The Rip

Last updated December 14, 2023

"The Rip", also known as "The Heads", is the narrow waterway entrance connecting the Bass Strait to the bay of Port Phillip in southern Victoria, Australia, and is the only route of maritime transport into Port Phillip and thus seaport access into Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria's two largest cities. Because of large tidal flows through the relatively narrow channel from the bay to the ocean, and a high rocky seabed, The Rip is a dangerous stretch of water and has claimed numerous ships and many lives. Geographically, it is the roughly triangular area of water between the land points of Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, with these three forming The Heads.

Geography

The Rip is generally considered to be located in the triangular area of water between the land points of Point Nepean, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale. The entrance between Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean is 3.5 km wide but the reefs projecting from these points reduce the navigable width to about 1 km. Within 800 m outside the Heads, there is a shallow rocky flat known as the Rip Bank. The water deepens outside this flat to 30m and inside the Heads to as much as 90 m. This inequality of depth combined with tidal streams running up to 6 knots, causes the world-renowned dangerous conditions. The variation in seafloor depth within the rip itself can be anywhere from 100 m to less than 5 m amongst the rocky reefs and shoals.

The area of The Rip is a navigation hazard for recreational and small commercial vessels, due to strong tidal movements, unpredictable waves and proximity to active shipping lanes. Vessels are also prohibited from landing at Point Nepean on the southern central border of The Rip.^[1]

Control of shipping movements through the heads is managed by the Point Lonsdale Signal Station. Large ships may only enter Port Phillip with a qualified pilot aboard to help them navigate through the heads.^[2] The heads are very narrow, having a width of about 1 nautical mile (2 km). When entering, large ships must follow a precise S-shaped course through the heads. The Queenscliff Low Light ("white lighthouse") and Queenscliff High Light ("black lighthouse") form a leading line to guide ships through the main channel, in conjunction with the Hume and Murray Towers that show red and green lights respectively.

Numerous vessels have been wrecked after getting into difficulties in the strong current in The Rip. They include the sailing ship Sacramento in 1853, cutter Corsair in 1874, steamship Formosa in 1875, barque Eliza Ramsden in 1875, steamship Cheviot in 1887, and cutter Thistle in 1945. Corsair gave her name to Corsair Rock, on which she ran aground. In 1955, the cargo ship River Burnett struck Corsair Rock, freed herself, and then ran aground half-sunk in Port Phillip as a result of the damage.^[3]

Vehicular crossings

At present, there are no bridges or tunnels that allow for vehicular traffic to cross the bay. Searoad Ferries operates a vehicular ferry service across the mouth of the bay between Queenscliff and Sorrento using two roll-on roll-off vessels.

Various bridge and tunnel projects have been proposed to link the heads of Port Phillip Bay, but none, so far, have got beyond the proposal stage. In an opinion piece published in the Herald Sun in 2018, Peter Mitchell asserted that no project would be approved in the near future because homes would have to be compulsorily acquired on both sides of the crossing, and no politician would be "prepared to bite that bullet."^[4]

In March 2023, the Mayor of Mornington Peninsula Steve Holland supported an idea for the bridge.^[5]

Swim crossing

Douglas Mew was the first person to swim across the Rip, on 13 June 1971. He completed the swim without a cage, in a time of 61 minutes. This achievement is commemorated by a plaque on the Point Lonsdale side of "The Rip".^[6] The date of the first double crossing of the Rip is not recorded. A group of swimmers from the Brighton Icebergers did this double crossing. The first triple rip crossing occurred on 11 February 2017. Grant Cameron, Fran Johnson and Esther McDonald took 5 hours and 45 minutes (moving time) to complete the crossing. Flows at the heads (tides) had a significant effect on the swim that commenced at Point Lonsdale and ended on Point Nepean.

Swimming across "The Rip" has often been frowned upon by authorities and considered reckless, but the body of water can now be swum safely under the guidance of The Rip Swim organisation. This project began in 2014 and after 6 years, has taken 472 swimmers across safely. The total number of swimmers officially recorded now stands at 518 as there were several groups of swimmers (predominantly from the Brighton Icebergers) who made the crossing around the late 1990s and after the year 2000.

There have been two races across "The Rip", organised by The Rip Swim organisation. The first one was in 2015 and Sam Sheppard and Naantali Marshall were the winners. The next race, which took place in 2018, was the single biggest crossing of "The Rip" so far. On that day, 142 swimmers crossed in what was a combination of racing and group swimming. The Rip Swim organisation now focusses their efforts on taking small groups across, each accompanied by a kayaker and boats to ensure their safety.

Related Research Articles

Port Phillip or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completely surrounded by localities of Victoria's two largest cities — metropolitan Greater Melbourne in the bay's main eastern portion north of the Mornington Peninsula, and the city of Greater Geelong in the much smaller western portion north of the Bellarine Peninsula. Geographically, the bay covers 1,930 km² (750 sq mi) and the shore stretches roughly 264 km (164 mi), with the volume of water around 25 km³ (6.0 cu mi). Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only 24 m (79 ft) and half the bay is shallower than 8 m (26 ft). Its waters and coast are home to seals, whales, dolphins, corals and many kinds of seabirds and migratory waders.

The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion from the mainland in the area between Pearcedale and an area north of Frankston. The area was originally home to the Mayone-bulluk and Boonwurrung-Balluk clans and formed part of the Boonwurrung nation's territory prior to European settlement.

Sorrento is a coastal town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 103 km (64 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Sorrento recorded a population of 2,013 at the 2021 census.

Searoad Ferries is an Australian company that operates a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry service between the heads of Port Phillip, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queenscliff, Victoria</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe. At the 2016 census, Queenscliff had a population of 1,315.

Portsea is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Portsea recorded a population of 787 at the 2021 census.

Nepean Highway is a major highway in Victoria, running south from St Kilda Junction in inner-southern Melbourne to Portsea, tracing close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip for the majority of its length. It is the primary road route from central Melbourne through Melbourne's southern suburbs. This name covers a few consecutive roads and is not widely known to most drivers except for its central section, as the entire allocation is still best known by the names of its constituent parts: St Kilda Road, Brighton Road and Nepean Highway proper, and Point Nepean Road. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.

Point Lonsdale is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. The town is divided between the Borough of Queenscliffe and the City of Greater Geelong. Point Lonsdale is also one of the headlands which, with Point Nepean, frame The Rip, the entrance to Port Phillip. The headland is dominated by the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. At the 2016 census, Point Lonsdale had a population of 2,684. The population grows rapidly over the summer months through to the Easter period due to its popularity as a holiday destination.

The Bellarine Peninsula is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Peninsula, separates Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait. The peninsula itself was originally occupied by Indigenous Australian clans of the Wadawurrung nation, prior to European settlement in the early 19th century. Early European settlements were initially centred on wheat and grain agriculture, before the area became a popular tourist destination with most visitors arriving by paddle steamer on Port Phillip in the late 19th century.

The Bellarine Highway is a main arterial highway that runs east from Geelong in Victoria along the Bellarine Peninsula to Queenscliff. The highway also provides the main route to Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, localities along the southern coast of the peninsula.

Around the Bay in a Day is a non-competitive fully supported recreational cycling fundraising event organised by Bicycle Network in Victoria, Australia. Cyclists register to ride a course which is 210 km (130 mi) either clockwise or anti-clockwise around Port Phillip Bay, starting and ending in Melbourne, though other distances, both shorter and longer, are available.

Fort Queenscliff, in Victoria, Australia, dates from 1860 when an open battery was constructed on Shortland's Bluff to defend the entrance to Port Phillip. The Fort, which underwent major redevelopment in the late 1870s and 1880s, became the headquarters for an extensive chain of forts around Port Phillip Heads. Its garrison included volunteer artillery, engineers, infantry and naval militia, and it was manned as a coastal defence installation continuously from 1883 to 1946. The other fortifications and armaments around the Heads were completed by 1891, and together made Port Phillip one of the most heavily defended harbours in the British Empire.

The Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park is a marine protected area located in the vicinity of the bay of Port Phillip, between the Bellarine and Mornington Peninsulas, in Victoria, Australia. The 3,580-hectare (8,800-acre) marine national park comprises six separate sites located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south-west of Melbourne and stretches along 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline of Victoria.

South Channel Fort, also known as South Channel Island, is a 0.7 ha artificial island in southern Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north-east of the town of Sorrento. It was part of a network of fortifications protecting the narrow entrance to Port Phillip.

The MV Sorrento is a double-ended roll-on/roll-off vehicle ferry owned by Peninsula Searoad Transport of Victoria, Australia. It has operated between the heads of Port Phillip Bay between the towns of Queenscliff and Sorrento since 2000. It is the sister ship of Queenscliff, and on entering service enabled a doubling in the service frequency across the bay. The ferry can carry approximately 80 vehicles and 700 passengers. This ship is commonly referred to as “HMAS Mornpen”.

Port Phillip, sometimes referred to as Port Phillip Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia, 1,930 km² in area, with a coastline length of 264 km (164 mi). The bay is extremely shallow for its size, but mostly navigable. The deepest portion is only 24 m (80 ft), and half the region is shallower than 8 m. Its volume is around 25 km³. The city of Melbourne is located at its northern end, near the mouth of the Yarra River.

The Queenscliff Low Light, also known as the Queenscliff White Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in the township of Queenscliff in the Borough of Queenscliffe, Victoria, Australia, at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula. It stands inside the entrance to Port Phillip from Bass Strait, on the lower slope of the Queenscliff Peninsula overlooking "The Rip", a stretch of water considered one of the ten most treacherous navigable passages in the world. It is operated by the Port of Melbourne Corporation.

HMVS Lonsdale was a second-class torpedo boat constructed for the Victorian Naval Forces and later operated by the Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy. She was sunk on mud flats on Swan Island in Port Phillip Bay in 1912 after being stripped of equipment and machinery. Having been commissioned in 1884, and then officially joining the Commonwealth Naval forces in 1901, the boat was the oldest ship in the Royal Navy, and is the oldest Royal Australian Navy ship still in existence.

The Port Phillip Bay Bridge proposals have been suggested as a means of linking Queenscliff and Sorrento via a bridge and therefore eliminating the need of a ferry as the only way of transport across the waterway.

The Queenscliffe Maritime Museum is a regional maritime museum in the town of Queenscliff at the entrance from Bass Strait to the bay of Port Phillip in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. It lies within walking distance of the Searoad ferry terminal. It covers the maritime history of the Borough of Queenscliffe, southern Port Phillip and the connection with Bass Strait.

References

↑ "Guide to Port Phillip" (PDF). Parks Victoria. 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
↑ History, Port Phillip Sea Pilots, retrieved 22 October 2011
↑ Llewellyn, John (18 July 1955). "Ship sinks in bay". The Argus . Melbourne. p. 1. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
↑ Mitchell, Peter (9 April 2018). "Peter Mitchell says tunnel linking Mornington Peninsula to Bellarine unlikely". Herald Sun . Retrieved 27 November 2018.
↑ https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/mornington-peninsula-mayor-proposes-bridge-between-sorrento-and-queenscliff/news-story/7763cc3b04e9658586d0afcf8b88fc8f
↑ Design, UBC Web. "Douglas Mew | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 7 February 2017.

External links

Media related to Port Phillip Heads at Wikimedia Commons

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[1] "Guide to Port Phillip" (PDF). Parks Victoria. 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2013.

[2] History, Port Phillip Sea Pilots, retrieved 22 October 2011

[3] Llewellyn, John (18 July 1955). "Ship sinks in bay". The Argus . Melbourne. p. 1. Retrieved 23 May 2022.

[4] Mitchell, Peter (9 April 2018). "Peter Mitchell says tunnel linking Mornington Peninsula to Bellarine unlikely". Herald Sun . Retrieved 27 November 2018.

[5] ttps://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/mornington-peninsula-mayor-proposes-bridge-between-sorrento-and-queenscliff/news-story/7763cc3b04e9658586d0afcf8b88fc8f

[6] Design, UBC Web. "Douglas Mew | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 7 February 2017.

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