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Old 09-06-2023, 20:40   #1
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Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Hey all! My wife is hopefully close to getting a remote job that will allow us to move anywhere along the west coast and (potentially) even Baja.

If you could move anywhere along the west coast to buy a boat and live aboard where would you go?

We want easy sailing and low cost of living — or at least elements of both. For example, Southern California has generally high cost of living but also some cheaper spots where you could own a boat as well like mooring balls in San Diego or slips in Wilmington.

Interested in places like Bellingham or Anacortes as well but have not looked into them in too much depth.

La Paz is a compelling option although it does feel a bit farther away and maybe more complicated because it’s in a different country.

Excited to hear about any cool spots that people have found along the way and that you might recommend (or NOT recommend!)

In LA currently and we don’t own a boat but looking to change that and eventually the dream is to live aboard and make cruising a part of our life in the next year or two.

Thanks!
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Old 09-06-2023, 20:43   #2
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

As folks may want to know we have a couple/few years of sailing experience at this point and we are super excited to continue building that up and continuing to sail in any way we can but my main reason for posting this question is to start building up a list of places we might consider visiting. At this point I don’t think the curiosity will be satisfied until we’ve owned a boat and tried to live on it and so we are gathering all the info we can. Thanks!
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Old 09-06-2023, 21:18   #3
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

If your ultimate dream is for a cruising lifestyle, then the SF Bay area would be a good place to encounter varied sailing conditions with a couple of destinations that involve going out in the ocean for a bit. If you just want to liveaboard, and not sail much then Southern California, with its warm climate and light airs might appeal.

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Old 09-06-2023, 22:18   #4
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Thanks Ann -- the idea of an Ultimate Goal is super interesting when it comes to sailing. I think cruising lifestyle would be a good way to define it...and that is a shift from what it was up until quite recently, which was "sail around the world."

I read "Get Real Get Gone" by Rick Page not long ago and the biggest takeaway (for me anyway) from that book was the suggestion (paraphrasing) to find someplace cheap with lots of easy sailing and then, in one bold move, just move aboard. In that way, you can start out with some really easy day sails, building to short overnight cruises, and on into longer passages, and so on. And if you want to keep going, great. If not, also great.

This, as opposed to a common alternative (often portrayed on YouTube) which is to "sell it all" and set off on a 'round-the-world voyage with a million-dollar yacht and hope for the best.

I realized recently that I had been following the second approach, or at least trying to save the money to set off on that voyage, for quite awhile...which was ok for me actually, but less so for my wife.

Anyway, after shifting our mindset a bit and just saying..."ok well let's just go somewhere that would be cool to live and make the goal to learn to live aboard and to start cruising" then she was actually waayy more into the whole idea as we started talking about all these cool options.

All that said, I want to set ourselves up for success...to find a cool community, that does have easy, fun sailing...easy access to cruising...but also just a cool place to live with our 2-year-old.

We also work full-time and will have to continue doing so at least for the next few years, so that's a major consideration with all of this -- "cruising lifestyle" for us will likely involve owning a boat but at least to start, also having an apartment where we can retreat to in order to knock out projects for our jobs, rest, etc. so we're not trying to hammer it all out on a boat.

I know people do it, but it seems daunting.

...but the hope is that it will seem less so once we get the boat, find a cool spot and start easing into it.

Anyway, that's a bit more about our situation.

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions!
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Old 10-06-2023, 01:18   #5
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

San Francisco and San Diego are the two strongest sailing communities on the West Coast. San Francisco has more local cruising options than anywhere in SoCal (which doesn't have much beyond the Channel Islands/Catalina). SF has several decent anchorages and the Delta for weekend or vacation treks. There are also a few coastal destinations such as Drakes Bay and Half Moon Bay. I don't see it mentioned much, but Marina del Rey has its attractions. While expensive, location is very convenient. LAX is 15 mins away if that's important.

Finding a liveaboard option will be your biggest challenge. "Cheap" and West Coast are a bit of an oxymoron. Slips in La Paz are not really cheaper than SoCal and have become a bit more difficult to find. There are some decent anchor options, but summer heat is pretty intense there.
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Old 10-06-2023, 09:33   #6
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Quote:
Originally Posted by uneven_sailor View Post
Hey all! My wife is hopefully close to getting a remote job that will allow us to move anywhere along the west coast and (potentially) even Baja.

If you could move anywhere along the west coast to buy a boat and live aboard where would you go?

We want easy sailing and low cost of living — or at least elements of both. For example, Southern California has generally high cost of living but also some cheaper spots where you could own a boat as well like mooring balls in San Diego or slips in Wilmington.

Interested in places like Bellingham or Anacortes as well but have not looked into them in too much depth.

La Paz is a compelling option although it does feel a bit farther away and maybe more complicated because it’s in a different country.

Excited to hear about any cool spots that people have found along the way and that you might recommend (or NOT recommend!)

In LA currently and we don’t own a boat but looking to change that and eventually the dream is to live aboard and make cruising a part of our life in the next year or two.

Thanks!
Its not quite the west coast, but, Puerto Vallarta.
1. Direct flights to get home to visit mom.
2. Lots of “ready to sail” boats for sale.
3. Primo sailing almost every day.
4. Easy assimilation for gringos
5. Cheap food. Great food!
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Old 11-06-2023, 13:35   #7
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Thanks all for your replies!! I'll take a closer look at options in SF Bay...does anyone cruise full-time in that area, like just bouncing from anchorage to anchorage?

Are there any places where you can live cheaply on mooring balls (relative terms, I understand nothing is cheap)...or any marinas/parts of the bay that would be worth looking into...e.g. the delta I would have to think?

Had not occurred to me as a possibility before this thread and it's a cool idea...makes sense about taking short cruises to half moon bay + that there would be anchorages within the bay itself...CF always comes through, thank you!
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Old 11-06-2023, 14:15   #8
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rbrazil View Post
Its not quite the west coast, but, Puerto Vallarta.
1. Direct flights to get home to visit mom.
2. Lots of “ready to sail” boats for sale.
3. Primo sailing almost every day.
4. Easy assimilation for gringos
5. Cheap food. Great food!
Another vote for PV - for all the reasons enumerated above. I lived there for a year (2015) and it was great. La Paz is really nice too, but, not safe in hurricane season. Perhaps spend a few months in La Paz during the season (Nov-May) then hurricane season staying close to PV so you can get in to a marina if a hurricane is passing nearby.

You can reach several great anchorages which are within 1-2 days of PV (North or South) so if a storm is coming, you can easily get back to the barn before it reaches Bahia Banderas.
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Old 11-06-2023, 15:34   #9
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

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Originally Posted by uneven_sailor View Post
Thanks all for your replies!! I'll take a closer look at options in SF Bay...does anyone cruise full-time in that area, like just bouncing from anchorage to anchorage?
Short answer is no. There are no anchorages where you could liveaboard for more than weeks, perhaps a month or two (tops). Possible exception is Richardson Bay near Sausalito, the derelict camp of SF Bay. Even finding a liveaboard slip is difficult to impossible, though I've been a sneak-a-board there there on and off for several years. Harder to do now.

Further south into Mexico may be workable. I'm in Ensenada now and liveaboards are welcomed. Decent access to San Diego. I suspect Chula Vista in SD may be okay for liveaboard slip, but a long slog to SD Bay for sailing.

Bottom line is there have been 100,000 folks ahead of you with same idea over last 25 years. It's gotten worse with advent of work-remote technology and options. Most marinas and all coastal owners don't want you.

Winter weather in the Delta isn't great.

As an idea, might want to check out Benicia. Nicer marina. Cute town. No idea if you can quietly liveaboard there. Vallejo may have some options. Richmond maybe too.

Good luck
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Old 11-06-2023, 16:59   #10
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Hi, uneven sailor.

You might consider the Delta region, might be able to get a liveaboard situation there. Schools not great, though. But with a normally active 2 yr. old part of the picture, you're going to need child care unless you and your wife work different shifts of time. If you have to be somewhere in person for your work, living aboard is not so easy, and bopping around between anchorages won't work with the child care, unless one of you is a stay at home doing housekeeping and child care type parent. I also think it is better for children to be in school than only home schooled by a stay at home parent. They miss out on competitive examination, which led to one of my grandson's not getting a job he wanted. They also miss out on face to face interactions with a variety of personalities.

Living aboard a boat is easy, really, you have to do everything except yard maintenance, and cruising, well, yes, it can be a great life, but it is not cheap. Boat bits and maintenance have to be done, even if you're not sailing every weekend. California taxes boats like real estate, and you cannot get the boat off the tax rolls there until you can prove it is registered in another State. Also, in the Bay Area, only 10% of marina space may be offered as liveaboard slips, so that liveaboard berths are very much in demand, for people who are in the process of getting ready to go. So, I guess what I'm saying is that unless you are really very well paid, the whole plan is going to be hard to do. (Jim & I both lived like starving graduate students for years to be able to get clear and go cruising, and both of our sets of kids were grown and ready to leave the nest, as well.)

Ann
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Old 11-06-2023, 22:50   #11
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Re: Best Place To Get Started West Coast?

Thanks all -- and thanks Ann for the further thoughts on sailing around with a kid and childcare and being stationary vs. moving between anchorages and so on.

Also thanks rbrazil for second vote for PV...will certainly research it a bit more! Would honestly love to spend some time living in Mexico at some point.

I think it all seems manageable except for the working full-time bit...cruising with a kid seems okay and working full-time seems okay...well...actually it really isn't okay, but at least I know we are both capable of doing it year-in and year-out without the wheels coming off.

But working full-time *and* cruising with a kid...that seems like territory where things could become overwhelming.

I know there are some people out there who are doing it, but it's pretty daunting to think about.

Going to continue to absorb ideas and suggestions.

At this point, our best plan that we've come up with so far is to try to live aboard somewhere in SoCal as soon as we can swing it, because we're close to family that can help with childcare here, and we know the area well. Then, once we've saved enough $$ to cruise, and presumably once we know our boat really well and it's super solid/upgraded etc., we can quit our jobs and go cruising. We could homeschool the kiddo while cruising (wife is an elementary school teacher) and then he can come back to regular school when we get back...or along the way?

Idea is 100% in the formation/dream stage at this point, and continuing to appreciate any and all new input.
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