SAN Diego to Santa Barbara

[Stu Jackson]

Well, uhm, somebody wrote a entire BOOK about sailing in Southern California.

Uhm, Brian Fagan was his name.

I always geta kick out of somebody who asks how long will it take?

D = S X T, plus stops along the way. Have you reviewed the charts for the water between where you are an where you're going?

Sorry to seem harsh and maybe I'm misreading your question. You certainly have received a lot of options, all of which would be available from the charts.

Enjoy Brian's book, it's pretty much an essential for new sailors down your way.

Safe journey, have fun.

[David Mark]

Next time in Dana Point we will definitely stop in !!! Dave S/CAT Bama Breeze

[Don C L]

I'm actually of the camp who likes to discuss making the climb from SD to Point Conception, sailing, not motoring, because I have only done it along the coast and I am curious if others have had more success farther out. For example, at night, at least during the summer, it can be dead calm south of Santa Cruz Island while close to shore there can be a land breeze to poke along with. On the other hand, if the current maps are to be believed, it looks much better to be quite a ways out from the point of view of surface currents. Sure we can always draw rhumb lines, but of course those aren't the shortest distance between two points... when sailing. By the way here are 2 sites for currents along the coast if you haven't seen it:
UCSB Ocean Surface Currents Mapping Project - Real-Time Data

and :
Ocean Surface Currents from the HF RADAR Network

amazing the data available these days...

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I'm actually of the camp who likes to discuss making the climb from SD to Point Conception, sailing, not motoring...[/url]

I'm with you. We've done that climb alot. The way we WANTED to do it but have never been able to because the Navy has been busy practice bombing each time we've checked it is:

1. Sail (not motor) to San Clemente Island (yes, it's a sail over there...a teeny bit over 55 miles. Anchor in the only anchorage allowed these days on the south side of the island.

2. If there's hope of wind with enough of a westerly component consider beating up to Cat Harbor on the back side of Catalina. Anchor or pick up a mooring there. We always anchor but it's deep where we choose to do so. I should be about 35-40 miles from SCI to CH. You may have to motor.

3. Depending on wind or lack of it, you can tack your way up to the south side of the northern Channel Islands. The hope of wind is greater if you stay westerly rather than close to the east end of things. Beware, both cruise ships and shipping traffic cuts right through the Channel Islands south of the northern islands and north of Catalina Island. I've got pics to prove it.

4. If you stay to the east as you go north towards your end goal of Santa Barbara, you'll likely have to motorsail. But the Anacapa Passage is the most direct route if motoring and you can stay at any of the anchorages on Santa Cruz already mentioned. Smugglers is one of the very few (well, Prisoners also) that you can get safely into after dark as long as you have radar to see other boats. It is pretty wide open/roadstead. If you're wanting to sail--you'll find more wind, albeit probably too close to the nose, if you head for the cut between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. There are a ton of anchorages to choose from--pick up Fagan's book for that insight. Once you're through that cut between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz, you should be able to sail nicely to Santa Barbara even if winds are light. If winds in the Santa Barbara Channel are too light, you won't have as good of luck sailing from the Anacapa Passage up and across--too far east less winds it seems.

5. Santa Barbara harbor is fun, they've always got room for you for a night or two it seems. If you're sailing on the cheap and the weather is fairly settled, you can anchor (deep) in the roadstead anchorage east of Santa Barbara harbor. We've done it once after a night sail in light winds from San Miguel Island over to Santa Barbara--we just needed to pick up an internet signal for our hotspot and didn't want to pay for a slip that time.

Not sure why you're visiting Santa Barbara, but I'd be more keen on anchorage hopping around Santa Cruz Island, or trying to make it over to San Miguel than going to Santa Barbara.

Best of luck! Hope you already made your trip and it was enjoyable.
Brenda

[Cruzin4Play]

When are you planning to make your trip?

I've just returned from a week of bareboating out of Shelter Island, San Diego. This has been the second year doing this and my experience is that in March the weather can fluctuate dramatically. This year we sailed the bay for three days because the open water had 15 to 20 foot swells and no one was willing to venture into that sea state in the whole SD area. The other factor is the wind, most days the wind doesn't pick up enough to sail until 10 A.M. meaning a shortened sail powered day.

Once the sea settled we sailed to Mission Bay which took 3 more tacks than we had planned for our DR chart. BTW, Mariner's Cove in Mission Bay is a beautiful place to grill an evening meal on the hook. When we left Mission Bay the fog rolled in and at .5 km there was no land in sight so charting was really important with radar. The wave state was 9' swells and smooth since there was zero wind. We motored for 2 hours before enough breeze was available to fill the sails. By the time we were returning back north to enter SD Bay the wind had died to the point we had to drop our sails since the swells were at an angle that made the boom swing dramatically thus another hour of motoring.

We had originally planned to sail to Catalina for a two day visit. Not even close to being a reality. What we learned was that the ambitions plans of a romantic sail can not be scheduled. The weather will schedule your sailing in real time. If one has the time to catch a weather window, great, otherwise, be conservative in the distance you will make on any given day.

Regarding motoring or motor sailing, We were on a Catalina 42 mk with about 50 gal fuel tankage. The chartering business as well as other sailors we talked to said that it would be wise to refuel at Oceanside or Dana Point since it would be unlikely one would be able to make it to Catalina and back on 50 gal of fuel. We had also heard of boats who didn't even make it with a direct motoring sail to Catalina. We bought towing insurance just-in-case we needed assistance.

Good luck on your transit and enjoy the sail in between.

[Sutcoinc53]

I am curious how many of these responses are from sailors who actually sail in Southern California. You talk about our waters as if they are some alien creature. I single hand my boat from Santa Barbara to Sun Roads marina in San Diego 4 to 6 times each year. Some times straight threw, sometimes stopping in Catalina for the night. This is a very simple straight forward run. Sure we get some wind in the channel. But my god am I missing something


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[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Sutcoinc53

I am curious how many of these responses are from sailors who actually sail in Southern California. You talk about our waters as if they are some alien creature. I single hand my boat from Santa Barbara to Sun Roads marina in San Diego 4 to 6 times each year. Some times straight threw, sometimes stopping in Catalina for the night. This is a very simple straight forward run. Sure we get some wind in the channel. But my god am I missing something


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Well, welcome here! So the RUN down is definitely fun, easy and straight, I agree with you there. But when you go north, how do you do it, sailing? Do you tack along the coast? Any differences for sailing at night?

[Schooner Chandlery]

I agree compared to the northbound trip the trip down to SD IS a piece of cake that's true. Can't wait to hear how you Sutcoins get back up to SB.

With our heavy boat we look for wind and that often means "go west" from SD looking for it before going north... What have others done?


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[JDoyle]

Question: Can you put a spinnaker sheet in the wash. I found an old one in my Boat and it has no holes but a lot of mold and mildew.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by JDoyle

Question: Can you put a spinnaker sheet in the wash. I found an old one in my Boat and it has no holes but a lot of mold and mildew.

Hmm sheet or spinnaker? I assume you mean the sail. I would not do that. I'd buy a plastic trash can and hand wash it in it with something gentle like woolite.

[JDoyle]

Thanks!

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Well, welcome here! So the RUN down is definitely fun, easy and straight, I agree with you there. But when you go north, how do you do it, sailing? Do you tack along the coast? Any differences for sailing at night?

Nobody besides me is making a peep on that. Gotta wonder. Does everyone else motor?



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[Tayana42]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

Nobody besides me is making a peep on that. Gotta wonder. Does everyone else motor?

Pretty much yes.


S/V B'Shert

[Training Wheels]

Yep, pretty much.


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[jeepbluetj]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

Nobody besides me is making a peep on that. Gotta wonder. Does everyone else motor?

m

Yup. It's common to have no wind at night or in the am. The typical westerlies (if there is wind) are fine for sailing up the coast. But even then, the current can really kill progress.

I was going from Oceanside to Dana, and right around San Onofre the track on the plotter was justa horizontial line. Tacking back and forth but little northward progress. Turned the blasted motor on. yes, it would have been better further out.