I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...

You be going agin the grain! Winds typically from the NW. Going the great
circle probably not a great idea in November either.
G
"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...

"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...

Not many good windows for this sort of thing. Just beware of the winter
storms and be prepared to pull into a spot if things look like there going
to get bad.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

I would re-ask on the Cascadia List.
http://www.sailcascadia.org/

But, I believe most people head south in August from Puget Sound, but target
October as the last month to head south without storms.

--
Patrick's Sailing Blog:
http://shipsrecord.com/blogs/patrick/


"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...

"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...


Jimmy Cornell, page 204-205 of "World Cruising Routes," suggests April for
northern California routes, May thru June for British Columbia, recommending
making at least 200 miles to sea from California, before heading north, to
accomodate the prevailing NW winds. He also implies that this is not a
passage for neophytes. In any event, I highly recommend his book. It's a
"must have" in any boat's library, in my opinion.

Winters on the Oregon coast can be quite spectacular -- best viewed from
shore. 30 foot breakers pounding the cliffs are a sight to behold.

Gordon wrote:
You be going agin the grain! Winds typically from the NW. Going the great
circle probably not a great idea in November either.
G
"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...

I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...




There is no great circle. The trip will be upwind against the current
all the way to Juan de Fuca. The best way to do it would be to sail to
Hawaii next June and sail NNW out of Hawaii in July or early August
until you are north of the pacific high then do the run down the west
coast of Vancouver Island to Juan de Fuca. Otherwise, if you want to go
now, stay close to shore and coast hop north. You'll be motoring a lot.
You'll have to pay your crew. A 60 year old ketch won't beat to
windward worth a damn.

I sailed an 80 year old ketch (102') up last summer (05). it was two
and a half days going south and seven motorsailing coming north. You
could probably track us on google earth by the slick of barf we left.

Gary

Capt. JG wrote:
"tlindly" wrote in message
ups.com...

I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...


Not many good windows for this sort of thing. Just beware of the winter
storms and be prepared to pull into a spot if things look like there going
to get bad.

The problem is they close the bar crossings in any kind of sea. You
have to be committed.

Gary

Gary wrote:

Not many good windows for this sort of thing. Just beware of the
winter storms and be prepared to pull into a spot if things look like
there going to get bad.

The problem is they close the bar crossings in any kind of sea. You
have to be committed.

Gary

Amen to all that. I wouldn't take any small boat in that direction in
November unless it had a powerful motor and I had a few months to spare.

We set sail from the Strait of Juan de Fuca Sept 22nd, heading south.
That was too late. Got smacked around for 3 days and headed for
Gray's Harbour which has a nasty bar crossing.

I called the CG for a bar report. They said "skipper, the bar is
closed to vessels under 36'". I replied, "oh, that's o.k., we're 30'"
(groggy from lack of sleep I think)

"Uh skipper would you like an escort coming in?"

Me: "Sure, that would be real nice." They sent out 2 self righting
surf lifeboats, one ahead, one astern.

The seas were 15' and breaking on either side of us. The channel
depth on the depthsounder ranged from 15' to 30'. Very high pucker
factor.

CG escorted in 5 other vessels that day. We were all there for a
week, waiting for a window to continue heading south (around Oct 1st
by now).

This can be a rough coast when the weather kicks up, and weather
predictions are actually pretty bad - very sparse data net in the N.
Pacific.

Evan Gatehouse

tlindly wrote:.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

1. Consider the Coastal Pilot, which does include wind direction in
its climatological tables and
2. Poke around the NOAA National Weather Service site. I'm not sure
how far Google digs, but there is a wealth of information there if you
spend some time looking.

Best regards,

Steve Hayes
Augusta, ME

On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 21:14:26 -0500, in message

"KLC Lewis" wrote:


"tlindly" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm going to sail a 60 year old, 48' (LOA) ketch from SFO to Seattle.
I was wondering what the best time of year would be for a trip of this
nature.
One fellow told me that now (Sept.) would be a pretty good time but
Life is going to keep me hear untill Nov. at the least.
I've been trying to search for prevailing wind patterns on the pacific
coast but there doesn't seem to be much info out there (or perhaps
google is just not what I thought it ws).

Anyone made this passage before?

Any suggestions?

Is there a better forum for this question?

thanks,
tom
=-==
p.s. looking for crew for this trip...


Jimmy Cornell, page 204-205 of "World Cruising Routes," suggests April for
northern California routes, May thru June for British Columbia, recommending
making at least 200 miles to sea from California, before heading north, to
accomodate the prevailing NW winds. He also implies that this is not a
passage for neophytes. In any event, I highly recommend his book. It's a
"must have" in any boat's library, in my opinion.

He also suggests that port hopping up the coast about 10 miles out is
a good strategy, especially if you are willing to motor in the late
summer when the NW winds are lighter.

Ryk