Dear Friends & Family,
We\’re about 1/2 way to the East Australian Coast and are still motoring in now calm seas and very light winds.
This will all change by this afternoon!
A strong northerly flow will begin around dark tonight and continue for the next 48 hours and strengthen.
This is likely due to the next south westerly coming north from the Bass Strait between Tasmania and mainland Australia.
This phenomenon is what the racers often experience in the Sydney to Horbart Yacht Race that will begin the day after Christmas and it can be a real fright.s
As such, the winds in front of \”the front\”, will begin to build and predictions are for northerly gusts to 35 knots between Newcastle and Sydney.
We\’ll make the final call late today, but currently are hedging our bets by heading toward Newcastle (65 miles north of Sydney Harbour). This will save about 10 hours of exposure to most severe winds.
We expect winds to 25 knots this evening and if we head to Newcastle to check in (alternate) we\’ll miss the 35 knot winds further south toward Sydney.
This may require us to sit in Newcastle for several days waiting the oncoming south westerly front which would be right on our nose!
Last night the seas calmed considerably and the predominant southerly swell is down to 2 meters. Yesterday, we actually saw a few isolated 4 meter (15 foot swells). Without wind of course, it\’s just the big \”up and down\”.
COMMENT: Beach House – En Route – Lord Howe Island – East Coast Australia – possibly divert to Newcastle – decision later today.
TIME: 2016/12/11 19:39
LATITUDE: 32-21.78S
LONGITUDE: 156-17.48E
COURSE: 262T
SPEED: 6.6
MARINE: YES
WIND_SPEED: 4
WIND_DIR: SE
SWELL_DIR: S
SWELL_HT: 2.0M
SWELL_PER: 9
CLOUDS: 35%
VISIBILITY: 30
BARO: 1023.1
AIR_TEMP: 22.2C