What year is your GB and how is she powered?
Right now is an unusually good experience window. If you wait for another similar, could be a while. Your struggle is 150 nms from Conception to Lobos. 20 hours, of which you can likely minimize your exposure to around 5-7 hours of junk in the afternoon when the winds howl.
Following assumes a delivery schedule vs a port-to-port run during daylight hours. Diurnal wx patterns during summer are strong NW winds building to 25 kts in the afternoon, subsiding to relative calm by sunset. This means running at night avoids the bigger chop.
GB42 with its plumb bow is a fairly wet ride, but also means its pretty comfortable in a headset as it slices through vs over chop. Make sure your
ports are sound and your
deck gear is well secured.
I normally planned go round Conception/Arguello around midnight as it's the most likely to have calm weather. Risk is that if it's not calm, it's a bit scary in the dark. A decent Plan B is to
anchor at Cojo and depart at dusk to round Conception. Port San Luis is preferable to Morro Bay because it's an open anchorage which means no tides or currents in or out.
Anchor at the back of PSL and it's easy to depart at midnight. PSL is 100 nms from Pt Lobos. For some reason, I often hit junk around Pt Sal/Miguel but only for a few hours. Workable as long as weather isn't
forecast to be awful. There is always a small craft warning along this coast so if you're waiting for something better, might as well play the lottery- odds are better. It's not as bad as it seems though - 6-foot at 5-6 seconds is scary at first, but not dangerous. Make sure your dinnerware is well stowed with padding between the plates. You will not see more than 4-6 hours of junk this time of year.
Another tip. I like the beach
route. Meaning that during afternoon hours when the winds pickup, I hug the shore within 1.5 nms. Just outside the sure line. But you have to watch your
charts and watch for crab pots. In the late afternoon when. The winds start to die down, I'll drift out to 400+ foot
depth to mostly avoid crab traps.
Assuming your windows are relatively watertight to repel spray, you have a good
boat to
head north on this coast. You may hit a decent wx window similar to what's happening right now, but not likely. I can tell you that this time of year, the junk lasts for a few hours mostly, not sustained. Bear with it and you'll be fine.
When your departure date gets closer, I am happy to provide tactical weather guidance. 5-days out is the furthest you can start to plan, and go/no-go is more like 3-days out. But you have to get close go Conception, either Cojo or Santa Rosa Isand.
It's a good run. I've given the worst of it only because it was my life for 5 years when I was a delivery
skipper. It's a very workable coast and a workable run. But it can be a bit sloppy. Not dangerous, but bumpy.
Peter
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions