Interesting that my post is considered negative by some. Oh Well, I am far more the pragmatist than the dreamer.
As to the spinnaker comment I made: If you don’t have good experience with the spinnaker before you go, don’t plan on
learning at sea, as it could get dangerous. Overly fussy? Perhaps. I think cautious. If you told me you have flown a couple of different
head sails configurations and are comfortable with all of them then I would tell you to definitely have them all on board. This is where I say you have a lot to learn.
It takes several daysails and lots of tries of getting the spinnaker up and down before you get good at it.
My idea of practice is run the sail up and sail a bit, the drop and stow the sail. Then do it again. Then a run-up and a gybe or two and bring it down again. Then go home, bring everybody together in the
cockpit and discuss what went right and what went wrong. Go home and study the
books and talk to a few people that may know. Do that on several different days with different conditions and you will get the hang of it and start feeling as if you can do when the feces impacts on the rotor blades.
The hardest part of cruising out of Southern
California is getting off the coast with the light, confused winds extending out at least 100 miles. I don’t call that negative I call it fact.
As to storms: I took my info of the top of my
head. This is from Jimmy Cornell: "August and September being considered the most dangerous months." Hawaii has had hurricanes and western Pacific hurricanes can wander into the higher latitudes in severe cases.
Sorry I told you that you have a lot to learn. You have to figure that out for yourself. You seem to repeat things you pick up and take them as absolutes. Not a good idea. Everybody is entitled to an opinion and it is just that. Facts are far more balanced consensus.
The published pilot charts, whether down loaded or print, are all based on the same data set. There may be a year or two of additional data in the on-line stuff depending on the date of printing. No one would say that pilot charts are for actual charting of position! Pilot charts are a big part of the planning phase, getting an idea of what to expect for winds in the areas you are considering sailing. You may be able to get enough scuttlebutt from a few guys and then you would not have to plan. I recommend you get the right stuff to plan this trip so you can properly plan the next trip and the next. It is a process of cumulative data and experience.
There may be a book called sailing simple or something like that but I have not seen a copy!
I learned from these posts. I learned that a lot of guys are far better sailors than I.
um saudade