San Francisco to Florence OR in April

[Cal Sailor Fred]

Greetings all,
I have been asked to help a friend move a 60 foot power cat from San Francisco to Florence, OR toward the end of April. I helped move it from La Paz to Monterey last summer, but I realize that season and sea conditions are a different kettle of fish. The cat is heavy, 25 tons, and has relatively low bridge clearance, 16 inches. We were able to make 5-7 knots on our trip north. I am not comfortable operating it more than 15 knots of wind. We do not have satellite weather.The skipper would like to make a port-to-port run of 550 miles, for which we have adequate tankage. I would prefer to day trip it, to avoid exposure to severe weather. This, of course, will at least double the time of the voyage. What advice does the group have for a cautious sailor with 30+ years of experience, but only 5 offshore passages?

[Stu Jackson]

1. Check the monthly weather for the coast.


2. Here's my story from 2016. Predecessors who made the trip report that August has the highest likelihood of lowest wind.


I've posted our log (with charts & photos) here:

Travels with Aquavite: San Francsico Bay to British Columbia 2016

Photos are under some of the later months' tabs, click on the month to expand to see the photo listings.


Good luck.

[Don C L]

Hi Fred, I have not made that trip, but I do know California weather and end of April sounds way too early to me especially if you are not comfortable in more than 15kts. I think you are right to plan for hops and be ready to stay a while in one place to wait for a good weather window. And some of those places will be closed if (when) the weather turns rough. I posted some threads related to this topic in the Pacific Coast Sailors social group and I think they can be helpful to you. Btw, 7 knots sounds a little slow for a 60’ power cat, isn’t it?

[mvweebles]

I spent 5 years as a full time deliver skipper moving mostly powerboats, many out of California to Oregon for tax purposes.

April is a windy month. Chuck Hawley of West Marine fame once told me it was the most consistently windy month of the year - not the highest peak winds, but consistent. I can't dispute that.

The typical wx pattern is NNE - NE winds that start blowing around late morning, peak mid/late afternoon, and die off by sunset. April means it often blows slightly more intense, but for longer. Produces uncomfortable chop in the 6-8 foot range on your port bow. Usually though it will only slow you up for a few hours in the afternoon. You likely saw similar conditions coming up from La Paz.

That said, I prefer straight shots when possible. Reason being is that night time is usually calmer so it's a good time to be making tracks. You also lose a lot of time going in and out of ports. But again, April is more intense. As a general rule, white caps start to form at around 17 kts. If they show up before 11am, it will be a long day. That said, it's common for strong gusts at daybreak for an hour or so that often gave me pause about the day - sustained winds starting that early would be difficult.

I have a friend with a Horizon Power Cat 52 and it definitely has a higher bridge deck. It will be a wet ride for you.

Make sure you have line cutters on your shafts. There are crab traps out there.

My delivery strategy was almost always to come close ashore during daylight to knock down much of the wind and chop, then drift offshore at night to avoid crab traps. By then, the wind normally moderates and its comfortable.

You likely know this from your Baja trip, but for archive, will state how important it is to secure everything. Your bows will spend a lot of time bouncing around so anchor needs to be super secure. Anything lashed to the deck should be secured with compression straps with metal buckles as ropes with knots tend to work their way loose over time. Last thing you want to be doing is heading on deck to secure a flogging paddle board, or even a fender. If you do run at night, everything is amplified. What were simple rattles during the day sound like crashes at night. Put pieces of fabric between plates and glasses. Get some plastic bins at Walmart for the fridge to better contain stuff, especially hard stiff like bottles and cans. Spray is a problem so if your windows aren't super watertight, well, do what you can to make them tight, especially port side ones. Most comfortable place to sleep is on the floor in the salon. Have a mattress that be used.

I know the above makes it sound like an awful trip. I suppose it is in parts, but I have to say, I remember the hot cups of coffee at day break and the sunsets much more than I remember the bumpy rides.

Good luck!

Peter

[CommodoreDoug]

Hi Fred,

I've made the trip three times from SF Bay to the San Juans in my 37' sloop, and the earliest I would consider leaving would be mid-May. Even then I have had to hole up in Eureka more than once to wait for several days of 40-knot headwinds to blow past. The longest stretch without anywhere to run will be Bodega to Noyo or Eureka, as to the best of my knowledge there is still no fuel dock in Noyo.

Just keep the coast in view, a weather watch, and NOAA on the VHF and all will be well.

Doug
S/V Egret
The Salish Sea

[CarinaPDX]

The choice to harbor hop or to make a single long passage is at this point a false choice. If you are serious about this you will go when you can, and wait for a break otherwise. It might work out that you get a long break at some point, which you would be foolish to then waste by harbor hopping. More likely you will have to make the trip in sections as the weather allows. The weather will tell you, not the other way around. So be prepared to make it in one go, and to stop anywhere safe if required. Remember, all of these harbors are river mouths with jetties and will not be safe to enter after the weather deteriorates - keep a weather eye and make harbor before then. Also, the tidal current between the jetties can be fast so try to enter near slack water. And keep in mind there is likely to be a southbound current across the entrance which needs to be accounted for. For a delivery I would make as few stops as possible - less stress that way.

Greg

[Dooglas]

If you must make the trip in April, you should be prepared to encounter some unfavorable weather and accept that some weather layovers may be necessary. Consider also there are a limited number of harbors of refuge which you would want to enter in adverse conditions between SF and Florence. The only good news is that winds out of the SW occur a fair amount of the time that early in the year.

[Moontide]

As usual, the weather will determine the schedule, unless you enjoy being hammered. Good news is that there is an abundance of weather sources and, unlike south of SF, once you get north of SF there are lots of places to stop it the wx catches you. As a prior poster said, there are some river entrances that get closed when the wx gets bad. There is a reason the CG trains lifeboat crews at the mouth of the Columbia.


If you get lucky you will get a window long enough to make it in one jump, but if the boat does 5 knots don't use that for planning purposes. There is a 1 knot (or more) southbound current along much of the coast



MVWeebles has some good points on strategy.



On the otherhand, you might get lucky and get a southerly wind to push you north. It does happen.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Cal Sailor Fred

Greetings all,
I have been asked to help a friend move a 60 foot power cat from San Francisco to Florence, OR toward the end of April. I helped move it from La Paz to Monterey last summer, but I realize that season and sea conditions are a different kettle of fish. The cat is heavy, 25 tons, and has relatively low bridge clearance, 16 inches. We were able to make 5-7 knots on our trip north. I am not comfortable operating it more than 15 knots of wind. We do not have satellite weather.The skipper would like to make a port-to-port run of 550 miles, for which we have adequate tankage. I would prefer to day trip it, to avoid exposure to severe weather. This, of course, will at least double the time of the voyage. What advice does the group have for a cautious sailor with 30+ years of experience, but only 5 offshore passages?

I think you have good instincts, mate! Only speaking for myself here, i would not be keen to take that boat out there in April. (We saw a power cat that tried to motor into 25 knots to get to a boat show. It blew out its front "windows" and the seas came in. It was 5 in the afternoon, and they were having the rugs taken up and professionally dried. The pumps were running. And the guy got in trouble because the boat couldn't be shown.) Your friend's boat may well be "unsafe for purpose".

There is a gale that hangs out at Cape Mendocino that you will want to avoid. It is notorious. If your friend wants to go straight through, best to do it in another month than April. I really think you should refuse to go if the weather isn't right. It may be the only thing that will make him re-think his plan.

If this is about avoiding CA taxes, his boat will not be counted if it is not in the marina during counting season.

Ann