I
commercial fished that area. It's best to plan on breaking the trip into pieces. The prevailing swells are from the NW, so you have them against you all the way. In periods of good
weather the swells aren't noticeable. The spring summer
weather pattern starting with a low: After each low pressure area goes thru, the
wind blows from the NW at 10-20kts (or more) for a couple days (or longer) making bigger swells, especially at headlands or as ground swell in shallower
water. I've seen 50' or more just in a headland groundswell. Then a few days of milder
wind and the ocean settles down. A few days, maybe even a week of good weather before another low comes in.
In almost any weather of this time you can survive, but unless you have a time table to meet it's more comfortable to sit out the bad weather. All the bars are easy to cross in good weather, especially at high tide/slack
water. The worst is ebb tide with a strong wind the other direction. The only places you can get into in really bad weather is Drakes Bay, sometimes Bodega Bay, Crescent City and usually the straits of Juan de Fuca.
Plan you trip around fuel stops for what is a comfortable run for you. Always have a 25% fuel reserve. The bars can close in bad weather and aren't fun in marginal weather. I run 25 miles out to miss the ground swell and most of the ship and
fishing traffic. There's more floating debris now, and watch for
fishing buoys.
There can be really bad weather any time of the year. Get the weather info in advance. Plan on making your bar crossings early when bad weather shows. All the
ports have fuel. Drakes Bay and Bodega Bay are the only good
anchorages until Neah Bay. The rest are either open to the swells or impossible to enter in bay weather. The bigger harbors have places to
anchor if you don't want to pay dockage.
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