What time of year should I plan to sail...

[svasgard]

Hey everyone. I am new to sailing and will be taking my first long distance sail sometime next year. Myself, a friend and my dog are planning on sailing to mexico, coast hopping down the Mexican coast, down to costa rica then west to french polynesia. We will be leaving from Vancouver, Canada. What time of year would be the best for me to leave from Vancouver to avoid the biggest possibility of bad weather?
thanx

[Adelie]

Check "World Cruising Routes" by Jimmy Cornell

Off the top of my head if you were in SoCal best choice would be March or so. Leaving from PNW that doesn't work the way south is pretty bad that time of year.

From PNW amble you way south to SoCal during the summer then head south from there in Oct. Any earlier and you run a chance of a Hurricane off of Mexico. Nov might be OK.

Check Cornell's book. Some edition will probably be in your library system. New editions just have more routes and minor changes to existing routes so the d editions still are valid.

[MarkJ]

Jimmy Cornell is good.

[S/V Reveille]

There is a fellow sailor from Vancouver that is doing exactly what you are planning. Check out the posts from Scottster, and also take a look at his youtube channel, "Off the Starboard Hull". He prepared for a couple of years before leaving Vancouver, down the west coast, to San Fran, Southern California, and the Sea of Cortez sailing a Lagoon 400 catamaran. Not sure if he's still in Mexico, or in the South Pacific, but would be worth reaching out to him. I'm sure you could learn from his experience, and he seems pretty willing to share info.
Best of luck.
Oh yeah, and read Jimmy Cornell.

Mark

[Dusty Mac]

You may want to check out Blue Water Cruising Association. They are a group of sailors that share preparation and knowledge.

[Adelie]

So Cornell says May-Oct for the PNW-SoCal route.

Then Nov-May leaving SanDiego. Earlier or later runs the risk tropical storms off Central America. (I was wrong about leaving here in Oct).


Mexico&CentralAmerica-Marquesas March-May.

You really need to get Cornell, "The Atlas of Pilot Charts and BA chart
#5308

You now have an idea of when and what route to follow into the South Pacific. You need to figure out what you want to do there because you will have a typhoon season to deal with there too. Do you want to find a Hurricane hole, or pull the boat out for that season or get out of the area? When I was planning for our trip the goal was NewZealand which was out of the typhoon zone. I figured 4months there to refit and explore then we were heading back. Knowing when I wanted to be arrive in NZ with a month padding tacked on I worked backwards to the Marquesas figuring travel times, how long I wanted to spend at each stop and when I needed to out of each location per Cornell. I set it up in spreadsheet to make calcing travel time and dates easier.

I made a choice to go thru American Samoa since I could repair, refit and reprovision duty free and where I was sure FedEx or DHL would have consistent service due the US military bases there.

[Paul L]

Leave the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a good weather window after mid-Aug and before the second week of Sept. heading for San Francisco. Then a slow cruise to San Diego for an early Nov. departure for Mexico.

[SurFun]

Right now is a great time of year to start. You will have the wind behind you and the storms that can come in will be well noted by news and weather updates. Once past Santa Barbra you will start to enjoy the ever warming weather and waters. I would suggest you plan to join the BaHa,Ha fleet next year as you will join 100s of other boats as the make their way south and you will meet many new and helpful friend along the way

Hope to see you next year
Jim
TahTau2 Irwin 46'

[pdenton]

If you have to ask such a rudimentary question, you need to do a lot of serious study before you risk you and your family on a blue water cruise. Asking such a question means that there a great number of things of things you don't know that you should.
pdenton

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Leave the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a good weather window after mid-Aug and before the second week of Sept. heading for San Francisco. Then a slow cruise to San Diego for an early Nov. departure for Mexico.

Very good, tried and true input. Listen to this.

Originally Posted by SurFun

Right now is a great time of year to start. You will have the wind behind you and the storms that can come in will be well noted by news and weather updates. ........................

This is so incredibly wrong. Heard about the storm last weekend? 31 foot waves too small for ya? Sheez...

Originally Posted by pdenton

If you have to ask such a rudimentary question, you need to do a lot of serious study before you risk you and your family on a blue water cruise. Asking such a question means that there a great number of things of things you don't know that you should.
pdenton

Great Validity to this on all levels.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by svasgard

Hey everyone. I am new to sailing and will be taking my first long distance sail sometime next year. Myself, a friend and my dog are planning on sailing to mexico, coast hopping down the Mexican coast, down to costa rica then west to french polynesia. We will be leaving from Vancouver, Canada. What time of year would be the best for me to leave from Vancouver to avoid the biggest possibility of bad weather?
thanx

Svasgard,

I see this is your first post in CF.

Welcome Aboard CF!

I just sent you a Private Message with a few tips on searching the archives. You have gotten some great advice from Adelie and PaulL and others. I am sure more will come.

Enjoy the forum!

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by pdenton

If you have to ask such a rudimentary question, you need to do a lot of serious study before you risk you and your family on a blue water cruise. Asking such a question means that there a great number of things of things you don't know that you should.
pdenton

I don't know... he said next year, he's risking a friend and dog, and he is asking the forum for advice. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[bcboomer]

+1 for Bluewater Cruising Association.

They have 800+ members with 100+ boats offshore at any given time.
There are mentors and a special program for those heading out in the next year or two.

Bluewater Cruising Association

[uncle stinkybob]

Originally Posted by SurFun

Right now is a great time of year to start. You will have the wind behind you and the storms that can come in will be well noted by news and weather updates. Once past Santa Barbra you will start to enjoy the ever warming weather and waters. I would suggest you plan to join the BaHa,Ha fleet next year as you will join 100s of other boats as the make their way south and you will meet many new and helpful friend along the way

Hope to see you next year
Jim
TahTau2 Irwin 46'

Really? I live and sail on the Straits of Juan de Fuca. This is the absolute worst time of year for the trip. Beating to about every mile and big nasty winter storm's as exampled by the force 12 that just hit us. If already in Cali? Is that what you mean? That makes sense.

[uncle stinkybob]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Leave the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a good weather window after mid-Aug and before the second week of Sept. heading for San Francisco. Then a slow cruise to San Diego for an early Nov. departure for Mexico.

I'm planning the trip next year also, solo with my service dog, Bug. This is the exact plan I will be following. Perhaps we need to start a new thread. Boats leaving the P.N.W. for Mexico thread? It might be fun and a little easier for us newer sailor's? Maybe even travel around same time. Have the opportunity to garner info and experience from you salty cruiser's that do this trip or any portion of it. What to provision, gear thoughts, boat prep. Would there be a big enough interest in such a thread? It would be great to have all that info in one spot.