A week on the Gippsland Lakes

The Gippsland Lakes are the largest inland waterway system in Australia, about four hours east of Melbourne, and a week there is a genuinely different kind of sailing holiday. No ocean swell, no tide worth the name, no passage planning. Just flat water, marked channels, and a lot of birds.

Who this suits and who it does not

It suits families, first time charterers and anyone who found the idea of an ocean passage off putting. It suits crews with children, because the consequences of everything here are small. It suits people who like the idea of a boat as accommodation more than as a vehicle.

It suits sailors who want a lot of days on the water without a lot of risk. A week is easy to fill and you will not repeat yourself.

It does not suit anyone looking for ocean sailing, big breeze or clear water. The lakes are brackish and often tea coloured, and the shores are low. It does not suit crews who want a proper night sail.

It also does not suit anyone hoping to sail out through Lakes Entrance into Bass Strait. Charter vessels here are certified for the lakes, and a vessel certified for sheltered water may not be permitted to make that passage at all. See safety and commercial vessel rules.

The shape of the days

Legs of five to twenty nautical miles as rounded planning estimates. Nothing here is long, but the lakes are bigger than people expect and a twenty mile day against the afternoon breeze takes real time.

Day one is very short, five to eight miles from Paynesville to Metung. The reason is the channel system: the lakes are shallow outside marked channels and the single most valuable thing a new crew can do is spend an easy first afternoon learning to read the markers before doing anything ambitious.

Day seven is short for the opposite reason. You have a return deadline and a fuel stop, and you do not want either of them competing with a twenty mile beat.

Decision points

The afternoon breeze is the main one. Sea breezes build on warm afternoons in southern Australia, and across the open water of Lake King and Lake Victoria a fifteen to twenty knot breeze raises a short steep chop within an hour because the water is shallow. Cross the big open lakes in the morning if the afternoon looks windy, and you will have a much better week.

The second decision is the southerly change. Changes can be abrupt in this part of the country. Anchorages and moorings in the lakes are plentiful but many are good in one direction only, so choose for the overnight wind.

The third is simply where to be on a Saturday. Metung and Paynesville fill up in summer. Book if you want a berth.

Victorian and southern waters run roughly November to April, with the shoulder months of October and April often the most pleasant. See weather and seasons.

What to book ahead

The boat, particularly for January, Easter and school holidays. Australian school holidays create demand peaks, with the longest over Christmas and January, and the lakes fleet is finite.

Berths at Metung or Lakes Entrance for the nights you want shore access.

Provision in Bairnsdale or Melbourne. There are shops around the lakes but the good ones are not always where you will be. See provisioning, costs and the bareboat guide.

One honest warning

Leaving the marked channel is the warning, and it happens to somebody every week. The lakes are shallow, the channels are narrow in places, and the depths outside them change with wind driven water levels and with sediment after rain. The bottom is mostly soft, so a grounding is usually embarrassing rather than dangerous, but a keel boat stuck on a mud bank with a strong westerly holding the water out of the lake can be there for a long time.

The second warning is blue green algae, which can bloom in the lakes in warm still conditions and closes areas to swimming and sometimes to other contact. Check current advice before you plan a swimming holiday.

Regional detail is on the Gippsland Lakes page, with the nearest alternatives on the Melbourne and Port Phillip page and operators in the operator directory.