New Year's Eve - Gosford
30 December 2017 - 1 January 2018
Forget Sydney for NYE. Gosford may be smaller, but it makes up for it with a great stress-free atmosphere. As you can get close to the action, it is a great place to spend New Year’s. Commodore Bruce, Ngaire and the BHCC members organised this club trip to Gosford for NYE 2017.
We had not made the trip into Brisbane Water – so we jumped at the opportunity to do it in company of others far more experienced. After a Friday night at America Bay, we had an early start to catch the tide for the run into Brisbane Water – and an exciting trip it is – narrow channels and tight turns – but easy enough, especially in a convoy. We stopped for a breakfast raftup at the BHCC mooring at Hardys Bay, and then onto Gosford via dodgems in the swirling currents at the Rip Bridge.
We used the Gosford Sailing Club Marina, the BHCC Mooring and the nearby public mooring for some rafting up and shuffling of boats. The kids had a ball (multiple times) at the Aqua Splash water park. We had an easy stroll up to
Woolies for a resupply. We got ice and topped up on water at the Sailing Club. Saturday evening was an intimate dinner for 18 at the Club. There was concern for a forecast Southerly on the Saturday evening – but it was downgraded by the evening – so no issue. Sterling management of the flotilla was performed by Bruce – also a good excuse for him to zip around in his shiny new tender.
The gathering of BHCC boats was a wonderful opportunity for us to make new friends and get to know already made friends better. NYE afternoon and evening particularly, was an exercise in boat hopping, getting to know everyone.
As fireworks time grew closer, the foreshore became crowded and many boats came in, creating a Sydney Harbour atmosphere but without the unmanageable hordes of boats – and no superyachts to block the view. The fireworks were due to start at 9:15pm. We watched the 9:00pm Sydney fireworks on TV – and then out on deck for our own. The evening
continued well past midnight. Trilogy was due to leave on the early tide on New Year’s Day. Fortunately, it was two hours later than on the way in – but poor planning on our part, i.e. staying up far too late, meant a bit of a weary trip out. We did the run from Brisbane Water on our own as the other boats decided to stay on – but it was easy as we were now familiar with the route. Brisbane Water is a challenging waterway, often with alternate channels marked – so the sea of cardinal and lateral marks must be assessed before getting underway.
BHCC boats included "The Main Game", "Araluen", "Trilogy", "Adios", "Kingdom" and "Lahaina".
It was a great trip – an opportunity to make new friends, cruise to new locations and to learn more about boating from everyone’s different perspectives.
Many thanks to Commodore Bruce and Ngaire for pulling it all together.
David, Lucy, Matt and Isabella
"Trilogy"