La Paz, MX to San Francisco in January

[berferd]

Hello all,

I am planning a passage from La Paz, MX to San Francisco in January via the well-known clipper route. I have been researching this for a while and it has become apparent that the wildcard is the location of the North Pacific high at the time I get above a certain latitude. The pilot chart for January has low percentages for gales in the areas I am interested in, so aside from the cooler air temperatures there doesn't seem to be anything glaring that would give me pause. The wind roses look OK until you get closer to the North Pacific High where they unsurprisingly take on the appearance of pinwheels.

I have also gotten a sense that this isn't a route well-traveled in January from Mexico because Mexico is a nice place to be in January and there aren't many boats looking to head north.

Looking for comments, good and bad, on my plans. We have the communications capability on board to keep abreast of the weather systems.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Steadman Uhlich]

You say you have been doing some research on this route.

Here is something you may have already seen. If not, I hope you find it helpful.

Notes on the Clipper Route from Mexico to San Diego (and notes about going further North).

https://www.latitude38.com/changes/Changes06-02.html

[nhschneider]

I think I have 'bashed' up the outside of Baja eight times but I've never done the Clipper Route, however, it would seem to me that it would make more sense if you were leaving from further south. Since Cabo San Lucas is about 1,300nm from San Francisco, adding 500-600 miles of westing seems like a lot of additional miles. Also, there can be some fast-moving fronts that can drop down from the North Pacific at that time of year. Probably nothing that would be dangerous but it could make things uncomfortable. Regardless, I wish you . . .

Fair winds and calm seas.

[berferd]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

You say you have been doing some research on this route.

Here is something you may have already seen. If not, I hope you find it helpful.

Notes on the Clipper Route from Mexico to San Diego (and notes about going further North).

https://www.latitude38.com/changes/Changes06-02.html

Thanks Steady Hand; I had previously come across that and some other accounts.

[berferd]

Originally Posted by nhschneider

I think I have 'bashed' up the outside of Baja eight times but I've never done the Clipper Route, however, it would seem to me that it would make more sense if you were leaving from further south. Since Cabo San Lucas is about 1,300nm from San Francisco, adding 500-600 miles of westing seems like a lot of additional miles. Also, there can be some fast-moving fronts that can drop down from the North Pacific at that time of year. Probably nothing that would be dangerous but it could make things uncomfortable. Regardless, I wish you . . .

Fair winds and calm seas.

Hi nhschneider..thanks for your comments and suggestion. Yes, it is longer but the additional miles do not bother me. With regards to the fronts, it seems safe enough since I'm going no further north than San Fran. North of there it looks like things can get a little hairy.

[Cheechako]

Very Warm Coat. :>)

[mikereed100]

In winter, I think you would have a much easier, faster and more interesting trip running up along the coast. The prevailing northwesterlies of spring and early summer will have calmed quite a bit and you may even get to sail as fronts pass. When you are tired you can simply pull into a nice anchorage and rest, maybe pick up an enchilada and a cold beer. While you are unlikely to encounter a survival storm at these latitudes, lows can still pack quite a punch and if you are offshore you will just have to tough it out.
Another plus to the coastal route is that if you head north in January you will cross paths with us as we head south and we can have you over for happy hour. We will still have a good supply of IPA at that point.

[Annie in WA]

We attempted the clipper route in June from Cabo last year. While I don't know if there are any posts on doing it in January, this forum has a lot of good posts about the clipper route. There is a thread on the clipper route that I participated in called "Offshore from Cabo to San Diego -Clipper route". Might help a little.

Bottom line on our trip is that the Pacific High caused calms after 3 days of sweet sailing that were forecast to stay for 3 days, followed by a forecast of winds on the nose so we ended up motoring to Turtle Bay then had an easy time from TB to Ensenada. Good trip, 14 days, would do it again.

[berferd]

Thanks for all the comments. Really a great group of people here.

While the trip is certainly doable, frankly the most challenging thing (and not even the subject of this thread) is the availability of liveaboard slips in the southern SF bay area (where I need to be were I go to SF bay). This is the biggest hurdle and it is looking increasingly likely that I stay put for now given the conversations I've had with the various harbormasters in the bay area. Knew it would be challenging but several marinas in the southern end of the bay have closed and there is not much left down there. Got an earful from the harbormasters about the BCDC.

[Steve Bean]

Have you seen my favorite website? Earth.nullschool.net When you click on a spot on the earth you get the lat and long, and the wind direction and velocity. Clicking on the word "earth" gets you a menu with other options.

[berferd]

Originally Posted by Steve Bean

Have you seen my favorite website? Earth.nullschool.net When you click on a spot on the earth you get the lat and long, and the wind direction and velocity. Clicking on the word "earth" gets you a menu with other options.

Thanks Steve. I've used windyty but this seems like a more lightweight app.

[gjordan]

If you dont have a heater that can be run 24/7 you will learn much about being miserable. I delivered a 44 foot boat from San Diego to SF in Feb one year and we had to pull in and anchor a couple of times, just to thaw out. There was just the owner and I, and he had never been out overnight. He learned a lot about winter sailing. Even with good cold weather gear it was not a fun trip. Just another opinion ____Grant.