Best year-round sailing in the USA?

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

Not sure there is a place in the US to sail year round in comfort. Remember, it will get dark early in the winter months. Even in Florida, you only get 9 hours of daylight in Dec, Jan. The night gets chilly, it warms up starting at 10:00am and starts getting chilly again around 4:00pm. I do not like being on the boat when it gets cold.

You might try the Florida Keys as the is the best year round weather anywhere in the US.

Check the water temp in the winter in any areas you are thinking about.

Did anyone mention comfort? Particularly the OP?

[buzzstar]

Do you want perfect weather or to learn to sail? I the former, perhaps Florida, unless it is raining, terribly humid and hot, or it is hurricane season (you will learn to watch the weather from several sources). If you want to learn to sail, it is San Francisco. As others have said, the Pacific Northwest is a horror show (think of sunken boats) while southern California has no real sailing and the water can be chilly. That second single malt sure helped. I even tolerated those who think Mark Twain was a part of the global warming plot.

[markpierce]

Ultimately, the attraction of the San Francisco Bay Area is weather, where folks are willing to pay 50% more to live there. Housing is especially expensive (0.5 to 1.5 million dollars for the average house depending upon location), also high-cost fuel, food, and taxes. Also, automobiles are subject to very slow traffic congestion.

[aquadreams]

It's great to see all the kudos that SF is getting :-). It's where I've learned to sail and I have to agree with most things said so far. Another advantage to learning here is that you can work your way up in difficulty level as you get more experienced. Inside the bay is usually flat to 2-3 feet wind waves, go outside the gate and you can get your 10-20 foot swell.

The scenery is pretty amazing too, with the bridges, Alcatraz, the city, all the boat traffic, fog streaming in over the hills. Night sailing on the bay is fantastic too and just beautiful. I'm headed out to the Farallons this weekend to do some whale watching, and down to Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Monterey over the 4th of July, returning back to catch the fireworks off Alcatraz. Only way it could be better would be to have water warm enough to swim in, which we don't have.

I've enjoyed lessons from a couple of schools in the area and can recommend Club Nautique as being top notch.

And about housing, the average price is more like a million now, nothing under a mil on the peninsula at all.

- Joe