Small Sailboat Cruising's video: Cruising dinghy basics Episode 4 Weather and Navigation

It is the last day of 2021, and there is a bit of weather activity brewing off the East Coast of Australia. They thought it was going to turn into a cyclone but turns out that probably won’t happen. By the look of this, winds may reach 55 knots or 100 kph near the eye of the storm. We live on the coast near Maroochydore, and the Maroochy River is my local place to sail. We are relatively sheltered in there, and being a small estuary, there is very little fetch, which means the distance from the nearest upwind shore is never that great so there will only be a small chop on the water no matter how hard it blows. These are the exact conditions Moonlight loves. She is a heavy boat, so it takes a reasonable puff of wind to get her going. Predict wind is telling me we should be getting 25 - 30 knots on the river mid-afternoon. The tide will peak around 3 pm. PERFECT!!! You could summarise this video as how to keep your boat fairly upright and keep plenty of water beneath your keel. I struggled with both these things on this day sailing in a stiff breeze with a broken rudder. I have used Navionics to create a circular route around channel island via the mouth of the river, where I expect to encounter a few waves as the swells out there are already reaching around 2 metres. The sand bars move around a fair bit and the channels are narrow than normal with siltation. You can’t always rely on chart plotters to be accurate in these situations. The water is dark and discoloured because of the recent heavy rain so it won’t be easy to see the bottom so there is a very real risk of going aground. Fortunately, the river is mostly sand, with just the occasional rocky outcrop that is well marked on the charts. The videos I create here are possible because of the work I do in my day job as Wood Underfoot. If you are interested in Having your wooden floor restored or a new overlay floor installed you can find plenty of tips, testimonials and examples of my work at https://woodunderfoot.com Follow Christopher sailing trailer boats, wooden boat projects, fibreglass boat restoration projects on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sailingmoonlight We have a healthy and growing community conversation about all things sailing, and you are welcome to join us on Sailing Beat https://www.facebook.com/groups/sailingbeat/ Follow Sailing Moonlight on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sailing_moonlight_dinghy/ Get Updates on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinghymoonlight Christopher is staying fit, mentally sharp and extending his life on Superfood Sea vegetables. Convenient healthy grub for authentic sailors crammed full of zing. If you use my personal coupon code CHRIS you will get a 10% discount. https://seaweed.ph/ref/1/ These videos are made possible by people like you. If you would like to get early access to videos and behind the scenes insights, consider supporting the channel via my Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/sailingmoonlight Discover how I can help you realize your dreams and attain complete freedom through life coaching. I am available as your mentor regardless of where you live, on land or sea. https://businesspilot.com.au www.linkedin.com/in/christophersly There are some affiliate links on this page that give us a small commission. All our music is licensed from Artlist https://artlist.io/Christopher-1171683 unless otherwise noted. Predict Wind is an app I use and highly value. See just how helpful it is for sailors like you and me. Go to https://www.predictwind.com/?ref=christophersly Copyright 2021 Vinsek Pty Ltd