San Fran to Seattle: Advice?

[ARGold]

Oh we are NOT giving up, we are going to do this thing. I'm volunteering as crew just to Seattle, the boat is going all the way up to Homer, AK. That would be an expensive run up he AL-CAN Highway!

I got the Douglas' book and am most likely going to recommend we go up inshore (< 20 NM), ducking in and watching the weather closely. The Douglases has lots of good waypoints along what they call the towing lanes which should keep us out of the crab pots.

[Amgine]

It's mighty pricy to ship all the way to Alaska. But it's only a couple to several $k to Seattle. You'll probably eat nearly that much bashing up the coast, not counting the fuel, moorage, hotels, wear and tear (and breakage.)

Still, it's much more adventurous to work your way up the coast, and you'll certainly never forget it. If you can keep us abreast of your progress, quite a few of us will likely be happy to be on the docks to catch your lines as you come in.

Hoping the best for your venture!

[captain58sailin]

Once you get north of California, things should moderate for you.

[Bash]

From SF steer 252 degrees true until you arrive Hawaii. Tack. Steer 120 degrees true until you arrive Seattle.

Take extra rations.

[captain58sailin]

You can always drag a couple of tuna jigs behind the boat to supplement your diet.

[Randy]

The nice thing these days you have a much better online oceanic meterologic read of the weather. Good luck and pick your weather windows!!

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by Bash

From SF steer 252 degrees true until you arrive Hawaii. Tack. Steer 120 degrees true until you arrive Seattle.

Take extra rations.

So you say steer southwest to Hawaii, then southeast to Seattle
You are aware that Seattle is North of San Francisco?

[Lodesman]

ARGold,

I'll present the dissenter's opinion. The caveat is I haven't sailed the route, but have done it often in big grey ships. The seas get very choppy in close to shore, due to the continental upslope. By "close in" I mean within 10-20 miles offshore. This coincides with the fishing grounds, which you may also wish to avoid. The big ships usually travel about 50 miles offshore. So I would personally go 20-40 miles off; do it in one shot; and be prepared to head into any of the ports along the way to avoid weather. It is a sailing vessel, so what if you have to tack. Most of your winds will be N or NW, but you might pick up a land breeze or two. I would think it would be a lot harder pounding into and out of the ports, especially since that option would force you to stay too close to shore - not a good idea imo. The distance up the coast must be about 700 NM, and almost another 100 down the strait to Seattle (a nice run).

[svHyLyte]

There are a couple of prior discussions of the matter you might want to read through. See:

Sailing from California to Alaska....Route, equipment, recommendations, tips, etc...

and,

Need Crew - Santa Barbara CA to Seattle WA - April 30, 2009

You might also correspond with Dan on Elysium (the second link, above) as he was taking his yacht up to Seattle earlier this year.

FWIW...

s/v HyLyte

[CharlieCobra]

IRCC they had to abort the trip just North of SF with minor damage and a seasick crew. I was chatting with the owner about continuing that cruise but didn't hear back after the initial contacts. As far as I know, he's still in the SF area waiting for a weather window.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

So you say steer southwest to Hawaii, then southeast to Seattle
You are aware that Seattle is North of San Francisco?

Hmmm . . . do they call Lima the "Seattle of Peru" the way they call Buenos Aires the "Paris of Argentina?"

TaoJones

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

So you say steer southwest to Hawaii, then southeast to Seattle
You are aware that Seattle is North of San Francisco?

I must have been looking at a route to egress a harbor for that second leg. Hope I didn't cause anyone a crash jibe.

Yeah, you'll have to tack somewhere closer to 45 degrees. I'm not anywhere near a compass rose right now, or I might be able to get you something closer to proper sailing directions.

Or not.

[highseas]

Go to 46deg. N ,135deg.W ,then head for Vancouver Is. You could probably do it in 4 big tacks.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by highseas

Go to 46deg. N ,135deg.W ,then head for Vancouver Is. You could probably do it in 4 big tacks.

What is this "tacking" of which you speak? Heading north from Hawaii you will be on starboard tack, trying to sail due north, but probably some westing will be necessary -- both because you can't and/or don't wish to sail hard on the wind as you bash through the tradewind swells, and because you probably want to stay to the west of the Pacific High.

As you sail around the High, and over the top, you will remain on starboard tack. Once over the top, you eventually jibe to port tack as you sail directly to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The conditions can get rough and windy as you approach the coast (I've only sailed this route to San Francisco, but I do have friends who sail from Hawaii to Seattle or Portland).

Typically, you will end up in some very light air as you sail through the western edge of the High (or when it moves on top of you). You will want to motor through this windless patch, and some light-air sails can really help in this portion of the passage. If you can't motor, don't worry -- eventually the wind will find you.

On VALIS, I have just returned from an attempt to sail up the coast from San Francisco to Seattle. We got almost to Cape Mendocino. We started in a gap between weather systems, hoping the extended forecasts were pessimistic. They weren't. We could have made it the whole way, but it would have required sheltering in Eureka, and possibly further up the track, to wait for conditions to abate. This would have completely ruined my family's vacation schedule, so instead we ran back home and I am now flying north ("Nothing goes to weather like a 747!").

I think my next attempt will be via Hawaii. You can read the VALIS blog for the recent attempt here: VALIS . There's not much there, though, as it was difficult enough to just hold on, without trying to type. You can also read about our three Hawaii-to-San Francisco passages, and for that matter about the S.F. to Hawaii passages.

[Lodesman]

I know it's typical to go via Hawaii when coming from Panama - the added miles make up a small portion of the total distance. By comparison SF to Seattle is 800 NM direct, but about 4300 NM via Hawaii. Surely there is no benefit to going over five times the distance.