Position: 33 00.75 S 151 35.96 E
At anchor Toronto Bay, Lake Macquarie
Wind: SE F1 light air
Sea state: calm Swell: nil
Weather: sunny, mild
Day’s run: 70 nm

Yesterday I found myself in a bit of a quandary. I wanted to visit an old friend who lived up in Lake Macquarie, I had at last finished the last of my medical checks, and the weather was near perfect for the fifty mile run up the coast, but the entrance to Lake Macquarie is complicated. We needed to arrive at slack high water to cross the bar at the Lake's entrance, the opening bridge that crosses the entrance channel needed to be booked, and the channels beyond the bridge are ever-changing and, in some places, very shallow.

Our arrival time was determined by high water which for today was at 1650. The wind was forecast to be fresh from the WSW overnight then easing during the day. I considered what time I would have to depart Sydney depending on what speed we were likely to average, also taking into account the likelihood of having to push against the East Australia Current. After much contemplation and naval gazing, I decided that departing from Rushcutters Bay at around midnight would be a good compromise between getting to the entrance somewhat early but not being late.

Having secured Sylph for sea during the day, I set the alarm for 2350 and turned in early after dinner. But after tossing and turning for a couple of hours, and with the wind sounding as if it had eased significantly, I decided rather than fruitlessly trying to get some sleep that I would get up and get underway. Thus, at 2240 I flashed up the engine, slipped the mooring and motored clear of the Rushcutters Bay mooring field. Fifteen minutes later we had sail up and the motor was silent. The breeze was flukey as we left the Harbour, mostly from the WNW at force two to four. At midnight we cleared the Heads and turned Sylph’s bow to the north. As we worked our way clear of North Head's sheer cliffs, the wind freshened and, not being in a hurry, I put a reef in the main.

NSW winter weather often makes for great coastal sailing with fresh W’ly breezes blowing off the coast, making for relatively smooth sea and fast comfortable sailing. Last night was such a night, though on the downside we were making good up to seven knots (something I would not ordinarily complain about), at which rate we were going to arrive off the entrance to Lake Macquarie shortly after sunrise, totally messing up my plan for crossing the bar at high water and approaching the bridge to pick up a courtesy mooring with minimal tidal stream in the late afternoon.

And this is what happened. At 0730 we passed Moon Islet immediately to the south of the entrance, I rolled up the jib and closed the coast to have a good look at the conditions over the bar. They looked calm and placid, but I was concerned about the depth over the bar across the entrance. I contacted the local Volunteer Marine Rescue on VHF radio for advice and was told that the depth over the bar at that time was about 1.6 meters – too shallow for Sylph’s draught of 1.8 meters. However, I was sceptical. My Navionics chart showed a minimum charted depth of three meters and the water was not the light green-yellow colour of very shallow water. I was not keen on having to loiter for another nine hours so I rang Ed, a friend of a friend, who lives and sails on Lake Macquarie and has good local knowledge. His advice was that there would be ample water over the bar if I remained to the Southern side of the channel and held the leads into the breakwaters.

This I did, handing the main and starting the engine at 0830. I had a brief heart-stopping moment when the depth sounder dropped to 1.4 meters but with Sylph still moving and the water a dark green colour indicating water of three to five meters, I realised that somewhere along the line I must have inadvertently calibrated the depth sounder to show depth under the keel as opposed to the waterline, which is my normal setting. We continued up the channel without any further concerns, picking up a courtesy mooring at 0900 to wait for slack water to negotiate the bridge and the remainder of the channel. To this end I booked the bridge to open at 1800 and went below for breakfast and a rest.

But as things turned out I was still up and about doing various chores when at 1130 I noticed a sailing vessel coming into the channel with LMYC (Lake Macquarie Yacht Club) painted on its transom. A local vessel, I thought, they will know what they are doing. I watched them and from the way they were circling near the bridge it was pretty clear that they had made a booking for a 1200 passage. I tried calling them on VHF radio but to no avail; however, they motored close by and I was able to hail them. I confirmed that they had booked the bridge for 1200 and established that they drew 1.6 meters, 0.2 meters less than Sylph. I was a bit concerned about the slight difference in our respective draughts but thought the opportunity to follow a local was too good to pass up, so at 1155 I started the engine again, slipped the mooring line and tucked in astern of my guide.

They led me comfortably through the labyrinthine channels but to my concern took me into the Western channel which from the charts was shallower than the Northern channel which I had originally intended to take. Nonetheless I decided to continue following them. It was clear as we approached the exit of the channel that the water was a light-yellow colour and it was going to be touch and go whether Sylph was going to make it over. Sure enough, I saw my lead bump over the last bit of the channel before we came to halt. Initially I thought we might also be able to bump over the shallow patch but it soon became evident that all I was doing was driving Sylph harder aground. I aborted the attempt to exit via the Western channel, reversed the engine and fortunately Sylph was able to pull herself off the sand bar. I reversed course, made our way back to the fork and then turned into the northern channel which proved deeper with a minimum depth of 2.4 meters. We thus cleared into Lake Macquarie at 1250. I shut down the BRM and set sail to the now light SW breeze to make our way into Toronto Bay, where at 1400 we came to anchor in 4.4 meters of water off the Toronto Amateur Sailing Club jetty.

My old friend, Max, a Navy colleague whom I have known since I was a cadet midshipman from some 48 years ago, is the main reason I have made this trip up to the Lake. Unfortunately he is in hospital at the moment and I hope to visit him tomorrow. On Sunday, Ed is going to pick me up in his boat to compete in a race out of his sailing club, the Lake Macquarie Sailing Club. And then the forecast for Monday and Tuesday looks good for heading back to Sydney before a S’ly change comes through on Wednesday. So, we will aim to retrace our steps out of the Lake on Monday, hopefully with a little less anxiety than I experienced coming in.

All is well.