Bar Crossings

[changa]

Hi all,

saw the post on SWR and thought i would give you some info on the place.

I have fished there pretty heavily for about 10 years, and have prolly crossed the bar hundreds of times.

There is 2 main entrys to the ouside blue water fishing.

There is the main river bar(Macley River) and Back creek which enters to Horshoe Bay.

I used to use back creek a lot, and it is a much safer way to get ouside for boats that are 'sub 18ft' or so.

They used to dredge a channel beside the rocks on exit which made your exit even in a 6m+ boat safe in ALL conditions. But this has not happened for holiday times for a long time now and the mouth of back creek gets silted up.

You really have to enter and exit back creek on bigger than half tides which is not hard given your planning with a tide chart.

Back creek has only a small 2 wave hop to get out and you are exiting to a bay so the waves are rarely more than a foot or two high. All you gotta do to check is drive beforehand to horseshoe bay point, turn left just before the caravan park entryas if you are going into police station) and drive around behind the maritime museum and it takes you to the back creek mouth.

You can sit and study boats going in and out and check the scene from there. you can even see the main bar.

The biggest mistake people make at back creek is coming in.

They come in with a smallish wave behind them thinking all is safe, the leg hits the sand and the wave behind turns the boat sideways, next wave hits and WOOPS !!!!!

So, trim up coming in, and make sure you have plenty of water coming in, better to go fast and draw less water than slow down too much.

The main river bar can be a doosy, and i have witnessed many a boat lose it there from trawlers to pro dive boats flipping as we passed them etc.

Unfortunately, the bar has silted up quite badly due to a lack of flooding in the mackley of recent times and the 'lead marks' are not that good, although, they are a better point to work off than the uneducated eye.

I will post some pics of the lead marks at SWR and how to correctly used them. If anyone has anymore questions, id be happy to answer.

The bar is not a place for the feint hearted, especially 2 hrs either side of low tide, or when a strong nor easter blows for days (as SWR bar faces due north, not east like most)....

The bar should be crossed with life jackets fitted 'ALWAYS' and approched with caution.the mouth is relatively fine, its the outer break that cleans most people up as they think they are out when they really are not. The bar can, and will sometimes break for 500m and will have 2 sets of breaks to pass.

Do not exit the bar and turn hard right or you will run into larger breakers.

Also, do not head to the left (only a fool would do this as the white water is very obvious).

Watch some experienced boats, and watch their line. If a SET starts to stand up on your way out, do NOT turn side on to it.

You have either 2 choices, turn fast and run back in to the smooth water and wait, or PUNCH thru the wave.

I would prefer to punch thu a breaker.

The safe way to do this is to accellerate to the wave as mauch as you can and pull off the power as you hit the front of the wave.

By doin this, you SPEAR thru the wave by the boats weight(sort of like duck diving a surfborad under a wave for those surfers out there).

Do not, i repeat, DO NOT accellerate UP the face of the wave or you risk flipping or doing a PIN DROP back into the water.

The flipping is self explanatory, the pin drop is when a boat flies up a vave and goes near vertical in mid air and drops back into the water vertically.

When this happens, a lot of the time the motor is submerged cutting air flow to the engine which in turn stalls the motor.

What happens next?

You guessed it, the boat pops sideways or has no power and the next wave SLAMS the boat barrelling it.

You are better to sit in the safe part of the mouth and watch the sets. Count the waves per set and time your run. You will notice there is at leat 30 second to a minute or more between sets which gives you plenty of time to get out.

Sometimes, its like glass, but other times its rough as hell.

Coming in the bar is relatively easy providing you have plenty of power.

A gutless boat can be easlity turned sideways by the wave behind you, especially on a strong outgoing tide.

Approach the bar coming in in line with the eastern rocky bar headland(some people call it the southenr side, but it is eastern, anyways, as long as you get what i mean

When a wave starts to form, sit on the back of the wave, trying to stay on the upper half of it. Dont ride TOO HIGH, and dont sit in the bottom or trough as this is where boats lose control.

stay on that wave untill any breakers up ahead have already broken and flattened.

You can follow a wave all the way in if need be.

DO NOT cross the bar 2 hrs either side of low tide unless you are experienced.

this is the strongest time of the tide with the least amount of water under you and the biggest most powerful waves.

Im sure, with some study, and taking your time, you should all be fine.

Dont let this scare you too much. There are picture perfect days on the bar(but not often) but i have erre'd on the side of caution as the place is one of the most dangerous bars on the east coast of NSW.

Attached is the Lead marks and some pics of us crossing the bar last year on relatively small day, but the usual afternoon NE winds.

cheers

changa

[Guest]

Great cover there Changa of the Bar Crossing in and out and some real nice pic s too

Cheers Swordfisherman

[jewnut]

wow Changa, thats invaluable info and although not needed for myself i read every word!!

good on you for taking the time to write it and help those who need it, that sort of info could avoid a disaster if not save lives. Legend

great photos too.

[heckendorfmortgage]

Good 1 Changa

[Guest madsmc]

Great info there Changa and thanks for taking the time to post it.

I have only been to SWR once and that was land based, but I watched the bar for the better part of an hour with boats coming and going. I have to say it looked bloody scary at times and I was happy to be standing on dry land!

Shane

Edited December 20, 2005 by madsmc

[Guest johblow]

Super stuff Changa - a great read - there is so much to consider, but it all makes sense when explained well like that :-)

[pirate pete]

While I was at SWR in July we had a couple of days where it was like glass and comming back in I noticed on the sounder it was only 1.2-2mts deep at low tide which was a surprise to me. They are great photo's. I have crossed most of the bars up and down the coast and I would say that SWR, Narooma and the Tweed are the worst.

One day last Xmas I was heading out of the Tweed and the pressure waves on top of the 1.8mt outgoing tide had waves breaking 3mts high inside the breakwalls, great for the kids surfing not very good for pleasure craft trying to get out ihad 2 aborted attempts and the 3rd all in the timing made it out between sets once away from the river mouth there was only about a 1/2 mt swell.

[changa]

If anyone is at SWR in JAnuary same time as me, i would be only too happy to meet them and take them thru the bar, in and out a couple times in their boat or mine just so they get a grasp of it better.

Its one thing to read, its another to experience it.

changa

[searabbit]

great info changa, i have fished swr for the last 16 years and crossed many times mainly at back creek having a fair few problems in the early years teaching myself. newcomers should cross at back creek and remember that if you are behind the wheel you are in charge and only you decide when to cross, if your not happy with conditions turn around and fish the river, dont worry what your mates say thay are not responsible for crew or boat.

one mistake i made early on was going out after 3 days of nor-easter, no other boats were going out and the locals on the hill told me not today. with not much water at back creek i decided or my mates decided we could go out the mackleay. very bad decision. on the way out it looked fine until the first wave picked up out of nowhere. then the second. suffice to say i made it out but it scared the hell out of me and fishing was out of the question. my mates shit themselves as well and said i did a great job. i dont agree a great job would have been deciding not to go. i have used common sense from then on and hardly had a problem, and also decided not to go a few times.

[patl]

Brett

When are you going to SWR. I am up there 28/1 for a week

Thanks

Patrick

[Hooky.]

Great thread changa.

Some valuable info for anyone heading up to SWR.

BTW, don't forget to stop in at Freddo and pick up a feed of pies.

cheers

Hooky

[changa]

Pat, i am there untill Jan 22......just gonna miss ya.

you not goin up again in Feb?

Hooky, who the &@^% is FREDDO? ..........

I get my pies from the shop on the corner, they are LUSH !!!!

if there is better, tell me please as i love my pies

changa

[Hooky.]

G'day changa

Frederickton, known locally as “Fredo”, just a couple of k's north of Kempsey also famous for its award-winning pie shop which is on the highway.

They have approximately 148 varieties of pies.

I can personally reccomend them..........

[changa]

thanks hooky,

no wonder i have not seen the place at SWR

if i drive up to coffs for the day i will be sure to grab some pies from freddo and stock up.

thanks again mate, merry xmas

changa