Harbour at 6 am in forecast light conditions mainly from the NE.

Leaving Coffs Harbour behind at dawn

Sunrise

Once we cleared the harbour, there was a moderate SW breeze blowing, so we were able to sail along at a good pace for the first few hours with the code zero up, until we had to change course and the angle became difficult as the breeze started to shift and drop.

Mike Wesslink checking the navigation

As the wind dropped we moved into an area of sea fog, which only lasted for about half an hour before we came out the other side.

We motor sailed with just the mainsail for the rest of the day. We had a few whale, dolphin and small shark sightings in an otherwise fairly uneventful day. There is a surprising amount of commercial shipping traffic on our route and the AIS screen is full of boats moving in both directions.

A couple of ships passing nearby

Daylight weather on Sunday is pleasant and we just take in the scenery.

Passing Smokey Cape

A few attempts to sail without the motor along the way are unsuccessful, as the breeze is persistently light, rarely over 5 knots and in some spots almost zero.

Mike Wesslink on watch

By the time the sun was going down we were off Camden Haven. There were a few fisherman out in small boats trying their luck, and plenty of floating buoys marking fish traps etc to avoid.

A fisherman heading home before sunset

Sunset off Camden Haven

Once the sun has gone down, there is only a sliver of moon which isn't in the sky for all that long and it is very dark, but skies are clear and the stars are stunning. A few dolphins came and visited us along the way during the night.

Just North of Seal Rocks we started to get a bit more wind (from the East) and had a good sail for about 3 hours before it eventually dropped. We also experienced a total change of swell direction as we rounded the headland with comfortable easterly swell, quickly changing to a southerly set , straight into us. It was a bumpy ride for a few hours and we decided to take down the mainsail. Naturally it started to rain quite heavily the moment we started to pull the sail down in the dark.

We had a few more patches of rain going down the coast and the wind slowly turned NE but refused to get above around 7 knots dead behind us.

As we got closer to Sydney, we had more whale sightings.

Whale spotted off Cape Three Points

One of 3 whales we saw at the entrance to Broken Bay

As we were rounding Cape 3 Points and heading towards Barrenjoey Headland, we could see a powerboat gaining on us rapidly from the North. When I checked on the AIS I saw it was Bob Wollacott in Galene. He had left Coffs Harbour this morning and was just entering Broken Bay at around the same time as us, having completed the trip in a day less than us.

Galene surging past us doing 24 knots

We were tied up at Bayview just before 5 pm, did a basic tidy up and took a few essential things home. The rest can wait till tomorrow. Joy drove to the marina to pick Mike up. We had an early dinner with Mike and Joy at the Thai restaurant at the marina, before all heading home for a good nights sleep.