Stay inside the reef until you get passed the south cardinal marker and you'll should be sweet mate. If you head north just be careful of a small bank west of Whitford Rock as you duck around the outside of the reef where the swells really stand up. Best to head to the Ocean Reef marina lead line and then head out... or just launch from OR.

The Hillarys reefs start breaking around 1.3-1.5m from my experience and I wouldn't head out through the gap in anything over 1.2m in my 5m boat. Sometimes it's actually rougher inside the reef as you've got broken swell, boat wakes, wind and current to deal with.

When in doubt, don't head out mate until you build up your experience and make sure you join Whitfords Sea Rescue and always log on with VJ6LQ.

If you're keen to get the boat wet, there's lots of good fish to be caught inside the reef and we've got onto some stonking KGW and skippy in 4m of water as well as big squid, flathead and herring.

 If you're new to boating then probably getting used to the boat in the river is a better option than heading straight for the ocean.

If you must do your testing in the ocean then wait for nicer conditions. You want a forecast with winds blowing from the east and around 10 to 15 knots or less and 1.5m or less of swell. You can the stay within a mile or two of the coast to get used to ocean conditions.

Do you have a gps with maps so you can see the safe ground out of the coastal marinas?

 Any new marina or area you are heading out of always do lots of prior research. And get some local knoweldge especially if the swell is running over 1.5m. 

The access / egress from Hillarys regularly has increased sea conditions out to the first channel markers - the "washing machine".  I reckon it is caused by the interaction of the currents against the sea wall, boy in a boat reef and tidal movements from the marina.  It is sloppy, but I have yet to see it be hazardous in conditions that are generally suitable for boating.  You can avoid it by heading north from the marina mouth and around cow rocks.

There are 3 main passages to the ocean - south of the south cardinal marker, the hole in the wall and the Ocean Reef leading line.  You can cross the reef at a number of other locations along its length but these require local knowledge and reading of sea and swell conditions at the time.  I mainly use the hole in the wall, and Transport has recently installed a marker on the outside to show its location, however it is quite narrow so it is good to have a gps point for the middle - PM me if you want the coordinates.

My experience is that the hole is fine up to a 2.5m swell.  It is a bit confronting going through with waves breaking either side, and any more than that forget it.  Probably less than 2m swell is a good guide unless you know the particular reefs around the hole.

The BoM marine forecast is always good to check as it will give you an estimate of swell and sea, and it is important to understand both.  The inshore ground is very productive for multiple species and would be worth exploring while checking out what different swell and sea conditions do to the inshore water.  When you have confidence with this you can start to venture further.  

I have found that it is more about the wind, (excepting big swells) and will rarely go in my small boat in anything more than 15kn - inshore : 10kn - offshore.