Laurieton was going to be our first bar crossing in NSW to enter the Camden Haven river. These shallow river entrances can be very dangerous to cross (google NSW bar crossings for some great youtube fun). There are safer times to cross when the swell is low and the outflow from the river is not strong.
To arrive in daylight and 3 hours after low tide we needed to leave Broughton island at around 11pm and arrive about midday the next day. After pulling up the anchor we followed our waypoints between shallow shoals and out into open ocean. I found it surprisingly easy to get off course on a dark night with no landmarks.
There were several other yachts heading in the same direction that kept us company for most of the night. AIS again proved invaluable in determining how far away they were as this is difficult to judge from their lights. We navigated way off the coast where there are less hard things to run into.
We had good steady sailing conditions all night. Dawn brought schools of dolphins to accompany us along the coast.
We put a fishing line out but seemed to attract more birds than fish. Fortunately no birds managed to catch it, also, no fish.
Perpendicular Point provided shelter from the southerly swells to drop the sails and line up for the bar crossing. Whilst the bar crossing was uneventful, there were still people there filming us crossing, presumably expecting some event. Despite being tired we managed to smile, wave and look suitably nautical in our brand new foulies.
This is view toward the breakwaters on either side of the bar. There were no breaking waves, but it was not nearly as flat as it looks here.
After a short motor up the river the Marine Rescue team directed us to the pier in front of the United Servicemans Club where we tied up, enjoyed our arrival beer and relaxed. We reflected on our passage, and noted that we got a lot of things right such as our sail plan, but we also learned a lot, such as not to kick out the autopilot power cord while attempting to reef the headsail in the middle of the night, going the wrong direction towards land, really fast. But overall, first overnighter, first anchoring in open water and first bar crossing…tick.
