Marine autopilots the Sunshine Coast and Fraser Coast

The south-east trades dominate from autumn to spring and can blow 20 to 25 knots for a week straight. Behind Fraser Island the water stays flat, which is why Hervey Bay is such a pleasant cruising ground, but the same wind makes the coastal legs outside a rolling downwind slog where a pilot has to cope with the sea on the quarter.

The Wide Bay Bar is the key hazard in the region. It has a recommended route with waypoints that are updated as the sand moves, and those waypoints are worth confirming with Maritime Safety Queensland or the local volunteer marine rescue service before every crossing. Crossing on the flood, in daylight, in a modest swell, by hand, is the only sensible way to do it. A pilot steering a saved route across an old waypoint set is exactly the failure mode to avoid.

Inside the Great Sandy Strait the water shoals to almost nothing over the flats at low tide and the stream runs both ways from different ends. Track steering helps you hold a channel line, but the depth sounder and a rising tide matter far more. Most boats plan the passage to cross the shallow middle section near high water and simply accept the timing that dictates.

There are Australian Sailing affiliated clubs and active cruising groups at Mooloolaba, Hervey Bay and Bundaberg, and the offshore rallies that stage out of Bundaberg run pre-departure briefings covering safety gear, weather routing and self-steering. Electronics installers work out of the Mooloolaba and Bundaberg marine precincts, and they get busy in the weeks before a rally window, so book early.

If you have never crossed a bar, buy time with an instructor who has, on a day when you can watch rather than commit. Indicative costs: half-day handover $300 to $600, private on-water tuition $90 to $150 an hour, RYA Day Skipper practical over five days $1,800 to $2,600. Confirm pricing directly with the provider.