best time sail san francisco los angeles

[Don C L]

Well, speak of the devil.... strong offshore winds in So Cal today getting up to 35 knots or more tomorrow. The whole west coast will have offshore winds for the next week though not at gale force levels according to windyty, with a large (10’ predicted) north swell running. A big high looks to be planted over NW I guess... second week in December.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Actually it is pretty common.

Rider Info | San Francisco Bay Ferry

What boats do you use?
The San Francisco Bay Ferry fleet consists of 12 boats all of which are catamarans (i.e., have two hulls). Vessel speed varies but ranges from 25 knots (28.7 miles per hour) to 35 knots (40 miles per hour). All boats are owned and maintained by the ferry service on behalf of the public.

We used to have these high speed cat ferries here in Maine that traveled from Bar Harbor to Nova Scotia and I found it to be quite frightening when I'd hear them on the radio, especially at night or in thick fog. The frightening part was that, with them traveling at over 40knots and the best I could do as small fraction of that speed, I was completely at their mercy if they happened to be momentarily inattentive or their equipment wasn't working or adjusted properly. The self defense measures I used was to become familiar with their schedule and make sure that I wasn't in the area when they were due to come through (I'm guessing not possible in SF due to ferry frequency?), make myself as visible as possible (lights, AIS), and listen carefully for their inbound securite call on the radio so I could announce my presence/location to them on VHF. But still, it seems pretty spooky to be out on the ocean, knowing that something you can't see is going to be passing close by at high speed that you have no real ability to dodge if they happen to screw up.

[Don C L]

Well, aside from the current couple of days of onshore flow, and the good northerly breeze off the coast, this December must have set a record for strength and duration of offshore winds, aka Santa Anas down in so Cal... and more next week to continue they say but hopefully below the gale we had a few nights ago that has kept that huge fire going.