Best time of year to sail Hawai to L.A.

[Fanch Martin]

Hello everybody
What is the best month to sail from Hawai to Los Angeles?
Between strong trade wind and hurricanes seasons.
Thank you for your answer.

[savoir]

Anytime from April to September. You will be too far North to worry about hurricanes.

[Fanch Martin]

Thanks for this answer and for you after september trade winds are too strong?

[Greg4cocokai]

I think Aug. - Sept. To be best.

[SkiprJohn]

After September the low pressure areas moving from west to east start bringing through severe weather.

My recommendation would be June through September.

[savoir]

Starting in October the NW winds blow both harder and colder and continue until around March.

[roverhi]

August, early September are the best time because the weather to the north of the high is as benign as it's going to get and the water has had time to warm up so it won't be so damned cold. May through early September is the typical sailing season as the weather is decent just cold in the early months. Having said that, once you are north of the trade wind belt, you can get hit by bad weather at any time of year. More than one boat has been abandoned/ gone missing during the summer months.

Before and after those times the low pressure systems march across the North Pacific in 4-10 day intervals. These lows bring everything from gale to hurricane force winds making it uncomfortable to say the least. It is not the trade winds you are concerned with, it's these lows that are the danger. In a typical passage the chances are good you will get hit at least twice and sometimes more by nasty weather in the off season. Did I mention, it's colder than hell out of season as well.

[JPA Cate]

Actually, the end of Sept. can already have those cold strong NW patterns; for comfort's sake, best to go before the middle. If you leave when there's a storm off the west coast of Mexico, the high can get "sucked" south, and you might be able to sail the rhumb line. However, it is that Pacific high that keeps the cold weather off you. That means you sail north till the butter sets, then turn right. For us it was about 3 days hard on the wind, leaving from Kauai, Hanalei Bay, for SF, so we had to get a lot of northing. [The more north you go the further away from the hurricanes you get.]

Ann

Ann