Port Hacking to Sydney Harbour. Amazing but a bit stressful

We headed off around 10:00 am from Cronulla heading for Sydney.  The weather was crap.  Misty rain, overcast and cold but we wanted to move on and the forecast was for the weather to improve so we headed out.

As we cleared the entrance of Port Hacking, we turned North and picked up a bit of wind so we raised the sails and motor sailed to the North and Sydney.  I left two reefs in the main as there was a strong wind warning current for the Sydney coastal waters and I didn't want any surprises.

We turned the motor off for about an hour as the wind was favourable and quite strong but then we had to start it up again when the wind died.  Such is life..

There was some big ships heading into and out of Botany Bay that made us pay attention but we never came close enough to force us to alter course or slow down.

We ended up on a port tack (wind from the North) clearing the South head and heading for Manly basically.  As we cleared the South head, a big gust buried the starboard side cap rail which was a bit interesting.  Water actually came over the cockpit coamings and into the cockpit!   I think we must have heeled over to about 35 degrees or so until she picked up and steadied.  I took the yankee down at this point :-)

We headed right over near the north head and tacked to take us into the harbour.   We were immediately in the middle of a race with big maxi yachts heading across our bows.  And that set the scene for the next couple of hours as we headed into the harbour and under the bridge.  Lots of traffic all the time with big ferries belting along making the really wide channels look  quite narrow.

One ferry approaching from the port side just forward of our beam, basically stopped and let us go through ahead of him.  I've no idea why he didn't just turn to starboard to pass behind us especially since when he did get going again, he made a starboard turn anyway.  I know he got cross though because he hooted us a couple of times :-)

He had to give way (we were the stand on vessel) and he didn't need to stop anyway as he could have made a small course change to pass behind us.  I think he didn't see us early enough and ended up stopping rather than throwing his passengers around making a tight turn.  He hooted us because he was embarrassed I recon.

So we took the sails down and motored under the bridge and onto a mooring at the Drummoyne sailing club and big sighs all round.  We're  probably going to stay here for a week or so as it's quite cheap and there's lots to see around the harbour.

Drummoyn Sailing Club.  We are both looking forward to a feed :-)

It's a big milestone for us and I have to say I'm very proud of Terry.  She has a lot of stickability and even with the sea sickness and having to put up with me, she still has a smile at the end of the day!

Thanks Love!

Location: Sydney NSW, Australia
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