Who's interested in breaking in the New Year with a get together in Port Stephens on either the 4th or 5th of January 2014.My wife and I will be driving up from Melbourne and staying near by.
Slaughter and TonyStott are planning to be there.
Depending on weather we'll probably launch at Shoal Bay Boat Ramp (-32.719706,152.179602).
I have also created a Google Map with place markers showing the other potential launching sites on the southern side of the bay. We checked out most of these last January.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=200917166277224184349.0004e13d0bada2753be54Very much depending on the weather, I would love to take the opportunity to sail in company with others out of the heads and perhaps round into Fingal Bay. (I marked this out as a rough guide on the map and it's about 15nm.)
However, the tide on this weekend is not in our favour. There's a large variation and it will be going out in the afternoon on these days and there is also usually a NE sea breeze that strengthens later in the afternoon. This means a wind against tide situation which may make the entrance unsafe for the return journey (at a minimum the current will slow us down).
Tide Data (for Nelson Bay): 4/1/14: High 1146 1.98m Low 1808 0.12m 5/1/14: High 1238 1.86m Low 1857 0.19m.
Ian