Year 2 – 15-16 February 2025 -Port Stephens – Port Macquarie

If anyone reading this and is free in June- mid July 2025 to come to Australia then do contact me as I am short of crew for that month fully at present.

We were anchored at Jimmy’s Bay and in the night the wind changed direction as forecast and it got quite rolly as the current and the wind conflicted and it rained between 2-4.00am. It was a rather grey morning when we woke and it rained again. We had planned to leave early but due to the rain I thought we would wait until 9.00am. It had stopped raining by then and so we upped anchor and motored toward the exit to Port Stephens. After the NE winds we have had for days the wind was now from the South and so we put up the sails and sailed under full sail out of Port Stephens Harbour.

We were ultimately going to Port Macquarie some 89 nm up the coast which has a river bar which can be difficult. Australian Rivers and bars can be difficult and therefore you have to cross the bar at the right time not only for depth reasons as they are often shallow but also because of something called overrun. Even though the tide may have changed the outflow of water can continue for 2-3 hours after which can cause difficulties and rough water. We knew that low water on Sunday was 05.05 am and therefore the earliest time to cross the bar would be some 3 hours later say at about 8.00am. The problem is that to get to the marina (which we have reserved for a change) the lowest depth is about 2.1 so Stormbird needs really 3.00m to give some leeway and the water that day at high tide range is 1.68m so at high water (at 11.18am) the water will be 3.69m at that point. We therefore can get in from 8.00am but we need to wait to about 9.30am – 10.00am to get over that shallow bit.

I am explaining all this because we cannot get there today so we planned to go to Broughton Island for a few hours and then leave there about 2.00pm to get us to the entrance to Port Macquarie about 8.00am on the Sunday morning 16th and this can give us a little headroom. We had looked at the weather and the wind was supposed to be 10-15 kts until 9.00pm and then very little wind until 2.00am and then to come on strongly from the Southwest at 20-25 kts.  The local Marine Rescue put the wind strength as 20-25 kts with gusts up to 30 again.

We headed out of Port Stephens and sailed at about 60 degrees off the wind until we were past the outlying islands. We then beared away and sailed about 130 degrees off the wind for a number of miles before taking in the main and then just using the genoa and heading directly toward to bay we wanted on Broughton Island. As we came out of Port Stephens there was a large pod of dolphins swimming past as if saying goodbye. Trevor was fishing and as we neared Broughton Island the rod ratchet went. We slowed down and he pulled in a good size fish – we think it was a Long Tail tuna. The picture of the day is Trevor proudly holding up his fish. I had just been thinking about what we would do for supper when he caught it without having to get anything out of the freezer.

After the fish had been dispatched we motored into the bay at Broughton Island called Coal Shed Bay. It was a small bay with two little beaches and it looked beautiful and we were the only boat there. We anchored and Trevor gutted and cut up the fish and we rested and admired our surroundings. We saw an eagle flying along and it was chased away by other birds. There was a lot of bird life and the island is part of a marine park. We enjoyed our rest and had a light lunch.

At 2.00pm we upped anchor and headed out of the bay and west of Broughton Island  and then we turned NE to go up to Sugarloaf point which had a number of rocks around it. The wind had dropped but we tried to sail and managed 3-4 kts. It was supposed to be 10-15 kts but was only about 7-8. We were greeted a number of times by dolphins and they were big ones. We were not going that fast so we were of little interest to them as they like to play around the bow when we are going a reasonable speed. The wind dropped and then rose a bit but not to the levels forecast. We managed to continue sailing and came across an area where there were several fishing boats. We were not sure why and there was nothing on the chart to indicate why. We saw more dolphins nearby and what looked like a huge ray just under the surface of the water which attracted a lot of birds and dolphins. We passed the fishing boats and then the wind died further and the engine went on for a while. As we came to Sugarloaf Point it increased again and we were able to sail again.

The wind continued to blow lightly and we continued to sail but we had time in our side. We therefore continued at 3-4 kts slowly up the coast as the sun began to go down and there was a magnificent sunset over the ridge of the coast. Mark cooked the tuna which we had with rice and peas and it was very fresh and enjoyable.

We settled down to the night shifts. As there were 4 of us we did 2 hours on and 6 hours off. We had started at 2.00pm when we left Broughton Island. Trevor was on 6-8.00pm and just before Malcolm took over at 8.00pm we put all the instruments on to night mode – the red colours. I guess a bit like aircraft instruments. We had to put on our new tricolour (mast light when underway) and the compass light.

As it gets darker you cannot see the water ahead depending on whether there is any moon. You watch the plotter which will reveal any ships who have AIS  and any other vessel should be displaying navigation lights. You can hear the swish of the water and the creak of the boat as she sails. It is quite a nice feeling gliding along and we are pretty well on our own and we have not seen a single sailboat all day.  The log (record) is done every hour and we record our position, speed, course, wind strength, wind direction and distance travelled since the last log. If we lose all instruments then we know our position to the last hour. 

The moon did not come up until about 9.00pm and was hidden behind clouds but when it did appear it would light up the water and you could see the swell. You could also see the odd light on the shore and the glow behind a hill of some town or well-lit area. There were a few stars when they were not covered by cloud. There were few boats around and those that were – were well out at sea.

Malcolm came on about 8.00pm and we had to take the sails down due to its variability and lightness so we then motored again. We anticipated a calm patch. As we neared midnight the wind was beginning to come from Southeast to North on toward the Southeast. This takes some time as it gradually moves around and we continued to motor. In fact, it was not until about 4.00am that Trevor and Malcolm began to get the sails out. This was short lived as the wind strength increased and so I got up and we had to change the complete sail plan due to the strength of the wind. In the end we just put out the staysail and then reefed that so we did not go too fast as we wanted to get to Port Macquarie about 9.30am to 10.30am.

We therefore sailed on reefed Staysail alone all the way from about 4.30am. This have us enough speed but not too fast. The swell began to build and we had about 2m swells behind us which hissed and overtook us and pushed us forward. We also had an Easterly swell which was about 1-1.5m. We therefore rolled a bit but continued at about 4-4.5 kt which was all we needed to do. Malcolm went off at 6.00am and then I had the watch from 600am -8.00am . and the sun came up about 6.30am and it was a nice sunrise with the hissing of the waves. I also some large dolphins jumping and playing in the waves. It was very peaceful in a way bit I had been up most of the night so felt quite tired.

Mark took over at 8.00am but we only had a few hours to go.  I rested for an hour and then joined in the cockpit. I checked again the entrance to the bar and I also called up marine rescue and asked them. There was now a sector light we had to follow to enter the bar for those who do not know this is light with three colours. If you are too far left you see a red light which means you are too far to port (left) and if it is white you are quite right and continue on that course. If you see a green light then you are too far to right (starboard). We sailed on slowly as we did not want to arrive too early and about 10.00am we approached the area and I had studied the entrance with binoculars. We had to keep going North until we could see the sector light. I could see the breakwaters demarcating the entrance and white water around it.

I put Trevor in charge of the binoculars and he looked at the light. It was not easy to see with the naked eye from some distance away. Initially we were in red and so we went right until eventually we got into the white. Then we went too far and were in green so we came back and found the white. I found initially we were missing the entrance but as we came closer this opened up and then I headed at the light in the white. The entrance is only about 50 yards wide and you could see on the right the water flow round the breakwater in a disturbed way. We kept over to the left but the tide was rushing in about 3 kts and you had to keep your wits about you. There were dolphins playing around whilst we were doing this. We eventually came through the gap at high speed and we were in. We then had to navigate a small channel to get to the marina through buoys and there was not much room either side of Stormbird but we gradually navigated around and then were coming to the marina where a man called Philip was waiting for us. We had to reverse with cross tide into a berth but we managed it.

We moored up. We had arrived and crossed our first river bar. We sorted ourselves out and had a rest. Washing was done and we cleaned the boat.  We then went for supper at a local restaurant and had a good meal. We look forward to exploring tomorrow.

Need/Opportunity Year Two

I am in need of more crew from late April to Mid-July so if of interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

In year two I will be going from New Zealand to Sydney and hen up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and then through Bali, Singapore and on to Thailand to end year two about the end of November 2025.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com