San Diego vs. Tampa

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

I have 20 years in Fla and 6 in SD. I remember many a day sitting in our beach cat or the with almost no wind in TB. That's a typical summer day. In my mid 20s I became a damn good windsurfer and for some stupid reason moved to SD. Well there was a girl involved but that's another story. It seems you need about 12 knots just to get your board planing and I was denied countless days. We ended up driving to K38-K39 in Mex or up to the LA area or further north for wind. If you don't believe me then check out the AC race with Dennis Conner.
The weather in SD is fairly pleasant year round and I would be surfing, body surfing, or windsurfing (on a long board) right now without a wet suit. The saying among locals is that it only varies 10 degrees from winter to summer and it seems like we were about 5 degrees off according to Sardines post. In fact the weather is boring. HA

I love Zeehag but I think she would be comfortable in a pizza oven. Actually that is what the Sea of Cortez is right now.

What you say is generally true about Tampa. However, this summer we have had lots of wind.

Unfortunately those days almost always ended with significant storms.

[zeehag]

aaah bu ti donot do pizza ovens . that is why i am NOT sailing golfo de california--
first of fi dislike f=gringos with attitude, and i met many there when i did baja on land..
second, i do not DO desert. i have been there in spring, and i have seen the gold mine and alladat--long before all these folks started calling it sea of cortez, to the mexicans disgust. is golfo de california.

i lived on san diego bay year round with a thermometer on board so i KNOW what the temps in san diego bay are and i do not listen the spammy crap about the weather that tourist boards put out, which is the quoted stuff in our sedated friends'posts. anyone not sedated will feel the accurate temperatures in any locale.

i only lived on sd bay at anchor or on a mooring from 1995 to 2011,mooring from 1999-2011...and i spent that time in each place on bay we were allowed to use and some we werent. was a friends boat that was the breakaway for the china chain incident in a 65_kt wind one easter sunday nite at 0200, wind rose from there to gusts much higher--4 other boats were damaged in that fun fest--

if you want to know the reality of a place, find someone who does NOT sound like a travel brochure, as those are the lairs. find someone who actually lived ON the water, not in a protected area away from the bay only to drive X hours to see the boat when he feels like a daysail out of mission bay--different worlds,mon--totally different worlds. tell me how lovely winter there is AFTER you lived ON the water there as long as i did--oh ye and tellme again how few storms passed thru there when i was one who would save mor ethan 4 boats inmy mooring field alone due to breakaways from high winds and chop from a cyclonic pnw frozeass 38 f storm. tellme how hypothermic i wasnt...rodlmao...walk in my shoes before you say nbo it isnt so--i LIVED it, and i lived it thru oits patterns of cyclic weather from 1995 thru winter of 2011. 24/7/365. you did not. you were in la jolla watching the beautiful storm crash on your personal beach or in el cajon doing whatever they do there , but you were not on the water of san diego bay thru those--i know =-i would have heard your screams for mercy.

[Roy M]

Zee Hag is right about cyclonic storms in San Diego. The folks at NOAA can confirm them. Trouble is, the last one was in 1858. As for property taxes, if you are a liveaboard, for the most of us, they are waived. For those who aren't liveaboards, you are probably earning enough to survive the experience, as opposed to some Florida issues that have been raised lately. Let's see, what else? Lightning strikes per square mile? San Diego suffers from too few to raise the insurance issues, as opposed to Tampa, located near one of the truly active hots spots on the planet.

As for some nice points about San Diego, you can get anything you want to repair your boat, including some of the finest technicians available, at prices that are competitive, and suppliers who will stand behind their products (sorry ZeeHag, I really do appreciate the issues you are facing down there). What else? Great food (including better food trucks than most places on earth), fabulous wines, including the best of Mexico's offerings, not available in the deep south of their own nation. And beer? We may be the beer capital of the known universe. Yeah, the winter gets pretty chilly, but it's better than anywhere else on the West Coast, and the East Coast north of Florida isn't so inviting in February, either. It's not a place for folks who are of seriously limited resources, but then, there aren't a lot of those places left in the world. And if you are in need of premium medical care, world-class haulout facilities, or the need to explore deserts, alpine peaks, hang gliding, clear diving waters, memorable surf, or other attractions, San Diego isn't such a bad place to hang out. But, it's not a place to be when the monthly check isn't too exciting. Better to have a solid, functioning vessel and to keep moving from location to location as the seasons progress. The ideal would be to have some money available for refits and provisioning and occasional side adventures, to have good health and domestic tranquility, and to have the capacity to make long voyages and passages. But, when the money gets tight, anywhere, it's not a treat to limp along. But, if you've got some, then San Diego can be pretty nice.

[nimblemotors]

Mission Bay is my favorite place to visit. Renting a sailboat for the day is great.
Here is the sales pictures. Come to think of it, we haven't been recently.
As far as living there on a boat, have no clue.

[zeehag]

ok as for yards in sd--i have done them also---kohoer was best, most intelligent an d most helpful an dhonest.
knight and carver---est to me for packing gland change in sling 1000 usd...ohbut you cannot do that so we will charge you for the mandatory mechanic to your boat for the required estimate on that which turned out to be 8000 usd... rest my as sonhot coals mmma-- so i shopped the deal,and none to be had in san diego--even at kohler craft, but he was the most honest in his responses to me.

and so i did a 100ud j0b and put aside money i ws gifted fro the job fo r furthr work on that item..good thing--i neded that relly bad. the mechani failed to tell me that my engine was misaligned and that the problem would go away once that was rectified. excellent mechanic. NOT.

now, where did i hear that bit of probable misinformation????????? that rea ligning my engine would disappear my packing gland problem????

certainly NOt from the EXCELLENT mechanics i met with in san diego bay. not even kohler, my alleged friend..rodlmao.

I LEARNED IT BY ACTUALLY REALIGNING MY FREEKING ENGINE MYSELF HERE IN BARRA after almost 3000 nm of travel.

oh yes, san diego has EXCELLENT mechanics...NOT if they do this to folks requesting bids on a job.

southbay boatyard did a bottom j0b on my ericson --decent not excellent work, in 2004 for 1820 usd. that was a deal. i dont think they do that any more i had all my thru hull fittings replaced and 3 blisters removed, as they had tunnelled, and barrier coat done.

san diego is no magical place at all and work is just as shoddy as any other place and prices are sky high. cost of living in sd is off the wall average income is 70k and rn critical care are lowest paid in cali......or were when i was there--prolly stil are. i have lived in many places in usa and worked in many places in usa and owned things in many places in usa and sailed many places in usa..and some international, not just mexico...trying to tellme my credibility is bad because YOU donot know the facts is absurd. please re assess your baseline knowledge of the weather and yards in san diego before you tell me i am wrong, as you have been doing.
and do not say the best in the world as it is not that.

MISSION BAY IS NOT SAN DIEGO BAY not even close in environment nor temperature

[rebel heart]

Zeehag: there is a considerable difference between a low pressure frontal system generated in the Gulf of Alaska and a cyclone. Low pressure systems indeed have backing winds, but that's a far cry from a closed circular fluid of a cyclone.

I know you consider yourself to have superior knowledge of every place you've been (and passed by, and seen, and read about), but that doesn't entitle you to make patently false claims about the weather.

Furthermore, you're not the only person to have lived in a mooring in San Diego. I lived on the A-10 ball, in the A-8 mooring field. I was on my old Ericson and when I was on the boat and the sun was up I got to listen to choppers and jumbo jets on repeat.

And honestly while you were holding onto that ground tackle in those winter storms I was criss-crossing to the Channel Islands, Mexico, and up the Pacific coast. On my boat, my previous boat, deliveries, running two different sport fishers as captain, and skippering sail charters.

Regarding boat yards, I've had excellent service from Shelter Island Boat Yard, and if you walk along Shelter Island Drive you'll notice Khoeler's yard is almost always empty, Driscoll has a few boats, and SIBY is packed: there's a good reason for that. I had a tenant in there (Hoffman Yachts) put a bad seacock on, and they replaced it for free including eating the haul-and-launch fee, even though it wasn't their fault (it was a faulty Groco unit).

And yes, Mission Bay and San Diego Bay are largely the same for climate. I rode my bicycle and would run between them for exercise. The spine of Point Loma doesn't make some magical wall between them.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Zee Hag is right about cyclonic storms in San Diego. The folks at NOAA can confirm them. Trouble is, the last one was in 1858. As for property taxes, if you are a liveaboard, for the most of us, they are waived. For those who aren't liveaboards, you are probably earning enough to survive the experience, as opposed to some Florida issues that have been raised lately. Let's see, what else? Lightning strikes per square mile? San Diego suffers from too few to raise the insurance issues, as opposed to Tampa, located near one of the truly active hots spots on the planet.

As for some nice points about San Diego, you can get anything you want to repair your boat, including some of the finest technicians available, at prices that are competitive, and suppliers who will stand behind their products (sorry ZeeHag, I really do appreciate the issues you are facing down there). What else? Great food (including better food trucks than most places on earth), fabulous wines, including the best of Mexico's offerings, not available in the deep south of their own nation. And beer? We may be the beer capital of the known universe. Yeah, the winter gets pretty chilly, but it's better than anywhere else on the West Coast, and the East Coast north of Florida isn't so inviting in February, either. It's not a place for folks who are of seriously limited resources, but then, there aren't a lot of those places left in the world. And if you are in need of premium medical care, world-class haulout facilities, or the need to explore deserts, alpine peaks, hang gliding, clear diving waters, memorable surf, or other attractions, San Diego isn't such a bad place to hang out. But, it's not a place to be when the monthly check isn't too exciting. Better to have a solid, functioning vessel and to keep moving from location to location as the seasons progress. The ideal would be to have some money available for refits and provisioning and occasional side adventures, to have good health and domestic tranquility, and to have the capacity to make long voyages and passages. But, when the money gets tight, anywhere, it's not a treat to limp along. But, if you've got some, then San Diego can be pretty nice.

Again, mebbe local experience counts. The lightning strikes are inland, not on the water. Tampa is very spread out. Lightning is no reason to avoid the Tampa area.

I personally think the varied geography of California gives it a real edge. You should also know that along the Gulf coast it doesn't typically cool off all that much at night. A low of 80 is common, and that's only between 4:00 and 4:20 AM.

Not true THIS summer, by the way. The Gulf is markedly cooler than it was when Katrina formed/grew, and it is going down into the 70's. I can sleep in the cockpit without AC quite comfortably -- and I'm not a "heat" person.