crossing Bass Strait

Hi everyone,
any advise what months are good/not good crossing the Bass Strait going down to Tasmania?
Thanks,
J

PS: sorry, forgot to mention I am going in a 32' Bavaria sailing yacht

I crossed around 5 December from Robe to Stanly and then solo from Stanly to Devonport, Devonport to Hobart. The only crap I got was in Storm bay (as you do!) 35 to 40 knots for about half an hour. Sailed to bottom of Tassie in December and then sailed Hobart to Eden on march 1st. Wouldn't visit any other time!

You are in the general chat section of this website. You do not say what mode of travel you will be utilising.

Paddle board Hand paddling, kneeling much of the way.
www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-05/australian-pair-cross-bass-strait-on-paddleboards/5299038
Ocean ski Paddling with no cockpit.
bassstraiteverestofthesea.wordpress.com/page/2/
Dragon boat, too.

None of these people have done this without large motor-vessel support, and all of the above was island hopping. As mentioned before on this forum, I have paddled a sea-kayak thrice across Bass, island hopping all the way and no support. December 07, February '10 (via King Island), January '12. 95% of the time, the ocean has been flatter than a table-top, but still paddling on occasion into stiff winds.

Ocean/coastal cruising
www.reescampbell.com/deal-island-to-devonport-and-the-cat-came-back-couldnt-stay-away/ - shows some nice pics of Deal Island again.
www.reescampbell.com/our-sailing-adventure/ Mentions the Devonport slipway and Wynyard wharf.

I have crewed (n=3) an aluminium Van de Stadt from Hobart with anchorages found at Bay of Fires - Cat Island - through Vansittart Shoals - Killiecrankie - Outer Sister Island. The West Australian couple I crewed for liked to tie up to a wharf each night for a shower, yet we could only do this at Lady Barron when in the Furneaux Gp for 13 days. Then we steered by tiller in a gale N of Flinders. Minimum 11kn groundspeed with only 1m of furled headsail. Thankfully it was daytime and clear skies. This was January.

I didn't like the open-cockpit nature of a S38 - what if it rained? - could be uncomfortable. Too much open cockpit for too many days. 6 days Hobart - Sydney incl. 24h in Twofold Bay - our only stop. This was another January.

The organisers of the Three Peaks race like Easter out upon Bass Strait as the occurence of flat seas is reputedly good after post-summer/pre-winter storms. Or so I was told by a Committee member - it is next to be held in early March 2015 and the start has been moved to Devonport.
threepeaks.org.au/media/media-releases/2015-race-announcement/

Hi JohSue,
What is your sailing experience?
How well is your boat set up?
How much off shore sailing have you done?
Maybe try posting in the sailing forum, lots of guys there know what's going on.
Bass Strait is a big paddock if you get in a situation you can't handle.
Plan it well, stay safe, pick your timing, can be a great experience, can go horribly wrong if you set off in haste!