Sailing Los Angeles to San Francisco - Request for Advice

[Greentrees Film]

Greetings Sailors,

My name is Jack and I've been tasked with sailing a 44' ketch Hudson Seawolf from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands) and onward up to San Francisco Sept. 1st-5th (to Santa Cruz Island) and Sept. 5th onward to SF. I am not in a great hurry for the second part and am excited for the opportunity.
My initial research describes difficulties and challenges which I hope will not deter my enthusiasm for the adventure.

I would greatly appreciate any advice, wisdom, cautions, best routing practices, resources, safety concerns, weather advisories, mechanical considerations, etc. anyone can provide.

I have been on board cabin cruisers and sailboats all my 48 years and have skippered for many years on the great lakes and down to Florida. I have sailed the placid Santa Monica Bay & Catalina Island for over a decade but heading North is new and I've heard some tales already.

A knowledgable and seasoned mentor for this journey would be most welcomed and appreciated to advise on the above.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and sharing your experiences on this route.

Happy Summer Sailing!

Jack

[svcambria]

You are in that fortunate area where you can get up-to-the-minute weather information over your VHF - so listen up and proceed north when the winds are predicted from the south (almost never), are calm (occasionally), or less than 20 kts from the North West. Over 20 kts, sail boats generally go close to no where and sometimes even backwards when trying to get to SF. Hug the coast so you can get as much "northing" as possible in weather windows; you will wind up doing a fair amount of motor sailing. Fuel is available at Santa Barbara, Port San Luis, and Morro Bay, then you have a gap to Monterey/Moss Landing/Santa Cruz; for traveling, the biggest gap will be from San Simeon (near Hearst Castle) to Stillwater Cove (Carmel). (There is an anchorage at Pt. Sur, but you don't want to contemplate it on your first trip...)
It can be a fun trip, done it many times, but don't expect to sail much...

Michael

[daddle]

Shouldn't be any problem in September. Put the speed lever at full power leaving Santa Cruz Island. Back her off near the GG Bridge. Stop for fuel anywhere if you must. This week would have been great. "One foot on the beach" to get out of the current.

[Greentrees Film]

SV Cambria - Thank you very much for your concise and informative reply.
I welcome any other suggestions including how to make progress tacking over 20 knots. Why can't big reaches provide 'northing', currents?


Daddle - Nice summary conclusion, thank you.



Please keep all comments coming! I respect experience!

Thank you!

Jack

[sww914]

Most folks do a lot of motoring at night for the trip north. Read up about Point Conception, it's a big wind funnel. People often lay up at Cojo during the day to wait out the wind and take off around the point at 10:00pm or midnight after it has calmed down a bit.
Some boats come into Port San Luis (no marinas or docks) or Morro Bay pretty beat up if they were unprepared or unwise. According to the pilot charts, in September the current runs south all the way out to Hawaii. I didn't look at any other months.