Can I use this boat to sail California coast?

[john745]

I'm looking at a typhoon 19 ft sailboat.
We are landlocked here in El Paso Texas and I'd like to get something I can store the house but can still do some very simple coastal sailing and pull it with the Honda pilot. For example maybe sailing to Catalina island? Would this be something this boat could handle or is it too small? I've got a wife and three little kids. Maybe this is too small?

Much appreciated for any suggestions.

[thomm225]

Yes, you can do it, but that boat it will be quite slow and boring especially for the kids unless they are very young

[JimsCAL]

You are going to tow a Typhoon from Texas to California so you can sail to Catalina Island! Fine on enclosed bay for a daysail locally. Not something I would try with wife and 3 small kids.

[carlosproa]

Originally Posted by john745

I'm looking at a typhoon 19 ft sailboat.
We are landlocked here in El Paso Texas and I'd like to get something I can store the house but can still do some very simple coastal sailing and pull it with the Honda pilot. For example maybe sailing to Catalina island? Would this be something this boat could handle or is it too small? I've got a wife and three little kids. Maybe this is too small?

Much appreciated for any suggestions.

There are two versions of the Typhoon. One for day sail and one for cruising. Is a wet boat with low freeboard. I am not from CA but it looks like wind is variable there and not sure if you may have enough sail in light days. If you go for it, set it up for single handling with roller reefing and 3 reef points in the mainsail.
Of course a porta potty, and one burner alcohol should do the trick

[Tayana42]

John 745, I had a Cape Dory Typhoon Weekender (the one with the small cuddly cabin) when I lived in Jacksonville, Florida. Now I have a Tayana 42 in Southern California and I take it to Catalina Island often. The Typhoon is a remarkably capable small sea boat. Emphasis on small. I sailed it on the Saint Johns River, out into the Atlantic, south to Saint Augustine, Fl. north to Saint Simons Island, Ga. It handled winds and normal daysailing waves quite well. As stated above this is a long keel displacement 19’ boat with a 13.5’ waterline so it has a limited speed. It does have a small camping style cuddy cabin. Mine didn’t have a head. Catalina is 26-28 miles from the mainland depending on which harbor you start from. And often it is an upwind sail or motor to get there. So you are probably looking at a 7 or 8 hour crossing each way in good conditions. And I would only consider doing this in good conditions with settled weather. You know your family and what their tolerance is for sitting still for that long in the sun with no shade, their tolerance for terrifying situations that they can’t get away from if the weather turns dramatic. I loved my Typhoon. My kids loved it for an hour or two at a time. My wife love sailing it but didn’t love the lack of a head. My suggestion to you is this is a fine bay boat and for harbor hopping along the coast. For a crossing to Catalina it would be a real adventure and perhaps not a good choice for a family boat.

[Don C L]

The Typhoon is a nice little boat, but I agree with Tayana. Not a good idea, especially with a wife and 3 little kids. And this is from someone who sailed a 20' down from SF to Santa Barbara non-stop. How much can your Pilot tow? 5000 or 3500 lbs? Actually the Typhoon's design is a good one IMO, it's just small and could be a really wet ride, and as Tayana says it is quite a ways to sit out in the elements for little kids, and big kids too if they aren't used to it.

[jordanbigel]

I've sailed from Marina del Rey to Catalina dozens of times and most of the time we would leave in the early morning, due to work schedules, to maximize a long weekend. There was never any wind, or very light wind so it was mostly a motor boat ride on our 50ft Ketch. And it was also always very very calm.

Each year they have a Jet-Ski race to Catalina, and I've seen every other size vessel make this crossing over the years, including very small sailboats and even smaller motorboats.

Also, if this is a trailerable boat like it sounds, you can put in at San Pedro and from there its only 19 miles to Two Harbors, Catalina. So, if you can keep up 4k?? it would only take you about 5 hours to get there - under 4 hours if you can make 5k. I have no idea what that boat can do - or if you have an outboard motor.

I don't know anything about this 19' boat you mentioned, but I read another comment from someone who sailed it on the East Coast of Florida, which in my experience is significantly more "sporty" then the San Pedro Channel, in Summer. Most days you are lucky to see 10k, and usually its dead calm till 1 or 2pm.

If you can fit the whole fam aboard and sleep aboard, I don't see why you couldn't also sail it across the channel, its really a very calm body of water (normally, winter storms notwithstanding).

I should also say I am not here to tell you what not to do, but if it was me, I would not want to be on a small boat with 3 kids for 5+ hours. But, that is something only you can really have an opinion on, in my view. Who knows, maybe you have been already spending a week aboard with the whole fam on a lake somewhere, so you already know that part is not a problem. My goal was only to address the sailing conditions part.

J.

[boatman61]

Yes.. but I suggest you fit a soft dodger and canvas splash guards either side of the cockpit like this..

[SeaStory]

I started sailing with an 18' trailer sailor (Precision 18, to be precise). It was wonderful for the two of us and I would have taken it from Dana Point to Catalina Island or similar. However, just packing a long weekend for the two of us, with food, water, safety equipment and a change of clothes pretty much filled up the boat. I am not sure where you could even lay out 5 people in most boats this size, especially if you make room for a porta potti (or access to the head, if that was included). It can also be a challenge to find room for 5 in the cockpit, especially if everybody doesn't quite understand what is happening and how to get out of the way when necessary. A 19' day sailor would probably be perfect a family of your size, if you are willing to camp elsewhere, but a very tight fit indeed for sleeping onboard, even with some sleeping in the cockpit.

[capn_billl]

I used to do similar trips in an Aquarius 26.

It was fun, but I got pounded real bad once in a moderate storm. The boat took it OK, but it was a very long time before I got my family back on a boat.

[Windpilot]

I say yes and no, yes, it will make it just fine but no, not a family of 5. I used to do that trip on my first boat, a Coronado 25, that was tight with 2 or 3 people, took forever to get there, few comforts.
Your family may revolt.
You'd probably be happier chartering something, expensive but cheaper than owning that boat for a trip or 2 to Catalina.
That 19' boat is worth owning though, daysails and occasional overnights at places you tow it to, places my boat will never make it to, sounds pretty damn good to me.

[tenchiki]

For one or 2 people, I expect that a boat of that size would be fine (I don't know that boat). For comparison, I used to sail a Montgomery 17 frequently to Catalina either by myself or with a girlfriend, and around Catalina once. I also sailed it to Santa Cruz Island a couple of times.

[Chris Cringle]

I used to sail my 20 foot wooden sloop to Catalina all the time. When it's calm, it is as calm as anywhere in the world? BUT! The Catalina Channel is the 'Real World'. It can get ROUGH and quickly. I have cruised world-wide for 25 years and the worst weather and biggest waves I have ever encountered was on a Memorial Day weekend between the mainland and Catalina. And I was in a 38 foot Norwegian pilot cutter. People on lessor craft died that day.

[japawil]

If you’re landlocked in El Paso with little opportunity for sailing locally, perhaps look into joining a sailing club with opportunities to charter (and lessons). Up front costs could be less, with no burden of maintenance and expanded variety of boats available. There are several in CA.

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by john745

I'm looking at a typhoon 19 ft sailboat.
We are landlocked here in El Paso Texas and I'd like to get something I can store the house but can still do some very simple coastal sailing and pull it with the Honda pilot. For example maybe sailing to Catalina island? Would this be something this boat could handle or is it too small? I've got a wife and three little kids. Maybe this is too small?

Much appreciated for any suggestions.

You'd be better off just renting a boat that's already here and in the water. Five people on a 19' anything sounds undoable and the hotel rates in Avalon will eat up the down payment on your next real boat pretty quick. You and one other decent sailor could do the crossing from San Pedro to Avalon in a full day on a 19' boat but five people (even if most of them are small) is just not realistic. As most of the island is a marine preserve, what you'll find is a lot of mooring balls (which aren't too expensive) but very few places to drop an anchor. And the water is probably ten degrees colder than the Gulf of Mexico so you'd need to be more serious about everybody getting wet.