Hawkesbury River & Parsley Bay Temporary Closure

[Testlab]

For everyones general info the Bridge to Bridge power boat race is being run on the weekend of December 1 & 2.

See http://www.maritime.nsw.gov.au/marine_notices/hawkesbury10.html

There is an RMS Aquatic Event license granting exclusive use of the Hawkesbury River between Dangar Island and Windsor from 0800 on Sunday morning until 1400 that afternoon (2nd Dec). Parsley Bay boat ramp will be closed for all non-event car and boat usage from midnight Saturday until midday Sunday. The car park between these times is for the use of competitors only (it is sheer madness with boats, cars and skiers anyway) and council rangers may be patrolling, so if heading out Saturday evening plan to be back by midnight or launch/retrieve from De Rubbens (The Ruins) or Appletree Bay. If using De Rubens then plan to be back there by 0800 on Sunday morning.

Boats won't be allowed to leave ramps anywhere in the excusive use zone. There is also an exlusive use zone applying from Sackville to Windsor from 0800 to 1500 Saturday.

Boats needing to transit the lower Hawkesbury during the exclusive use period will be allowed to do so but only at certain times and this must be coordinated with race control. The speed of these race boats is incredible and the average tinny, runabout or cruiser cannot cross the river fast enough to get out of the way. If you need to cross the river use the transit zones to approach the nearest checkpoint vessel but do not cross the river to get to it. Races are run using staggered starts, so when one set of boats passes there is no way of knowing when the next lot will come through. The checkpoint vessel will coordinate a safe crossing between races and it may take a while.

I am passing this on in case anyone was planning to head down to the Hawkesbury that weekend.

Cheers

Dave.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Testlab