Considering Seattle vs Bay Area

[SV Sailfish]

Skywanderer,

I grew up sailing the SF Bay Area/Delta, etc. Every nook and cranny for 30 years. Then spent 10 years based on a boat out of Puget Sound. For me, an easy decision...

Seattle.

Yep, you have the eternal drizzle and a real winter. But hey, put a heater on that motorsailer and be nice and cozy. You will actually have seasons. (a bit) And sooo many places to go, see, do and anchor. In beautiful, non murky water.

Other than that... in Seattle you can hug a tree. In San Francisco, an old hippie.

[TacomaSailor]

Hydrflyr said: "Get away from the big city/ Seattle Tacoma area and try Bellingham."

I agree 100%!

I learned to sail in B'ham and spent 7 of the best years of my life there. The sailing is fantastic and you are close to an incredible number of great anchorages and marinas.

If you don't want the big city benefits of Seattle or Tacoma then Bellingham or Anacortes are the places to be. If I could talk my wife into it we would move our boat and ourselves back to Bellingham.

I took our boat back to B'ham and Anacortes every summer we lived in Tacoma (10-years) and regretted every leaving.

Bellingham
Great art and music scene
A university with 15,000 students and a lot of cultural events
a nice big lake for fresh water sailing
some of the best mountain bike riding in the US
Mountaineering and wilderness hiking that is hard to believe
Snow skiing at 6,000' from late October thru the 4th of July
A airport that has convenient connections thru Seattle to anywhere in the world
Direct railroad connections to Vancouver, BC and Seattle
Big and well run marina within walking distance of downtown

Anacortes
A great music and bar scene
even closer to wonderful San Juan sailing
cheap moorage
Several Big and well run marinas within walking distance of downtown
Washington State Ferry connection to the San Juan Islands and Victoria

Two of the best sailing communities in the US!

[newhaul]

Actually you don't want to ever even think about moving to Puget sound its rainny all the time and the winds never blow here except in winter at 20+ knots so look at anywhere but here.

[gamayun]

Hell. Life's too short. Do both. Summer in PNW; winter (when it's the calmest and warmest) on SF Bay