A Rottnest weekend from Fremantle

Rottnest Island is about twelve nautical miles off Fremantle and it is the best short cruising destination in Western Australia. Clear water, white sand, sheltered bays on whichever side the wind is not. The catch is the Fremantle Doctor, which is the strongest reliable sea breeze in the country and which decides when you cross.

Who this suits and who it does not

It suits Perth sailors with a weekend, visiting crews with some experience, and families who want a beach island trip with a short crossing. The moorings at Rottnest make it manageable for people who are not confident anchoring.

It does not suit anyone who wants to cross in the afternoon. It does not suit crews who will not book a mooring in advance during summer, because turning up on a January Saturday hoping for a spot is a plan that fails. It does not suit deep draft boats in some of the smaller bays, and it does not suit anyone expecting to sail around the island casually, because the reefs on the southern and western sides are serious.

The shape of the days

Eleven to eighteen nautical miles per day, rounded planning estimates. Both legs are short.

Day one crosses in the morning. This is the single most important planning point on this page. The sea breeze on this coast typically arrives around the middle of the day and builds through the afternoon to twenty knots and often well beyond. Crossing at nine in the morning is a pleasant sail. Crossing at four in the afternoon is a wet beat in a steep sea with a crew who are no longer enjoying themselves.

Day two returns on the breeze, which is a reach and is the best sailing of the weekend, with a stop at Carnac Island on the way if the wind allows. Carnac is a day anchorage. Do not plan to sleep there.

Decision points

Wind direction decides the bay at Rottnest. Thomson Bay and the eastern side work in the prevailing south-westerly. Longreach, Geordie and the northern bays work in some conditions and not others. In a northerly the choices invert. Check the forecast for the overnight direction and pick accordingly, because a rolly night on a mooring at Rottnest is a long night.

The second is strength. In a strong Doctor, twenty five to thirty five knots, the crossing is genuinely unpleasant in a small boat and the sensible move is to stay put a day, on either side.

The third is season. Western Australia runs roughly November to April for Perth and the south-west, with the tropical north-west, such as the Kimberley, running roughly May to October. See weather and seasons.

What to book ahead

Moorings at Rottnest, first and early. Summer weekends, school holidays and the Christmas period are heavily booked and the system fills months ahead.

The boat next. The Fremantle charter fleet is not large.

Provision in Fremantle. There are shops at Rottnest but they are limited and expensive, and you do not want to spend your morning queueing. See provisioning and costs.

One honest warning

The reefs are the warning and they are unforgiving. Rottnest is surrounded by limestone reef, much of it just below the surface, and the approaches to the bays require you to follow the marked leads rather than eyeball it. Boats are lost here, not just damaged. Enter and leave the bays on the marked transits, in good light, at slow speed, and do not attempt the southern or western sides without local knowledge.

The second warning is the swell. A Southern Ocean swell wraps around the island and makes some otherwise sheltered bays uncomfortable even in light wind. Wind shelter and swell shelter are not the same thing.

The bareboat guide covers the Class 4 hire and drive basis and what the operator will require of you, choosing a vessel covers draft, and local operators are in the operator directory. Regional detail is on the Fremantle, Rottnest and Carnac page.