Hi All,
I'm planning a sailing trip from Sydney to Fraser Island and possibly beyond this summer but I'm worried about what this La Nina means for swell, wind and storms. Does anyone know where we can get historical swell and wind data for sections of the coast or have first-hand experience?
We are slightly more concerned that we will be moored more than we will be on the move as our boat is only a 24-foot sailboat.
Summer?
Even in a year not effected by a La Nina event, northwards in summer is not ideal as the prevailing breeze is from the north.
Select to expand quoteDieHard said..
I guess you would call it monsoon in Queensland :)
Summer? Monsoon? Tomatoes: tomatos. The prevailing wind is from the north.
Oh! Not to mention cyclone season.
If you research BOM, there is historical data. I've found it (historically)...down a rabbit hole. Just keep searching.
The main trip intention is to sail from Sydney to Fraser Island and back. I know the prevailing winds generally will be from the north. I guess I'm a bit more concerned by swell heights as we are in a smallish boat. My understanding was that cyclones don't tend to go much further south than Fraser Island. Is that the case?
Its a well hidden rabbit hole. I've been searching for an hour and a bit. Does sea breeze have any historical swell data?
Its a well hidden rabbit hole. I've been searching for an hour and a bit. Does sea breeze have any historical swell data?
If you drill down in the BOM site, and find MetEye
there is info there. The current East Australian run down the coast, good for the trip home, but beating into a N NE Will make for a challenging outward leg for you, as you need to stay in close to the coast to reduce current effect, so I suggest you will be tacking very frequently. Good Luck!
I did a lot of checking on the BOM site when delivering my cat from Tassie almost two years ago. Go to coastal observations and then click on a spot - like Cape Byron. Then click through the previous data.
www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/IDCJDW2022.latest.shtml
I then clicked on the months I wanted.
I found this pretty valuable when heading north in summer. For me I found that around Jervis Bay there were about 14 days when the wind stayed Nor east. 14 straight! Obviously when we got a southerly we put the pedal to the metal and fanged home. Made it with one day to spare. I played the winds with almost as much vigour as when racing and we did not "cruise". We stopped when the winds were northerly and went for it, motoring (at 7 knots) and putting extras up when we had favourable conditions. I even sailed in a forecast of 40 knots (which is getting silly) because it was the only window for a week. (I was pushing the envelope but the boat did fine as she is a good one)
A trip like Fraser in the summer could be a bit tough. In a small, and probably a lot slower, boat the time between ports will be greater and you can go awfully slowly tacking against the current in places like Port Macquarie and Smoky Cape. Friends who tacked north overnight off Port in a 38ft carbon trimaran found the going slow - in a rocketship!
The NSW coast is not terribly exciting for cruising. Everything you cruise north of Broughton is accessible by car. I view it as a usually nice delivery. If possible I would recommend Diehard pop the boat on an Etchell trailer and sail south from Fraser. The reason that autumn is nicer is because there a more southerlies but also lots more westerlies. These flatten seas and allow you to cross bars. Swell height is determined by wind direction and will go up and down rather quickly. We are getting unusual summer weather now with more southerlies than average. But strong southerlies are a bit of a pain for short hops as they heap up the swell and make it harder to get in and out of river bars. There is a lot to be learnt banging around between Batemans Bay and Broughton Island. There is about 200 miles of cruising there where a boat is a great thing to have. North of Broughton until the Gold coast, you are better off driving, or even riding a bike.
Thank you for the detailed information. I think we're going to try start from the north and come down the Queensland coast. Cheers
Select to expand quoteKankama said..
I did a lot of checking on the BOM site when delivering my cat from Tassie almost two years ago. Go to coastal observations and then click on a spot - like Cape Byron. Then click through the previous data.
www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/IDCJDW2022.latest.shtml
I then clicked on the months I wanted.
I found this pretty valuable when heading north in summer. For me I found that around Jervis Bay there were about 14 days when the wind stayed Nor east. 14 straight! Obviously when we got a southerly we put the pedal to the metal and fanged home. Made it with one day to spare. I played the winds with almost as much vigour as when racing and we did not "cruise". We stopped when the winds were northerly and went for it, motoring (at 7 knots) and putting extras up when we had favourable conditions. I even sailed in a forecast of 40 knots (which is getting silly) because it was the only window for a week. (I was pushing the envelope but the boat did fine as she is a good one)
A trip like Fraser in the summer could be a bit tough. In a small, and probably a lot slower, boat the time between ports will be greater and you can go awfully slowly tacking against the current in places like Port Macquarie and Smoky Cape. Friends who tacked north overnight off Port in a 38ft carbon trimaran found the going slow - in a rocketship!
The NSW coast is not terribly exciting for cruising. Everything you cruise north of Broughton is accessible by car. I view it as a usually nice delivery. If possible I would recommend Diehard pop the boat on an Etchell trailer and sail south from Fraser. The reason that autumn is nicer is because there a more southerlies but also lots more westerlies. These flatten seas and allow you to cross bars. Swell height is determined by wind direction and will go up and down rather quickly. We are getting unusual summer weather now with more southerlies than average. But strong southerlies are a bit of a pain for short hops as they heap up the swell and make it harder to get in and out of river bars. There is a lot to be learnt banging around between Batemans Bay and Broughton Island. There is about 200 miles of cruising there where a boat is a great thing to have. North of Broughton until the Gold coast, you are better off driving, or even riding a bike.
Pretty much sums it up
La Ni?a as forecast will bring more rain fall, perhaps a bit more than desirable, that in turn could make river bar crossings more challenging
