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Hi looking at a passage home from Bundy, was hoping that end of Sept early Oct could be a good time, over there they start getting a few northerlies then and from memory we get a lot of NW winds in October , November, Anyone got any ideas/ comments, realise it will be still cold here but should be avoiding cyclone season.

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Prevailing wind at that time of the year down to about 30 deg S is SE'ly (check out the pilot charts), exactly the direction you want to go, northerlies do not typically kick in until November/December.

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Here is the pilot chart for November

 

North Tasman, November.jpg

 

I don't see much "prevailing" pretty variable, and only 1 or two gales a month. Looks fine to me, further south is better - the SE comes further south as summer approaches...

 

 

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Thanks, all, for that info.Nov looks good there. are the pilot charts for October available on line as I am still hoping that then may be  OK to go although I could wait a month to early November if required by booking another month in the marina.  Would want to stay well away from Middleton reef etc , hopefully pass to the north but that will depend on the weather,   Dave

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Thanks for that, down through Fraser and over the Wide Bay Bar I have done before , only trouble would be having left Aus at Burnett heads I would say the Aus authorities will not want me going the inland route behind Fraser as you would be anchoring at times to wait for tides., Otherwise travel down to Brisbane first to clear out there which seems like a lot of hassle ,and maybe 3 more days, but I will have a look. Hopefully customs checks you out at the river mouth not up in Brisbane City.

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We picked up the boat at Airlie Beach and went all the way down to Southport (Gold Coast Seaway) to clear out. Way quicker than heading into Brisbane.

We stopped at Lord Howe after that and the bare foot cop looked at our passports and said "no worries fellahs have a nice trip"

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Southport could be good , if there was a few northerlys to get there, October pilot charts suggests less SE wind as you get more south and nothing over strong. Boat will be in Hervey bay so its a day in the wrong direction to get up to Bundaberg anyway , A few calm days behind Fraser could be nice and then possibly taking the inside route through Moreton Bay to Southport.  Coffs Harbour may be easy too with the current pushing down the coast, but I think if the weather was OK I would tend to want to just get on course to NZ which could be annoying if you still had to come back in to clear customs.  Lord Howe sounds good, I have read that you may need to have a mooring booked first as there is no anchoring allowed in the lagoon?

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We didn't book Lord Howe but as you have the correct number of hulls and shallow draft there are more areas of the lagoon (and moorings) open to you.

The Northern entrance leads to a lot more protected anchorage than the south entrance.

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If you want pilot charts, and have a PC/Mac/Andriod (soon) then download and install Opencpn, then add the climatology plugin. That is where the image I posted previously came from. Pilot charts for pretty much the whole world, for every month of the year, easily available.

Open CPN here http://opencpn.org/ocpn/

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Yes I have a stick somewhere with open cpn all the world charts on it but not sure where it is at the moment, was looking on Trademe as there used to be people selling a stick plus a GPS  usb plug in for 60 odd $.  Was also told an Ipad with navionics app was a good option? but have used open cpn before.  Would want to have 2 computers plus hand held gps and paperchart as backup. Will open cpn go on an Ipad at the moment?  thanks   Again Lord Howe would be tempting for a night but unless we are close or needing a break from the weather I may prefer to just carry on towards home.  Is it a hassle to check in and out there or pretty relaxed?

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If Lord Howe is like Norfolk, they likely won't even require you to check in. But you must ask ...

 

OpenCPN is MUCH more than navionics on an ipad. No, though, an ipad is not supported. PC, Mac, Andriod, Linux only.

 

If you have  a PC (or Mac), no need to buy a GPS. The Boat has GPS, right? Connect the NMEA 0183 out from the GPS to a USB/Serial adapter ($50 at Dick Smith?)  to the PC and you have a very functional plotter with OpenCpn. Charts are free. Add the climatology plugin and you have your pilot charts as well. Other options include weather and radar overlays, instrument integration, wifi multiplexing (incl to your ipad if you want), radar, tack and lay lines, Polars, auto route generation using your boats polars and weather forecasts etc etc.

 

That's part of what I'll be showing at next weeks electronics night - but yes I know not all can attend. Oh, and you can even use the GPS from your phone via Bluetooth or wifi if you want a  no cost solution - but it's not as stable, and I would not recommend it as your primary nav.

 

Consider how many GPS units you would have - the boat likely has one (or more), there is also likely one in each smartphone aboard. Some cameras also, and some other devices. We have 5 most times between two of us without trying... 

 

If you select all the important possible waypoints and print that file, then if your primary nav system fails, then you can simply use a backup. Open CPN will allow you to upload any routes and waypoints to almost any GPS - better than re-keying, as no possible re-keying errors. I reckon about 10 or 12 waypoints would have you well covered for the Tasman. Oh, and OpenCPN also allows you to print out charts yourself for emergency backup....:-)

 

Very easy to set up a laptop here and take it with you...

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Yes thanks for that I have spoken to customs in Bundy and they were pretty good they clear you out at the river mouth , easier than up in town. but will check with Southport also before I go , much easier to get everything sorted while still at home with easy internet etc.

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