Hi TurboOtter,
before you put your two cents in have a look at the report again.
The pilot reported that the wind was about 20 knots (no measurement taken - just an educated response). The report goes on to say that the BoM report indicated:
A Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) report of the weather in Sydney Harbour at the time of the accident, showed that the prevailing wind around the time of the accident was from the north-east, averaging 26 to 29 kts, with gusts reaching 37 kts.
This is taken from data recorders that sample and record the wind direction and speed.
If the ATSB used 045 as the NE heading then I have no problems with the crosswind that they reported.
Tinkicka