Five boats ventured to Hardys bay a few weekends ago. Getting there can be adventurous if you're not familar with the ever changing channels and associated markers around Half Tide Rocks and Pretty Beach. We found a pleasant anchorage at Hardys Bay, where despite generously accessible jetties, your entrepid editor managed to get himself stuck in black sticky mud on his way to dinner ashore. But more distressingly, on their way home, Bagheera 2 had an unexpected, unwelcome interaction with a rock in the channel near Half Tide Rocks, as Martin Haszard told it :
I had an unpleasant experience exiting Brisbane Water yesterday that others may be interested in.
We had entered Brisbane Water uneventfully on Saturday just before full tide.
It was the first time I had ventured in there and I was cautious in my approach referring to the chart and Alan Lucas's book. It was straight forward and I felt better having negotiated the entrance for the first time.
I chose to leave on Sunday an hour later than Saturday so the conditions would be much the same. It was a big tide at around 1.8m so I was confident of having enough water. Bagheera is a Cavalier 395 and draws 2.2 m. We arrived at the Half Tide Rocks safely and began the port U turn around the 2 green buoys and started to head for the next channel marks that are over toward Lobster Beach. I wasn't sure how wide the channel was off these 2 green buoys, nor is there any red boys to mark other side of channel, so chose to stick to the left hand side. I cleared the second green buoy by about about 5-6m and had gone past it by about a boat length when we hit rock with the keel. We bounced twice over the rock (slowed but did not stop)and proceeded again on our course without any further problems. At the time of the grounding I looked behind to see where we were with respect to the seaward of the green mark. We were to the south of the mark and should have been in safe water.
I could hardly believe what had happened. That rock would be only 0.2-0.4 m submerged at low water and is a trap for the uninitiated.
I checked out the bilge and underwater, and from what I could see it may only be cosmetic damage, however I will have the boat slipped and checked.
When I talked to Rowell Marine today about the incident and to arrange the hull check, I was surprised to learn that they have had 2 customers in the last few weeks that have hit a rock in the same area when they believed they were safely in the channel! One was a Bavaria 36 and the other a Catalina of similar size.
I called Waterways and talked to a man at the Hornsby office. He told me that they were having problems with those 2 buoys shifting. He gave me the contact details of the Boating Officer in Gosford. He was in complete denial. No problems with shifting marks, large boats go in and out all the time. He would investigate and maybe they would send down a diver to have a look! A diver! I reckon you could walk around it at low tide!
With the benefit of hindsight I could have been further away from the navigational marks, but I think it was reasonable to assume that they would be clear of the reef and mark the edge of the channel. Beware. They do not.
Given the volume of traffic across this entrance and the navigational hazards that exist, I am surprised that there are not additional channel marks and buoys.
Martin Haszard
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