Below is the process I use to plan our passages and it works for us and our boat. I use it for both overnight and multi-day passages, bearing in mind that we’re “coastal cruisers” rather than “blue-water” or offshore cruisers.
If you want lots of details and some references, then after the process diagram is an explanation of each point.
1. Decide destination
I work out my passage based on the next port, anchorage or marina we want to go to, and taking into consideration what we want to see and do. I find it’s much more manageable to do this in smaller chunks and this matches the rather slow speed at which we travel.
Example: While our ultimate destination in the next 12 months is Tasmania, I’m currently planning to go from Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie. Then I’ll look at several stops (Camden Haven, Forster, Broughton Island) before we get to Port Stephens.
2. Draft the route
Once I know where we’re going, I create a rough draft of the route. When we left Sydney in 2020, I created all my routes on paper charts. I worked out the latitude and longitude of my waypoints, the direction of travel, the estimated distance between waypoints and the overall distance. This was a great way to learn about navigating. I also used to enter this information into a spreadsheet, which probably was a bit over the top!!
These days, I’m more inclined to create a draft route using Navionics and do a cross check against paper charts if I have them, or by drilling into the detail on electronic charts. I’m in two minds whether I want to purchase more paper charts, because they’re not cheap at $40 per chart (but I have previously said you cant put a prices on safety), can be out of date quickly, and I’ve heard they’re being phased out of production. Also, if you don’t have a good ability to do your three-point fix on a chart, would you not be better taking screenshots of your location (with lat/long) every 30-60 minutes so you know approximate position? I’m still deliberating this point.
Example: I created a draft route from Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie using Navionics.
3. Estimate distance
I use the distance for two purposes:
- Most importantly and because we’re a motor cruiser, it’s to decide if we have enough fuel. For this, we also have a spreadsheet into which we input the distance and calculate how much fuel we’ll use. We estimate fuel usage and remaining fuel based on estimate distance and also the fuel used by our generator. There are forumlas ‘behind the scenes’ that give us the approximate fuel amount remaining.
- I also use the estimated distance to decide if I we want to split the passage into multiple stops.
Example: I look at the Navionics route I drafted and get the estimated distance of 70NM and an estimated time of 9h 14mins. This is based on our boat specifications.
4. Does it involve multiple days of travel?
We like to split our days of travel into shorter passages, ideally no more than about six hours, because life is a journey not a destination! I note that this isn’t always possible.
We tend to avoid long overnight passages although we’re happy to start early in the morning when we have to do longer passages.
Example: On an earlier passage, we left Double Island Point at 2am to go to Tangalooma. Since installing our radar system, we were quite comfortable doing this given the greater ‘visibility of what’s around us’ that the radar provides. This was a 12-hour passage but we still had plenty of time to check our anchor when we arrived.
We’ve agreed that on our passage to Port Macquarie, we’ll split our travel into two shorter routes. Visually Trial Bay looks to be about half-way between the two places, so we’ll stop there for at least a night.
5. Decide overnight stops (if required)
Using charts (paper or online) to get an idea of what’s around in the direction we’re traveling, I decide the places we want to visit along the way or good anchorages to stop at. I also check reference material and some examples include:
- ‘Cruising the NSW Coast’ a helpful book by Alan Lucas
- Online app called Zulu Waterways, which provides ‘crowd-sourced’ information.
- Google maps to get a visual idea of the area.
- Navionics where some sailors enter their anchorage information.
- Comments I’ve read on various cruising Facebook groups.
Example: From Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie, we’re planning to spend at least one night at Trial Bay near South West Rocks. I looked at some reference material and it looks like an ideal location. But also, we stopped here on our way north over two years ago and we did not have great conditions, so this time we’ll be a bit more cautious.
6. Identify route ‘no go’ areas
Sometimes there are places we can’t go to or must avoid. For example, areas that are designated nature reserves, military practice areas, or simply too shallow to travel. It’s important to identify these when planning a passage.
Sometimes I use some of the above-mentioned reference material. There’s also various websites you can refer to, such as the Australian Hydrographic Office.
Example: When we were cruising in Queensland we were planning to anchor in Supply Bay. Sometimes they have military exercises here and conduct live firing or bombing. This is how Alan Lucas describes Supply Bay “often an encampment area during military exercises, with a large red sign behind its beach warning Danger Bombing Area.” We definitely wouldn’t want to be anchored at Supply Bay during this time!
7. Finalise the route
Once we know how many days we want to travel and whether there are any ‘no go’ areas, I can finalise the route. Whether using paper or electronic charts for this, it’s important to have the sufficient scale to see details needed, such as dangerous rocks, wrecks and so on.
The Navionics app that I use has some useful features including:
- Setting chart layers to SonarChart™, which shows more detail.
- Changing the overlay to show one of several options including Satellite (Bing) overlay or no overlay. I usually switch between these to options.
- Connecting with other Navionics users and share your location, or send/receive routes, tracks and markers.
- Downloading maps so that if you don’t have connectivity you can look at them locally.
Example: In conjunction with details I’ve gathered and number of days of travel, I’ve finalised the two routes from Coffs Harbour to Port Macquarie. And as a fall-back route, we can always go directly there or stay in the outer harbour at Coffs if our plan has to change due to unexpected events.
8. Transfer route to navigation system
These days I transfer the route from Navionics to the Garmin Chart Plotter via ActiveCaptain. This is a simple procedure and is done wirelessly in less than two minutes. This also means that our autopilot can follow the route and minimises the need for hands-on steering.
When we started cruising, I used plot the course on paper charts and work out the latitude and longitude of each waypoint, set at distances of about 8NM apart, and then work out the direction of travel. Then I would type the latitude and longitude of every waypoint into the Garmin and create a route manually. I would check that route against the one on the chart and make necessary adjustments. When I started doing this, it was a bit of a ‘hit and miss procedure’ as a typo could see us completely off course!
After I started using Navionics, it was still a convoluted process using our old chart plotter. I had to email the route (a GPX file) to ourselves, save it locally, import to Homeport, export to an SD card, swap out SD cards in the Garmin chart plotter, and hope it would then copy correctly. I often had issues and found I could usually only do one route at a time.
I’m spoilt with the technology now, and also appreciate what I have, having previously done it in a very labour-intensive way.
9. Do we have enough fuel?
We have two fuel tanks holding about 700l per tank, but don’t like to see less than 200l in each tank. This is because our fuel gauges have never worked and while there are sight gauges on each tank, they don’t go to all the way the bottom of the tank. This means you don’t really fully know how much fuel is below the gauge.
Early on when we were refuelling, we’d pump 200l in and mark the tank, another 200l mark again and so on. The first 200l doesn’t come above the sight gauge, so this is why we like to ensure a reserve! Robert has also used a dipstick to further help estimate how much we have.
Example: We check our spreadsheet to determine if we should get more fuel before leaving a port. We also keep the spreadsheet updated each time we refuel and together with our estimates we can identify when we next need to refuel.
10. Refuel (if required)
Using the information gathered above, we work out if we need to get fuel before we travel.
However, it’s also worth saying that we often top up the tanks where fuel is readily available, even if the tanks are not nearing empty.
Example: At Coffs Harbour we slipped over to the fuel dock on a high tide with calm winds and put about 900l into the tanks to fill them up.
This should now see us get to Sydney, but we can also top up somewhere south along the way.
11. Decide travel dates
This is where we work out a date range to leave our current port/anchorage and arrive at the next destination. Sometimes this driven by a date we have to leave a marina (if staying at one), by tide times if we’re crossing a bar, by when we can go into the next marina if we’re staying at one, and of course by the weather.
I like to have a date range for flexibility. We don’t like to have a fixed schedule, because as the saying goes “the worst thing to have on a boat is a schedule.” Many marinas we’ve stayed at have been accepting of the fact that we can’t always give a specific arrival date because they understand the constraints of weather.
Sometimes you don’t have as much flexibility as you’d like because the weather is generally the biggest factor. This means we may leave a place early or skip some planned adventure, to get to a place safe from impending events.
Tides and bar crossings
Coastal bars are shallow, shifting sandbanks at the entrance to rivers and coastal estuaries. They can have strong currents and large breaking waves. If we’re leaving or arriving at a place where we must cross a bar, then safety is paramount. It’s always safer to cross with an incoming tide and generally around 1-2 hours before high tide.
Example: Before arriving at Coffs Harbour, we spent longer in Iluka because of Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle passing offshore. Then, we must be out of the Coffs Harbour International Marina by 30 March as there’s a yacht race from Pittwater to Coffs and they need our berth. In terms of entering Port Macquarie, this is a bar crossing so we’ll check our arrival time is close to the high tide.
There are a number of resources available to check, and a few useful ones are:
- The NSW Government website, Crossing Coastal Bars.
- Web cameras set up to view conditions. Here’s the one for Port Macquarie.
- Some YouTube videos. For example, I subscribe to Bays and Bars on the East Coast of Australia, which highlights information about bar crossings, including entrance waypoints and details of the leading lights. Here’s one about the Port Macquarie bar.
12. Provision food and water
The amount of food and water we take depends on a few things:
- What foods we currently have on board.
- How many days we’ll be on anchor or away from shops.
- What’s available from the next port.
Plus, while not suggested in the heading of this step, it also includes provisioning for beer, champagne, wine, and mixers!
Fresh water
With regard to water, we have two tanks, one holding approximately 800l and has a sight gauge so we can see how much we’re using, and the second holding approximately 400l. With no trouble we can easily go 14 days without refilling. And I acknowledge lots of people use less water than us.
Before leaving we ensure both of these tanks are full. While we really haven’t needed to restrict our water usage to date, we have a few water saving tricks:
- We store cold water from the shower and whatever runs off us while using the shower into a bucket and use it later to flush the (fresh water) toilets.
- We have one shower per day!
- We have baby wipes in case we really need to restrict shower use!
Regarding water, a future project is to look at capturing rain water off the pilot house roof, which has a good flat surface.
Meal planning
I’m not great at working out how much food we need so I figure it’s better to have too much! As an approach to this, we have a few home-cooked meals in the freezer, such as a bolognaise, a casserole or two, and our new favourite – Thai Fish Cakes. I make this recipe using almond flour and so far have tried yellowfin tuna, albacore tuna, and school shark, all delicious!
Then we also keep some fresh meats and fish in the fridge and use the fresh foods first. This has worked well on our longer passages. With tins and other produce in the cupboards, I don’t think we’ll ever resort to cooking up the cats (just joking!).
I find it useful is to use a permanent marker to write in large letters the use by dates on foods so it’s much easier to pick those with the earlier dates!
I’m learning how to keep my fresh vegetables ‘fresher for longer’ by researching and reading about what other people do. Here are examples of what works for me:
- Carrots wetted and wrapped in paper towel stay fresh and crisp for much longer.
- Celery trimmed and wrapped in alfoil also stays fresh and crisp for longer.
- Asparagus spears in a zip-lock bag, standing upright and with some water in the bottom (think flowers) works well.
- A friend recently suggested some ‘Fresh and Crips Resealable Storage Bags’ and I’m trying these now with success
I also note that having sold Tupperware in a past life, I wonder why I gave so much of it away!
Example: I plan brunch and dinner for every night we’ll be out of a port, plus a few extra meals just in case. Then I cater for snacks, including fresh fruits, nuts and other healthy treats. (Yes, and I often use a spreadsheet for this!)
Cats
We also make sure we have enough litter, biscuits, and wet food for Vinnie and Radar.
13. Monitor weather
Everyone has their preferred applications, and these are what I use:
- Windy to get a look at 12 days ahead. I like this because it gives lots of information and if you buy the premium version, you can set up some favourites and see other stuff! But also, it breaks down the waves caused by wind and swell.
- Seabreeze to get a different view of the forecast up to seven days ahead. I like this because it’s very visual and also shows the tide heights, but there’s a trap where the wave forecast is only the swell, and not the wind waves. You need to consider this when looking at the information.
- Meteye, which is on the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) website and gives a good view for the next three days. This is what I ultimately use before deciding whether to go or stay. What I like about this is you can enter your location and see a lot of information, including wind wave height, swell 1 height and direction and swell 2 height and direction.
I admit to previously doing a bit of ‘application hunting’ to see if there was something that gave me a better forecast. But so far, the above have worked well for us with regards to our style of coastal cruising.
The BOM website has a lot of good information including a table showing the combined sea and swell height for whole value measurements. Below the table is the formula used to calculate these.
Example: When looking ahead at wave and swell height, I’ve used the formula often. In the pics below the expected details (from Windy) at Port Macquarie around 1700 on 1 April are shown in the third image, and the fourth image is the calculation based on the Windy values. The result is a combined sea and swell height of 1.39m which is within the tolerance for us to cross the bar. Of course, we’ll check back closer to the date.
14. Is it good to go?
Once we have all information on hand, we make a decision if it’s good to go! If it’s not, we’ll continue monitoring the weather until we’re comfortable with conditions.
Previously we’ve said that we have tolerance levels for winds less than 15 knots and swell less than 2 metres. Actually, wind is less important to us than for people sailing. But any beam on swell directly from the east when we’re heading north or south is really uncomfortable. In this scenario, we reduce our swell tolerance to less than 1.5m so as not to spend most of the trip rocking side to side.
Then of course if there’s been a delay between provisioning and leaving, we may need to bring on more supplies.
15. Complete boat checks
It’s a motherhood statement to say how important it is to check that your boat is seaworthy before leaving. And also, while it looks like we do this immediately before we leave a place, the reality is that we’re constantly checking our boat.
Example: These are some of the boat checks we do before leaving:
- Checking the engines including water, oil, belts, fuel filters and other stuff that remains a bit of a mystery to me!
- Checking navigation lights and anchor lights work.
- Checking that all the cupboards are secured to stop anything flying out and make sure the counters are clear. Once I’d left a bottle of red wine in the galley and it fell on the floor – causing a bit of a dent – but luckily it didn’t break.
- Check the port holes are tightly closed
16. Start passage
Yay, it’s time to sit back and enjoy the journey! Here are some key points when we passage:
- We put the cats in a cabin with their crates on the floor and a sheet over the top. This gives them a snug and secure place to sleep and they can still access water and their litter tray.
- Generally we don’t eat before a passage but I may have some snacks on hand. For example frozen ice blocks work well if feeling a bit seasick, as well as some crackers and vegemite.
- While it’s mandatory to wear life jackets when crossing a bar, we wear them every time we’re in the ocean.
- If we’re leaving from a berth, when reversing I sound the horn 3 times to advise other boats we’re operating engines astern.
- Once we’ve left a marina or other boats and have got onto our route, we set the autopilot (CM950) to follow the route. BUT there is always one person at the helm checking the controls, looking at what’s around, and overriding the autopilot if necessary.
- If swell is within our tolerance but not as calm, I’ll make a flask of coffee for the tripl. When it’s really calm, Robert usually makes us a cuppa along the way.
Arriving at an anchorage
These are some key points for when we arrive at an anchorage:
- We spend some time selecting our anchorage, keeping a good distance from other boats if possible and using our golf rangefinder tool to check distances between us and other boats, rocks, shore.
- We take a while to drop and set the anchor to make sure we’re holding. We also have paint marks on the anchor to see how much chain we’ve let out. Red at 10m, yellow at 20m, blue at 30m, yellow at 40m, 50m, 60m, blue at 70m, yellow at 80m and red at 90m. This colour scheme also means we can turn the chain around and the markings are still the same.
- We check the anchor drag alarm (we use the one built into the chart plotter) to make sure it sounds. I do this by setting the alarm and a radius of 5m so that it will look as if we’ve dragged.
- We check that if we swing around on a tide change, the anchor is still holding. This is why we like to get to our destination earlier in the day if possible to see the tide change.
- We stay on board for long enough to be confident Poseidon won’t drag if we go to shore or kayaking.
Arriving at a marina
These are some key points for when we arrive at a marina and before we attempt to dock:
- We contact the marina ahead of time to determine berth allocation, whether we tie up on port or starboard side, and whether it’s a blow-on (the wind will help us to move onto the dock) or blow-off berth (where we need to modify our approach to cater for the wind working against us.
- We might ask for some assistance with the lines if the wind conditions are stronger and it’s a blow-off berth.
- We have our lines set up and fenders out before going into the berth.
- We have our headsets on so we can talk to each other at all times.
When going into a berth I can’t see the sides of the boat in relation to the dock. I rely on Robert advising me how close we are to the dock, whether I need to ‘twist’ the boat, use some throttle and so on.
Some people think I’m doing the hard job, but that’s not true. It’s much harder to quickly get off the boat, determine where to place the lines, and continue to give me guidance. I think it’s truly a partnership.
So that’s it, my process for passage planning. While it is described as more of a linear process, in fact there are parts that are quite iterative. For example, I’ll often go back and forth drafting the route and deciding overnight stops. I also spend a bit more time than is really shown finalising the route and transferring it to the navigation system, just to be sure.
Where to from here?
Well, that would be Port Macquarie via Trial Bay!
8 Responses
It was interesting to read how your passage planning has evolved since you started your adventures in 2020. I enjoyed the YouTube video about crossing the Port Macquarie bar.
Hi Pam,
Interesting document.
Was that you on Poseidon I saw anchored near the Hibbard Ferry on Good Friday? I didn’t recognise the boat, so I rowed past you early, and then headed up river, but I later saw you heading up the Maria River near the top of the tide. Was wondering where you were from. It’s unusual to see such a large boat head up that way, although it’s quite navigable if you pick the tide and follow the channel, which I guess your passage planning would tell you.
Hi Meredith, thanks for your comment. I’ve sent you an email and yes, it was us!
I loved reading that Pam! So easy to read and digestible for a rookie sailor (me).
We both loved your Thai fish cakes and peanut dipping sauce, they’ll definitely be a regular with us too!
Have you heard about storing ripe avocados in a Tupperware container filled with water in the fridge? They keep well for an amazingly long time. I always have ripe avo’s on hand using this storage method.
Love your work
Happy sailing ⛵️
Love Ali and Steve
SV Ikigai
Hi Ali,
I’m glad you enjoyed the blog and especially the Thai fish cakes. I’ll try your suggestion regarding avocados!
Cheers, Pam
Very precise and useful. Might be a good template if we ever venture onto water again.
Thank you!
Wishing you safe passage and plenty of fun!
P&K
My goodness! I have total confidence in your detailed planning Pam. The lack of accurate fuel gauges is something that would give me a bit of a worry, but you have the dip-stick method as well.
Best wishes to you both
May
You’re really amazing! It is certainly NOT just get up & go.
You’ve got planning down to a fine art so .. continue the journey.
Lov
Rob & Chicka