Sailing from Long Beach, CA to San Juans

centerline · May 18, 2015

dstouten said:
I know, I know... I have read other's posts about sailing/motoring north along the west coast and I am pretty convinced to just head for Hawaii and then up to the San Juan Islands. It just seems like a long way around to get there. Is there anyone who has done this trip north recently and I would be interested in places you "ducked" into along the way. I also would like to know how long it took you and what month you did it. I just beat back from Cabo and know what that is like. I imagine that this trip north will be the same. Is there any way to sail it without going to Hawaii first?

if you came north from cabo then you fought the currents so you already know what to expect.... it gets a little worse the farther north you go, but its still do-able. just dont try to follow the shore line....
if you are willing to go out a bit farther (60-100mi or more is better) you can make much better time. and make sure you get plenty of north before you tack for the straight of juan de fuca because the currents run pretty strong southward down the outside of vancouver island.

and try to time it so you are entering the straight on the incoming tide rather than the outflow... its a lot of water moving outward and southward.
if there is any question, stay toward the canadian side as the currents near the US/Washington side can get to running pretty fast.

Kings Gambit · May 18, 2015

Can't say I've done this; but have looked at that trip over the past couple of years. I don't know if you're single-handing or not, but it would be hard even with a crew. A friend in Long Beach ran his powerboat up there using a professional skipper [with he aboard] a couple of times in the past 5 or 6 years w/o incident, but they had to "hide out" from the weather once or twice along the way. Also, I believe they made mostly day-hops. The leg to San Francisco from Long Beach is more tried and true. Perhaps, make that trip and then decide if you want to swing by Hawaii. You'll give up maybe three days on the Hawaii leg making the detour on the premise that SF is about a day's run closer to Honolulu than Long Beach in your boat, and the trip from Long Beach to SF will take about 4 days. Estimates, of course.

Stu Jackson · May 18, 2015

Yes, there is, read George Benson's material.

http://georgebenson.us/

Of course, yearly weather patterns do change. Normally the Pacific High asserts itself this time of year. This year, it hasn't, and there are gale warnings all up and down the coast for the past six weeks, very abnormal.

Calif. Ted · May 18, 2015

I've found these "Pacific Coast Route" maps to be useful planning coastal passages, there's one for south of Fort Bragg, and one for north.
http://www.fineedge.com/NAUTICAL%20BOOKS/pcmapsouth.html#
http://www.fineedge.com/NAUTICAL%20BOOKS/pcmapnorth.html
I bought the paper ones and they are pretty torn and marked up after a couple uses.

John Nantz · May 18, 2015

A video plus a couple sea stories:

This was a pretty good video about a guy who went from Los Angeles to Kaua’i, Hawaii, in his Ericsson 32-3 and then did a return trip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TAdDu5L6U

Harbor hopping going northward from San Francisco could be done in short hops but this is some pretty nasty coast and is likely one reason why the Spanish didn’t go northward beyond San Francisco. There are indents in the coast, to be sure, but many of these require crossing a bar. There are many “interesting” stories about those bar crossings.

In the summer months the wind can really howl on the coast and I wish I had a digital picture of my landing at the Crescent City Airport showing all the whitecaps.

A couple stories:

A friend of ours took his Hunter 35 down the coast from Puget Sound and one story he had was about how one evening near sunset and off the coast in the Coos Bay to Eureka area he noticed a shadow going up the mainsail that traveled up to the upper spreader. That’s some 40-plus feet above the water. He looked back to see a large wave coming right toward them…..

Another incident about a yacht salesman (sailor) who went with his father-in-law to double-hand his father-in-law’s Nauticat down the coast. Somewhere in the southern Oregon to Eureka area they were hit by some good sized waves that broke through the windows and the boat sank in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, they were rescued.

Nevertheless, the trip up the coast can be done and it has been done many times. Nothing like a few sea stories to make it interesting.

Kings Gambit · May 18, 2015

John Nantz said:
This was a pretty good video about a guy who went from Los Angeles to Kaua’i, Hawaii, in his Ericsson 32-3 and then did a return trip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TAdDu5L6U

Harbor hopping going northward from San Francisco could be done in short hops but this is some pretty nasty coast and is likely one reason why the Spanish didn’t go northward beyond San Francisco. There are indents in the coast, to be sure, but many of these require crossing a bar. There are many “interesting” stories about those bar crossings.

Here's how Vancouver did it. I remember reading a comment attributed to him that one could sail north close along the CA coast at night during summer aided by the offshore breeze.

http://factcards.califa.org/exp/vancouver.html

rfrye1 · May 19, 2015

Dstouton.
Have you checked out the freighter "dry dock " shipping from Long Beach to Seattle or Victoria? I've considered it with my H376 at times. I think it's $3k/$4k. Certainly not quite the adventure, but you can always sail home downhill.

John Nantz · May 21, 2015

Never would have guessed - VERY interesting!

Kings Gambit said:
Here's how Vancouver did it. I remember reading a comment attributed to him that one could sail north close along the CA coast at night during summer aided by the offshore breeze.

http://factcards.califa.org/exp/vancouver.html

Well, I would never have guessed! But I can see how it could work because the night time winds are often lighter too. If he could do it in a square-rigged ship then a sloop should be able to handle it. That took guts doing it in what was basically uncharted waters so far from England.

No Coast Guard around to call for help.

An the link was an interesting read.

Vancouver never got the full amount of credit he deserved, even a couple hundred years later. For the short time he was on the coast he accomplished a tremendous amount of work and the mapping and charting they did was absolutely AWSOME.

The Russians had a fort at Fort Ross just somewhat north of San Francisco but I don't remember when it was.

Sailing from Long Beach, CA to San Juans

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