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Old 08-06-2017, 20:10   #31
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

I really can't add anything to the good advice already posted other than to have Waypoints for a few "Bolt Holes" along the Oregon and Northern California coast in case you have to run for cover.
But I can offer to welcome you at the San Francisco Yacht Club (actually located in Belvedere on the north side of the Bay across from Sausalito. I own a Downeaster 38 and would love to compare notes with you about your DE45.
Keep in touch. Fair winds and safe journey!
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Old 15-06-2017, 09:23   #32
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

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Originally Posted by MDR_Sailing View Post
Cool thanks, is there a guest dock in Neah Bay or are you typically anchoring out in the bay somewhere?


There is a guest dock.
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Old 15-06-2017, 10:15   #33
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

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Originally Posted by MDR_Sailing View Post

Is this a reasonable approach? If so, does anyone have some suggested waypoints for navigating this passage?

.
It's a reasonable approach if you just like passing areas by and have zero interest in any of the sites along the way and if your time is limited. To us, it's a shame to pass areas by and never see them. That's too much like my business life with all these places I'd been but never spent time enjoying any of them. In many, just been through the airport.

Here are some areas we feel merit brief stops perhaps in such a trip.

From Port Angeles, Neah Bay is very interesting with the Indian Reservation and a good stop before turning the corner at Cape Flattery.

Down the coast the next large inlet or easy bar crossing is Grey's Harbor, Westport, WA. Westport is home to a huge fishing charter industry, lot's of boating and lot's of yacht building.

Next down the coast, Astoria on the Columbia River, and we'd recommend at least taking the river up to Portland and back.

On our trip down from there to SF, here are the stops we made.

Port of Siuslaw, Florence, OR.

Coos Bay, Charleston, OR.

Port of Brookings Harbor, OR

Eureka

Noyo Basin, Fort Bragg, CA

Bodega Bay, CA

San Francisco, CA

Some of those could be skipped or more added. Regardless, if you run outside, you need to be aware of these and more for escapes from changes in conditions. Our entire list of potential stops from Westport to San Francisco that we were prepared to consider was:

Astoria
Tillinook/Garibaldi
Yoquina/Newport
Siuslaw
Winchester/Salmon Harbor
Coos Bay/Charleston
Bandon
Port Orford
Gold Beach
Brookings
Crescent City
Eureka
Fort Bragg/Noyo
Bodega Bay
San Francisco

The trip is a nice leisurely two to three week trip and enjoyable at that pace in a boat with the speed I'm guessing you have. What you described sounded more like a delivery than a cruise and seems a shame.
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Old 07-07-2017, 14:18   #34
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

Great stuff BandB, if possible, we will definitely stop by a couple of these.
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Old 07-07-2017, 16:47   #35
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

I've been down that way 5 times but only ever done the offshore route. Sailed down same time as others who did the insure route and we kept in touch by radio. I think it gets down to a few key points..if you have lots of time and enjoy overnight stays in small fishing towns then you can damn near day sail that route however the wind is not that reliable inshore so you can expect to motor a lot. You may be dealing with lots more traffic when closer in and if the wind does get up a few of the bars often are unsafe to cross.
If you like to sail and have some experience then going out 50 plus miles will usually get you good steady winds, often on the stronger side but you will at least get some good miles in each day. Watch the weather and try to avoid an inshore low and a strong offshore high as you can get some very strong winds and large seas. It's a great trip, not too long and not too short plus everything after that usually is a piece of cake...best time late August early September. .enjoy
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Old 22-08-2017, 16:13   #36
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

We completed our journey Aug. 3rd - 17th with five crew for Blaine to SF and four for SF to LA. We started in Blaine WA with stops in Roche Harbor WA, Port Angeles WA, Neah Bay WA, Newport OR, San Francisco CA, Santa Cruz CA and Marina del Rey CA, before finally settling in our new slip in Wilmington CA.

The fold up cruising guides were a great help and served as an excellent starting place for picking waypoints.

Roche Harbor was a beautiful stopping place for a short first day, we anchored out since the guest docks were pricey and very tight for someone who is just getting used to motoring their new to them large boat. Anchoring turned out to be great, excellent holding with water calmer than on the guest docks for the rest of the trip.

Port Angeles was a nice place to stop for refueling, and the guest dock ended up being gratis (hint: come in right after closing and tip the fuel dock guy).

Neah Bay had an ok guest dock ($1 per ft), but very challenging fuel dock to get on and off.

Newport OR was a great place to pull in after 2-3 days at sea. The entrance was super easy with no sand bar conditions to deal with. USCG was routinely reporting on almost every other port we passed by on Ch 22a. Beautiful bridge, fun little fishing town and if you stay in the South Beach marina ($28 per night for 45ft boat) you are a 5min walk to the Rogue Brewing headquarters. I would recommend this place to anyone transiting the PNW coast.

San Francisco was pricey, since we stayed at the SF County Marina near the GG bridge ($2 per ft), but the views were spectacular and it's convenient to get around the city from there. No tidal issues getting in and out, but there is A LOT of water moving in the marinas by the GG Bridge.

We stopped in Santa Cruz, since we used to live there and love the city, so that made it worthwhile for us. For others without the nostalgic connection I'd probably recommend Monterey or just skipping on down the road. We stayed on the fuel dock ($1.25 per foot), since the other spots were taken, and there was significant surge all night. We lost three older fenders overnight due to the constant beating against the dock.

From Santa Cruz it was a quick 24hrs to Marina del Rey with lots of humpbacks, dolphins and one orca sighting. We stayed in Marina del Rey one night since we live nearby and it was easy for crew unloading. The lady and I motored down to Wilmington the following morning to our new slip.

A few trip notes... We were locked in fog from Neah Bay to just north of Santa Cruz. Usually it was just overcast during the day, but visibility would drop significantly at night with heavier fog. We only encountered fishing fleets twice at night, once about 50nm south of Cape Flattery and once one day out from Newport. Other than that we saw VERY few vessels.

We stayed about 10-20nm offshore for most of the trip with a max of about 40nm. We were able to sail for 24-36hrs on each of the longer passages, but tended to motor sail with wind usually under 7-8kts. The roughest weather was from just south of Cape Mendocino to SF. We saw a constant 20kts of wind for most of that passage with gusts to 30ish. Seas were fairly consistent at 6-10ft on a short period and usually semi-confused direction. We did hit 11.5 surfing and saw an avg of 8+kts. We lucked into calms during midday for both Cape Mendocino and Point Conception, with the weather picking up a couple miles south each time.

We primarily used paper charts, a Garmin 78sc and Navionics as a back up for navigation. We were testing out an updated Alpha Marine 3000 autopilot and it held up to everything wonderfully.

Thanks for everyone's advice here, it made me much more confident and feel pretty well informed for the voyage.
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Old 27-08-2017, 14:01   #37
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Re: Suggested Waypoints for WA to SF to LA

Very nice! Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing so many details!
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