San Francisco to Seattle

[cyclepro]

Paul, I get your point and to answer part of your question, yes, I have the time since I am retiring (the 'transfer' in my original message refers to a transfer from a single life to a married life).
Granted, a 30 to 40 day passage has its own dangers but I am just leary of the dangers and difficulties that I will encounter with a 'straight up north' passage, i.e. beating into the wind, waves and currents. Add to that the sometimes dangerous entrances to the sparsely scattered ports.

Jan

[Amgine]

Paul L: I can't speak for CyclePro, but I'm planning on sailing to Hawaii at some point, spending 4 or 5 times the amount of money and more like 1000 times the amount of time compared with flying. Partly it's because I want the experiences, and partly because Hawaii is merely the destination while the goal is to sail.

Sure, if I were bringing a boat from San Francisco north it might be faster to motor, but if my goal were to have an enjoyable, comfortable trip I think I would head just south of the high then up and over. The fastest sail around the world is to get south and hang on, but it's more fun to laze along downwind in the tropics.

[Paul L]

I've gone down the coast a number of times and understand your trepidation, never brought one up. I have two friends who brought their boats up the coast using the services of a weather router. Both had decent trips and made it to WA in about a week. Not including the sitting to wait out the start.

If this is retirement stuff, then maybe you should make your landfall in SE Alaska and enjoy some cruising coming down.

Paul L

[Paul L]

[quote=Amgine...but if my goal were to have an enjoyable, comfortable trip I think I would head just south of the high then up and over....[/quote]
Let's not be too romantic about the sailing. The trip back from Hawaii to Strait of Juan de Fuca is not a cake walk.

Paul

[senormechanico]

I've sailed boats down the coast from Seattle twice (once to Mexico) and trucked 2 boats back from the Sea of Cortez to Seattle. I'd do it the same way again.

Steve B.

[Tom967]

Originally Posted by Amgine

Tom967: I've heard of 125th St. as well, and I'm wondering how set in stone that is? There are two camps among the cruisers I've spoken with; one group saying that if you're willing to put up with the waves, stand out to about 128° and then south and you'll never see a commercial vessel, and the other group saying the commercial traffic is pretty spread out along the coast, trying to avoid each other.

The two routes down the coast for cruisers seem to be rock-hopping inside the commercial traffic, or getting beat up by the waves offshore. I'd love to know if the majority of ships stick to any one route when they're traveling up or down the west coast.

Commercial trafic is always thinking of fuel saving and efficiency..125..is the route for such trafic.. between those ports...If it's worse out there at 128.. running North/South...plus you are 180 miles further west..."God help You..

But don't listen to me..I'm an old guy now 64.....anything more than a force 4..I try to avoid like the plague..

[jim lee]

CP, I -do- remeber the Oyster Cove info. What kinda' boat did you end up with?

-jim lee

[cyclepro]

I sold my Beneteau 35s5 in Dec of 2005 and bought a 1985 Wauquiez Pretorian in Jan of 2006. Not as fast as the Ben but much more comfortable, seaworthy and spacier down below.

Jan

[Thermal]

There are some temp slips available at Ala Wai harbor. The harbor is falling apart, but one of the yacht clubs replaced their dock, and the old one was floated over to the state harbor that has been it as transient mooring. I go by there about once a week and there have always been at leas a half dozen open slips. Med tie, no electricity or water though, less than $10/day.

[Amgine]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Let's not be too romantic about the sailing. The trip back from Hawaii to Strait of Juan de Fuca is not a cake walk.

You're right, it isn't. It's merely far more comfortable and less stressful than motoring into the weather.

But as for being romantic about the sailing... that's part of why I sail.

[Paul L]

Amigine,
I'm not disagreeing with you. I'd much rather be sailing. The number of days for the long trip vs the short seemed a bit disproportionate. Most peoplecheading back from Hawaii take on as much fuel as they can, just in case they end up motoring across the top of the Pacific High.

Paul L

[Amgine]

A fairly famous sailor once spent some time beating to weather, and eventually turned around and sailed all the way around the world to get to his destination. Not because it was faster, but because the stress and toll on the ship and crew was too high.

For a personal anecdote, I spent a couple weeks motoring in calms and adverse currents, which was extremely frustrating to me. Then I spent 8 hours motoring upwind, broke about $1500 worth of gear, and turned tail to get back to the protection I'd been under. Those 8 hours of windward work cost me more than the previous two weeks of motoring, and the entire 2 month cruise.

I've read several stories of people motoring yachts up the coast, though I've never spoken to anyone who'd personally done so, and each one had a terrible time, broken gear, and horrifying crossings of bars when they had to duck in to make repairs.

Now I'm not saying the extra days are going to be the same cost as motoring - most likely they will be somewhat more expensive au total - but if the costs are even somewhat similar then the skipper should opt for the more comfortable/less stressful route. The equation would be very different if one were paying for a delivery crew, and every day increases the costs, but then that would be the responsibility of the delivery skipper and not the owner (who would be paying a flat rate plus.)

It's also worth noting that I've spoken with or corresponded with a number of people who've sailed back from Hawai'i, and the majority of them preferred the return trip over the trip southbound. Odd, since the trip down is a sled ride.

[Paul L]

Well, only the original poster gets to make the decision. For me, right now, it is just armchair BSing. If I could spend a month, or so, cruising in Hawaii and the boat was already ready for cruising, and I had appropriate crew, I'd probably go the Hawaii route. If crew or time was an issue, I'd go up the coast and pay for a weather router or if the boat wasn't preped I'd truck it. I wouldn't want to do a touch-and-go in Hilo and keep on trucking.

Paul L