Hello all , Petes my name, new here , Im the fool that bought the Hunter 54 up in Port Hacking, After many months replacing just about everything on the boat, she is just about ready , to travel to BBay, Im after info where to stop on the way down , moorings , anchor spots , any marinas,
What to look out for and what to stay away from . Im A sailor from small boats , so have good experience with wind tides etc , but no experience on a big boat, I am thinking of 3 day passage , will wait for a good weather pattern , any tips welcome, Cheers P

I have been planning a leisurely trip down next summer for a look around.

What MB said but there is a brand new marina at Shellharbour now which is much better for your size!!

I copied this from somewhere else:
About the marina - The Shellharbour Marina is very new and is bigger than darling harbour they tell me. The facilities are first class, ranging from extensive floating marina berths to fuel/water docks, power/water etc. Call in advance for bookings and when getting close for info on local conditions. They don't have VHF at this point.
There's a large dining/drinking venue called the Tavern, together with a range of other shops/cafes etc. on the forefront of the marina, and behind it there's a Woolies and a range of other shops/services. Pretty much a full-blown village.
So for any boat passing it is a far better place for provisioning than most of Sydney where you're typically chased off marinas or have the dinghy-uber-shop-uber-dinghy shlep. From Woolies straight to your boat.
Navigation - the key thing is the lack of clear navigation information on paper and a few digital charts. I can tell you they've tried - its the 'system' of publishing and uptake by 3rd party nav software providers that's getting in the way.
So, here's the run-down:
-On some charts only the north 'old harbour' is shown. Ignore this. The new marina is south of that.
- It's 'aspect' is very similar to the old harbour. i.e. NE ending breakwater accompanied by a parallel one SE of that.
- The entrance is wide - but potentially challenging with an Easterly swell. We had 2.5m swell coming in - it focuses the mind!
- A useful landmark is the old ship loading dock south of the entrance. You can steer to that coming in from the NE until you line up with the entrance. Watch the surf on the left.
- The entrance is at least 3m despite Navionics Boat app showing less than 2m... Once in, it's deep all the way through.
Surrounding area: One of the locals offered us a tour around the area yesterday and we were nicely suprised as to just how much there is to do. Lovely towns, plenty of outdoor options, great beaches, good fishing.

As well as mentioned above there are some ocean anchorages if needed such as:
Chain Bay
Situated under Batemans Bay's northern headland, Chain Bay is a good anchorage in northerly weather. There is a ramp, phone and a few houses ashore, all on the edge of the Murramarang National Park.

Shoalhaven Bight
Lying under the lee of Jervis Bay's northern headland, Shoalhaven Bight is a fair southerly anchorage for those needing a break before entering nearby Crookhaven River. Ashore there is the small settlement of Currarong with handy shops.

Hacking Point
This point is the extreme northeast corner of Australia's first and the world's second national park. Hacking Point hooks nicely into the Tasman Sea to protect lovely Jibbon Beach off which are a number of courtesy moorings. If occupied, the anchor can be dropped in their vicinity for a walk ashore along the beach, around the point to see the remarkable coloured sandstone rocks, or into the national park. With the Sydney suburb of Cronulla not far away, victualling from here is possible using a large, fast tender.

I would suggest taking your time and enjoying the experience. The new marina is good from all reports at Shellharbour but it's only 28 miles from Port Hacking. It would be a shame to pass up though. I'm at Greenwell Point and could guide you to a courtesy mooring. With the Westerlies this time of the year it might be easier to anchor close inshore at Currawong or pick up the courtesy mooring there. If you go into Jervis Bay the courtesy moorings are up to the North and exposed to W winds. Read through the passage planner for any details you need.
bluepeteraustralia.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/passageplanner2011.pdf

Shellharbour Marina is a great facility. I live within walking distance.

The boat ramp and finger berths, public pontoon are all in place and pens are leased out to a mix of powerboats and yachts.
Only things missing at this stage are the hardstand and chandlery and I think the showers/laundry. I cant be sure about the fuel berth/supplies, but can check if you are interested.
Public toilets are behind the cafes near Woolies.

The pens can only be accessed if you pay and get a swipe card, however the public jetty/floating pontoon is free(maybe overnight if you time it right)

You wont starve or go thirsty here. Plenty of eating and drinking options.
Check out the links below.

www.shellharbour.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/waterfront-shell-cove/boating-and-fishing

www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/using-waterways/navigation-and-communication/boating-maps#toc-south-coast-maps



cheers,
Aza

Obviously keep well clear of Jibbon Bombora - definite rogue wave territory like the Cape banks north head of Botany Bay is

bundeenainfo.com/bundeena/jibbon-loop-track-bushwalk/

Wollongong Harbour is only about 27nm from Port Hacking and is very small.

Good articles first one a tad dated

www.sail-world.com/Asia/NSW-Cruising-Ports/-23924?source=google

www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/batemans-bay-to-sydney-nsw-advice-wanted-219927.html

Obviously log your trip into Marine Rescue

Totally agree, and the Wollongong Yacht Club is excellent - the inaugural Coal Coast Classic they hosted 2019 (along with RMYCPH) was fantastic - the Saturday evening hospitality including seafood paella dinner sublime.......shame the black noreaster came in and smashed us for the race back to PH...........those that needed to get back to PH or Botany Bay made it that evening or for BB the next day after mooring up at RMYCPH overnight great thanks,...............

www.wyc.org.au/gallery/3958/

ralasa41 said..
Thx Everyone for your advise , I will be going easy , the Marina at shell harbour looks great, i will give them a call , probably stop at Jervis Bay , then to Batemans Bay,
Have talked to the local mooring guy at BB , need to check the tide for the bar there , I have a draft of 2.4 so might have to wait before going in
Will keep you informed how I'm going , one thing im not sure about, is on Navionics they have depth showing all areas, when i look at the tide charts, do i add the low and high tides to what it says on the chart, ie.... chart says 2 mtrs then tide chart says low tide is say .5 mtr does that give me theoretical depth of 2.5 . Thx again for your opinions , cheers Pete

The tide chart will be from the lowest astronomical tide as will be the datum on the chart. So if a sounding contour was say 6m and you have 2m of tide then the water depth will be 8m. So yes

Has your H54 got the 6ft 1.83m draft of the as-designed yacht?

sailboatdata.com/sailboat/hunter-54

www.marlow-hunter.com/wp-content/uploads/54.pdf

If so very shallow for a 54fter but good for Port Hacking and where you are going to. We sailed against one in the CYC twilights early 80s - is this the boat you have? Guess going back a long way in owners..................

just keep an eye on the 6 oclock news

Rookie Sailor Makes Amazing Passage Along Aus East Coast.
New skipper, ralasa41 said," It was a life changing event. I will never forget it".

ralasa41 said..
Thats a better head line than the one i was thinking of , think you are right

It's an easy trip with the right weather. Just don't have any deadlines. Going the other way is a lot harder.

Looks like there is a window to do this trip from friday onwards , what do you guys think

MorningBird said..
Light airs so you won't be sailing much for at least 24 hours. Motor sailing should be fine.
www.windy.com/?2022071618,-35.999,150.351,9,m:cFraklL

The local seabreeze forecast looks like an average of 15 knots Westerlies so add 10 knots for the Shoalhaven bight. The heavy swell should have gone by then though. I'm heading off in an hour or so and it's going to be light today. It seems to be either dead calm or blowing a gale lately.

Haven't sailed over the Batemans Bay bar for over a month (before all the recent wild weather) but the bar had been sitting around 1.5m at MLWS. 2.4m is a lot for a BB boat, a Square Head mooring may become the best option.

I am making the same journey south but travelling very slowly just checking out each region, left Brisbane Waters on Tuesday.

After reading above will now drop into Shellharbour.

Well done on getting a private mooring, the waiting list is currently about 3 near the town.

We had 2.1m draft on the 36'er and it did limit us at BB, because we had to have a decent tide over the bar. But it's a very well protected bar and while the Bay is small, it's a surprisingly good little cruising ground in my opinion. The weekend cruising area easily extends from Moruya River to North Durras, which together with the Bay, Tollgates (which have a surprisingly good anchorage over the sandy spot between the islands) and Broulee area give you quite a few very nice spots. It's definitely "wilder" than places like JB or Sydney, but we loved that aspect.

The main drawback to the BB area is that there are few good anchorages in a southerly, apart from Broulee and that requires a bash into a southerly to get to. We spent a fair bit of time exploring the nooks and crannies along the south shore of the Bay but never found anything that was snug, apart from the Schnapper Island area. Sadly, the new bridge has closed off access to the river which otherwise was a pleasant high-wind alternative.

As far as moorings go, after having had boats there for a few years I'd definitely go to the northern side of the river near the bridge. You can get some driftwood coming downstream but it's more sheltered and unlike the southern side it offers good dinghy access from Korners Park. However, others (including veteran locals) differ so it's worth having a good look and think before you choose a spot.

In about four years of having a mooring off Korners, and using the boat regularly, I think I saw one of the boats moored off Square Head head out for a sail, once. The difficulty of getting out to the boats, and the amount of movement on the mooring, seems to have scared the owners off using them. Mind you, BB has the usual problem of 95% of the boats never going anywhere, and the 5% that go out are mostly racers. The same applies to Sydney and Port Stephens.

report on progress, Shellharbour to Ulladulla, strong winds going past shell harbour, the dropped to a nice 16 kts, the dropped under 10 motor sailed rest of the way, rafted up to a fishing boat in Ulladulla, 5 am start to Batemans bay Lumpy seas ,25 knots down wind , high tide was 12,15
got there at 12.10. bar was at 2.3 mtrs we draw 2.36, talk to batemans bay VMR and the mooring guy , the left decision to us , so we went for it ,got through without touching, extremely stressfull, then found our new home, has been what garymalmgren said
THx Guys was refering to your comments along the way