Delivery from Ensenada to San Francisco

[SanFranSailor]

Hello,

My partner and I are long time sailors (growing up on the great lakes), but have been crewing keelboats for over a year in the SF bay area, and are looking to take the plunge and obtain our own vessel. We are relatively young (read: energy:yes, money:limited), so the best option for us was to put the blood/sweat/tears into bringing a positively surveyed boat up from the Caribbean islands. We've found a Hanse 415, never chartered, and well surveyed. Also has the beefed-up 55 hp engine which we think will come in handy for what we are hoping to do; We will be putting her on a ship to Ensenada, but from there we are bashing our way up to San Francisco.

We will unfortunately be relatively unfamiliar with this boat, as we will have only sailed it for about 8 days in the islands before the northern sail up the west coast. We are planning a full engine and saildrive service before starting, we have radar, and will have the required safety equipment for offshore passages.

Main questions for this forum, (as we have been reading up for weeks now and there is a ton of conflicting information): Looking to hear from anyone who has "sailed"/motored [/B]north in February/March[/B] and can give us an account of just how miserable you were. A huge uncertainty is the weather window, but it's unclear how much freedom if any we will have to wait for the perfect window. We are hoping to do it in 10 days or under, so that we can just take a week off. Not sure how crazed that is, even if we are somewhat willing to be miserable.
Also, is "The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California: Golden Gate to Ensenada, Mexico, Including the Offshore Islands" the best book on the topic? Any other recommendations for literature I will gladly take.

Thanks in advance; sorry I don't have much to offer back to this forum at the moment, but will aim to pay the community back with a post-trip-account.

[Zzmeyer]

Ensenada has great yards to fix anything you need before heading North. Baja Naval is one of the best, albeit not the cheapest. The trip from Ensenada to San Diego is easy. If you leave in the evening you should have light winds most of the time. You will need to stop in San Diego to clear into customs. Before leaving Ensenada get your DTOPS sticker and download theCBPRoam app. This will generally make your clearing into San Diego a lot easier. If you find you need additional repairs before continuing every marine service on the planet is available there. Until you get to Santa Barbara the winds should be light. If you don't have time to wait for a weather window leave the boat there, look for a good window and come back down for the three or four days it will take you to get to SF from SB. I wouldn't recommend blasting ahead based on a tight schedule.

[SanFranSailor]

Zzmeyer, amazing info, thank you. The two-part hop with the 1/2 way being SB is actually one of the options we are considering, nice to hear a third party recommend that. Thank you so much for the specifics about the sticker & App. We are foreign nationals, and will be hoping for the 1 year cruising permit in the US to avoid import taxes... not sure if the sticker is something we will still need. Probably will invest in a broker to help with logistics.

Yeah sounds like Ensenada is a massive port; likely will go shopping there.

Thanks again eh!

[Zzmeyer]

There is some paperwork you will need in Ensenada. If after unloading your boat you take it to Coral Marina, they will send someone with you to handle it all. I think they charge something like $35. Well worth it whether you speak Spanish or not. I'm assuming you will need a Temporary Import Permit, a visa and when leaving a health certificate and Zarpa. They are quite efficient in Ensenada with most services in a single building. Using an agent for the US part is a good idea, I'd guess. I have heard, only second hand, horror stories about the US for foreign nationals.

[Lazerbrains]

That time of year I would plan on 2 weeks to make the trip up the coast. In the winter, the weather becomes more unpredictable as the pacific high dissipates and Santa Ana's regularly whip up the Catalina and Santa Barbara channels - the SB channel in particular can become quite violent. You may have to wait days in Santa Barbara for the window to get past Pt. Conception, and once past that you may have to wait days again for the leg along Big Sur coast to Monterrey - there are no stopping points between Cambria and Monterrey. As others have said, don't be in a hurry on a tight schedule. Have lots of diesel as this is a bash all the way.

[sv_pelagia]

In addition to Coral Marina, Cruiseport Marina (closer to Ensenada downtown) also provides (significant) help with customs etc.

Question: would a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) be required for boat coming off a freighter and heading North? I know boats come to Ensenada via freighter regularly (indeed our boat was on a freighter that stopped in Ensenada before unloading her in British Columbia), so this question should have a clear answer.

IF a TIP is required, you can use it in the future for re-entry into Mexico. HOWEVER, if you do not plan to return to Mexico before selling boat, you should cancel the TIP on leaving Mexico, otherwise future owners will have problems bring boat back into Mexico.

Food shopping is excellent in Ensenada (Soriana Super, Costco). The best Fish Tacos (in the world?) are in Ensenada. BUT: Check into what foods are not allowed to be brought into USA from Mexico.

[SanFranSailor]

From my reading; yes, you/we'll need a TIP even for the few days at best we plan to be in Ensenada. I think you're right about everything else; glad our soon-to-be-boat has never sailed in Mexico.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by SanFranSailor

From my reading; yes, you/we'll need a TIP even for the few days at best we plan to be in Ensenada. I think you're right about everything else; glad our soon-to-be-boat has never sailed in Mexico.

What if you were to unload off boat and immediately head to San Diego? What shipping agent is handling shipping of your boat? Raven? Sevenstar? THEY should have answer. (I know Andrew Utley of Raven Shipping has done Ensenada regularly: http://www.nmta.net/member.asp?ID=7200) https://www.ravenmarine.ca/yacht-shipping

[SanFranSailor]

Yeah you're right, sounds like the shipping company actually would help us handle that part. And thanks for the Raven mention; hadn't heard of that one, and have another quote on the way.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by SanFranSailor

Yeah you're right, sounds like the shipping company actually would help us handle that part. And thanks for the Raven mention; hadn't heard of that one, and have another quote on the way.

Oh, you haven't booked shipping yet....

FWIW: we originally booked and paid for shipping with Sevenstar. They were almost useless, with cancelled and delayed dates. In the end, they essentially sold (subcontracted) contract to Raven Shipping. From that moment onwards, everything was excellent.

I highly recommend Raven Shipping! Whatever, Andrew is easy to talk with. Give Raven a call.

[SanFranSailor]

HAH just got off the phone with him; lovely sounding gentleman.

Thanks for the scoop!

[A la carte]

A few years back, I sailed my 44' catch from San Diego to the Puget Sound. I took a summer to make the trip by sailing 5 days at a time then, back to work for a bit, then another 5 days; copy paste until I made the turn into San Juan De Fuca. You're going in the winter so, weather might be completely different.

My observation was that the winds were always strong and off of the nose for the whole trip. Weather windows seemed non existent, just a constant 20-25 knots off the bow. 40 knot winds, gusting to 50 just south of Monterey were the worst I saw. Seems like an inland low forms over Yuma that pulls winds down the entire west coast. I believe the low disappears in the winter (Less inland heating?) Don't recall that I was ever warm on the trip, and that was in summer. My guess is that winter will be cold.

My other observation was the long leeward coast with few harbors or anchorages. You'll need to be prepared to do some all nighters. For example, San Simeon to Monterey took me 36 hours with no options in between.

Not an issue for you if you're stopping at San Francisco but, further north one needs to pay attention to the bars when entering a river (Like the Columbia and others).

[djelle]

Our trip was much quicker. We delivered our Hylas 46 in mid December from San Diego to San Francisco in 2 and 1/2 days. The weather was excellent but straight into 15 knots and a 12 foot but widely spaced friendly swell. Temperatures in low fifties. We motored almost all the way except for a few hours just to see how the boat worked. The leg from Ensenada to San Diego is quick and easy.

Jelle
Alexsea

[Bycrick]

Many years ago, I was crew on about a dozen deliveries up the coast. All except one were sailboats. In every case, the captains motored the entire way. Hence, barring mechanical problems, the ONLY consideration was the weather window.

On my last trip up, with my own boat, I made it from Ensenada to Morro Bay, single handing, with nothing but easy day trips. Then I spent almost two months in Morro Bay waiting for a clear two days to SF. That included one aborted attempt where I left Morro Bay at 0800 on a Friday (yes, I know) with clear weather forecast for the next week. By 1600, the forecast had changed to full STORM warnings. I managed to turn around and hide at San Simeon where I waited out almost a week of storm before going back to Morro Bay and waiting for another several weeks.

The moral of the story, besides not departing on a Friday, is don’t have a schedule.

[contrail]

I did this trip, one February, going in the opposite, easy direction, and THAT was miserable. We were on a schedule. Avoid that if at all possible!