As part of the survey, key features, including the shaft, keel and bulb, will be examined against structural drawings to determine which parts are still intact.

Insp McNulty said this would assist the coroner in determining how the accident occurred.

A cursory dive in the area was made on Sunday in preparation for next week's survey.

Insp McNulty said difficult ocean conditions had delayed the progress of the survey.

Yachting identity Andrew Short died alongside crew member Sally Gordon when his yacht Shockwave V was wrecked in the early hours of October 10.

Another 16 crew members were rescued, among them 48-year-old Short's two sons, Nick, 19, and Mitch, 14.

Their 23m carbon fibre yacht was competing in a Cruising Yacht Club of Australia race, a 169km round-trip to the islet marker off Port Kembla, in the lead-up to the annual Sydney to Hobart classic.

It hit the north-east tip of Toothbrush Island.

Police, lifesavers, lifeguards and Illawarra residents spent the next week collecting dangerously sharp carbon fibre wreckage that washed up on beaches as far north as Stanwell Park.

The crash site, where much of Shockwave's keel and hull is believed to remain on the ocean floor, is also a popular diving spot.

The site has been off-limits to recreational divers since the accident.