[Bash]

...about getting up to speed in terms of navigation. I've done this trip about a dozen times, and you need to be ready to deal with fog regardless of what time of year you're hoping to make a passage.

Although I've done the trip without radar a couple of times, I would certainly not do it again. There's no experience quite like being a few miles off Point Sur and not being able to see your bow pulpit, let alone the lighthouse.

As far as the overnight stuff, it's possible to day-hop the entire trip except for the passage between Stillwater Cove and San Simeon, which is going to take an overnight in any boat you can afford on your budget.

I'm not crazy about the prospect of a $3,000 boat being up to the voyage without significant work/expense being involved. That's one hell of a shakedown cruise for a boat that's likely to be older than you are. A better plan might be to spend half a year earning enough money to purchase a boat up to the task. Your chances of success will quadruple in a boat in the $10,000-15,000 range.

The first few times I made this trip I was crewing for someone else on boats I could never have afforded at the time. Might be something you want to consider, because it's not all that hard for an able-bodied volunteer to find a crew slot from SF to SD. Once you've got a few passages under your belt it will be far easier to know what sort of boat you'll need for the type of sailing you want to do.