Upcoming Events
- 29 Aug – Boat Owners Safety and Regulations
- 3 Sep – Future of Nautical Charting Seminar
- 6 Sep – First Friday Cruising with Children
- 7 Sep – Sailing Season Opening Day
- 7-8 Sep – Estuary Cruise to Towlers Bay
- 16-19 Sep – Airlie Beach Rendezvous
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If you have any questions or suggestions for cruise activities please contact one of the cruise committee:-
Leon Wilson Rear Commodore, Murray Glase, John Groves, Megan Nixon, Mark Stephens, David or Sonia Williams
Or email us at cruising@rpayc.com.au
Join us on facebook
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Club Annual General Meeting Results 
Congratulations to Murray Glaze being elected to the RPAYC Board. More details here
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Boat Owners Safety and Regulations Forum (29 August)
 The Boat Owners Safety and Regulations Forum and Skippers/Person in Charge Briefing is a great educational forum for on our waterways. The event is for all craft who will be out on the water (Cruising, Racing and Centreboards). There will be guest speakers from RMS, NSW Police and RPAYC.
Thursday 29th August at 7pm, no bookings required just come along. Dinner is available in Halyards from 5:30pm. As an added incentive, sign in to collect your free drink voucher.
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The Future of Nautical Charting (3 September)
On the 3rd of September, the Australian Hydrographic Office AHO) will be running a presentation on the future of nautical charting at Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) from 6.30pm onwards.
As you may be aware, the nature of nautical charting has changed dramatically in recent years, with all international commercial vessels now using ENC, as well as most domestic commercial vessels.
These users expect (and get) increasing detail and features in the ENC they use. In contrast, paper charts remain largely as they were, but due to very low demand, are increasingly seen as an unnecessary burden by many national Hydrographic offices. Some Hydrographic offices no-longer produce them, and some have started selective withdrawal without replacement, some will soon no longer print them, while many are seeking to find a new balance for their limited resources.
While alternative arrangements are possible, there needs to be an active conversation between remaining paper chart users, including the offshore yacht racing community, those that make the charts, and those that supply them. At the same time, there needs to be a better understanding of the ENC, and the services and systems that are progressively making paper charts redundant. Despite this, official paper nautical charts remain the only charts that meet race requirements.
The evening will be run by Mike Prince, who has been the AHO national charting director since 2002, and is a former naval officer, hydrographic surveyor, navigator and commanding officer. In addition, Simon Weston of ‘33-South’ has been asked to demonstrate the use of ENC within Expedition. Mike will also be discussing the offer of free ENC to all competitors in the 2019 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
The web site for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) www.hydro.gov.au .
To book a place for this evening at CYCA, please go to https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=539166&
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September First Friday - Cruising with Children (6 September)
Join Emily and Tom McCutcheon to hear of their experiences cruising the South Pacific from Sydney to New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and back to Pittwater. They are a family of 5. Hear their adventures and hints.
Click Here to Book
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Sailing Season Opening Day (7 September)
A great opportunity to come along and show your support for the club by joining in the Sail Past Parade and then enjoying lunch at the Club afterwards.
Bookings for the BBQ lunch are essential – book through reception. As an incentive if you book for the BBQ lunch before the 31 August it is free for members, whereas any bookings after this date will cost $25 per person (member).
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If you would like to offer places onboard your boat for other members of Alfreds Cruising to join the sail past please email us at cruising@rpayc.com.au.
If you would also like to join another boat instead of using your boat please contact us.
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Estuary Cruise to Towlers Bay (7-8 September)
After Opening Day join some of the other boats from Alfreds Cruising for a leisurely cruise across to Towlers Bay.
Make your own way there and make sure your radio is on channel 77 for any arrangements.
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Follow Josh Grosser as he cruises the South Pacific
Josh Grosser, is a 23 year old, 10 year RPAYC member, who learned to sail through the Newport Primary School program, and raced MJ’s with his good mate Ben Farrugia. A surfer, musician, and general lover of the sea, Josh and 4 of his mates decided 12 months ago, to buy a cruising boat and head off in search of remote surf in the South Pacific.
They acquired the yacht “Vata” from a couple who cruised her out from Canada, and have spent the past 12 months fitting her out for their trip, and learning to sail her. “Vata” is a 36’ Canadian built sloop - http://sailingmagazine.net/article-568-cs-36-traditional.html
The crew includes Ben Farrugia, Hayden Cook, Lachie Inglis and James Norrish, all Newport locals of a similar age.
At 0800 on July 8th, they cleared Pittwater on the first leg of their voyage. Lord Howe Island will be the first stop, from where they plan to head to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and back down the Australian east cost, to be home for Christmas.
The crew of “Vata” are proof that cruising is not just for “old farts” and not everyone under 50 wants to go racing all the time !
With 3 guitars, 10 surfboards, dive gear and 4 months worth of supplies, Vata is not going to win many races, but they may well win a prize for having the most fun, and hopefully will inspire some of our younger sailors to tackle adventures of their own…..
Vata will be flying the RPAYC and WPYC burgees on her trip, and hopefully will meet up with some fellow members along the way.
Follow the adventures of Vata HERE
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August First Friday Recap - Expand Your Comfort Zone
On a wintery night Neil Driscoll from Above and Beyond Boating encouraged the cruising crowd to work on setting and achieving their cruising goals, and provided some guidance on steps to help make it happen. From the group discussion it looks like there are some far horizons being planned, with the Med and US east coast firmly in view! Thanks to Neil for a stimulating talk.
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Pittwater to Dunk Island Cruise - Update
The cruise is well underway with two most northern rendezvous completed.
Number of boats that have arrived at a rendezvous – 36
Number of miles cruised to date – more than 7000 nautical miles
Report from the Airlie Beach Rendezvous
Eight boats have made the voyage from Sydney to Airlie Beach. With another 3 boats currently north of the Gold Coast.
The decision was made to combine the official rendezvous with one of the cultural highlights of the cruise – the Wednesday night Cane Toad races at the Acadia Hotel on Magnetic Island.
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Report from Dunk Island Rendezvous
Seven boats have travelled more than 1400 nautical miles to reach the rendezvous at Dunk Island. So far Alfreds Cruising yachts have covered more than 14,000 nautical miles (or more than 21 Sydney to Hobarts).
The Dunk Island rendezvous was celebrated with a BBQ on island in a truly tropical setting.
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You can also check where the boats are planning to be on the calendar
Coral Coast 2019 Pittwater to Dunk Calendar
The Alfreds Cruising boats taking part in the cruise are
- Dalwhinnie
- Echo Beach (arrived at Dunk Isalnd)
- Galadriel (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Gypsy Princess (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Heavens Gate (arrived at Airlie Beach)
- "Kailani" (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Loseca (arrived at Airlie Beach)
- Margarita (still in Pittwater)
- Mercury
- Mix,d Nutz (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Nirvanas Kitchen (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Panthera
- Passport
- Queen Mary
- Seas the Moment (arrived at Dunk Island)
- Verve
- Whisky Business (arrived at Airlie Beach)
As most of the boats are registered with Marine Traffic so you can follow their progress on Marine Traffic
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Murray Glase is preparing to take part in the Pittwater Dunk cruise in 2019. In a series of articles he will take you through his preparations for his “First Time North”. You can read Murray’s articles here
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Galadriel has also started a blog, you can read David and Sonia’s adventures here
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How to make your cruising boat even better
Now that we have covered most of the marine apps we are starting a new section. How to make your cruising boat even better. Readers are more than welcome to contribute their suggestions no matter how simple they are as others may not have thought of them.
This months article covers a really simple and inexpensive way to have your current chart on display. Many modern yachts do not have a large chart table. A piece of thick plastic allows the current chart to be on display on the saloon table and ready fr viewing at any time. In addition there is a permanent table protector that can easily we wiped clean. The only word of advice is that the plastic will shrink slightly over time.
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Safety Tip of the Month - letting out enough chain when anchoring
There are almost as many pieces of advice on the best way to anchor as there are cruising destinatations. The Pittwater to Dunk cruise has boats to some of the biggest tides in Australia (around 4 metres).
Before arriving at your intended anchorage check the tides the location (or nearest tide station). The good thing is most modern chart plotters can provide details of the tide at the nearest station showing the current, low and high tides.
When anchoring check
- The drop in tide from the current tide to low tide noting that the low tide may be the next day (after midnight) while you are asleep. Make sure that there is sufficient water under the keel to accommodate the drop in tide
- The increase in depth from the current tide to high tide. This is important to determine the amount of chain required to safely anchor. Determine the increase in tide height from the current tide to high tide, add this to the current depth to determine the maximum depth of water the boat will experience.
Now the debate can start, how much anchor chain to put out.
- As much as you can as this also ensures no one else can anchor anywhere near you guaranteeing you your privacy
- Minimum 4 times the maximum water depth depending on the conditions of wind and tide
- Five times the depth
- The depth of the water plus 1 meter (not recommended)
Leave it to the reader to make their own decision.
For those who prefer a visual reference
Current tide 2.2m
Low tide at 16:07 with a tide height of 0.9m – this means water depth will decrease by 1.3m. If you do not have 1.3m under the keel you will end up on the bottom
High tide at 22:46 with a tide height of 2.7m so the water depth will increase by 0.5m meaning you will need some more chain out (approximately another 2m of chain).
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| September |
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| 6 First Friday |
Cruising with Children Emily and Tom |
Pittwater room Saturday 6.30pm |
| 7 Saturday |
Club Open Day |
Halyards 6.30pm |
| 7 8 Saturday Sunday |
Towlers Bay |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| 16-19 Mon Thursday |
Airlie Beach Rendezvous |
Airlie Marina |
| 21 22 Saturday Sunday |
Estuary Cruise TBA |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| October |
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| 4 7 Friday Mon |
Bundaberg Rendezvous |
Bundaberg Marina |
| 6 First Friday |
Marine Rescue Flares App radio procedures |
Pittwater room Saturday 6.30pm |
| 5-6 - 7 Saturday Sunday Mon |
Bobbin Head |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| 26 27 Saturday Sunday |
Estuary Cruise TBA |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| November |
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| 1 First Friday |
Richard Harris TBC |
Halyards 6.30pm |
| 2-3 Saturday Sunday |
Maitland Bay |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| 16-17 Saturday Sunday |
Hallets Beach picnic |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| December |
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| 6th Friday |
Welcome back Pittwater to Dunk |
Halyards 6.30pm |
| 7-8 Saturday Sunday |
Coasters walk BBQ |
Port pile of RMYC 10.30 Ch 77 |
| 27 Dec to Sun 12 Jan |
Christmas Cruise to Sydney NYE , Jibbon, Shell Harbour, Crookhaven |
To Be advised |
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