Seattle to San Francisco Trip end of May

I did the trip from San Juans to San Francisco in Oct 2007 followed by SF to southern CA in Nov.

Definitely do the trip in good weather. If you haven't, sign up for the pro level of www.bouyweather.com so you can get a week's forecast.

Plan out your fuel stops and potentially stop for fuel whenever you can since the weather can cause crossing the bar of certain harbors to be treacherous or even be closed. For us, this was the key part of the planning since I didn't want to travel overnight (just the two of us) and we would trade-off fuel consumption for speed/time-to-arrival.

For my trip south, I was generally between 5-10 nm off shore. I didn't follow a fathom line, rather, I looked to minimize distance. For me, at that time, the sea conditions didn't seem to make much difference. We passed a number of sailboats, trawlers, motoryachts and fishing boats that were generally out the same distance.

Timing your departure with the slack tide is helpful, especially at the slower speeds, but I found the wind and resulting wind chop to be the consideration.

Consider the tides as well for coming into a marina. Some of the marinas can be very shallow (or the channel becomes very narrow) at low, low tide. Don't ask me how I know!

Finally, it goes without saying, make sure your boat is good condition. Have extra fuel filters. The weather was great for most of our trip, but just south of Coos Bay, OR we had 35+ kn winds and 15 ft confused seas for a couple of hours. Knowing that your boat is well prepared will give you peace of mind.

It is a long and generally boring trip, but I would easily do it again!

Take special care around the "Columbia River"

http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/coastal_waters/Safety1.shtml

martinjc,

As a regular on the Oregon and Washington Coasts I'll feel free to chime in here. Weather windows are critical. Always be willing to put in for a couple of days to let a system or two blow by. This is not the place to be "brave." Well thought out, however, it is also not a place to fear.

Crossing bars is something you should be prepared for; rule of thumb says to enter with the slack flood tide and leave with the slack ebb tide. It's not always the case but generally you'll get better crossings that way. This is true of the Straits as well. Each bar has reports available through the CG. Keep a watch on 16 and listen for the reports. They will let you know when and how the report was taken if you ask. Also listen for other boaters who report back that the bar is better or worse than reported.

While the Columbia River Bar is noteworthy it is also crossed 50-100 times or more per day during the season by boats in the 16-26' category. (Not always recommended, mind you, but done nonetheless.) No reason to avoid it due to its reputation; all Oregon coast bars share that same rep. A nice crossing is available at Newport but that's quite a stretch from Neah Bay.

Going south from Seattle at your speeds I'd suggest Neah Bay, Ilwaco, Newport, and Coos Bay. That makes for some pretty reasonable 120-180 mile days with services at each stop.

The 30 fathom is a minimum IMO; less than that and you'll be dodging crab pot buoys. All things being equal between 30-40 fathoms is probably a good balance. Generally there's not much need to venture further out than that, at least not at your speeds.

Not sure what other resources are out there but NOAA has a lot of buoys on the coasts. Their main site is http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/buoys.php. You can also get the buoy info on your cell phone (Dial-A-Buoy 888-701-8992) or via your cell phone's browser (cell.weather.gov). They've got more info at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/internet.htm#pda. These are free aside from your cell charges. Cell service, by the way, is generally good on the coast with some windows of poor coverage.

Have a great and safe trip.

Habit I guess. I work on the Columbia regularly so I'm very familiar. Also, most of my trips either start or end in Portland so I'm going to the Columbia anyway. Gray's is definately an option, but one to be done during the daylight. It's a weird entrance that's hard to navigate at night if you're not familar.

By the way, at any of these bar's you can call the Coast Guard and ask for an escort. Just let them know that you're in unfamiliar waters and, if they're available they'll come out and give you a hand. I've never heard of any recriminations as a result of an escort request, but I have seen first hand the "hard" inspection that goes on after a grounding that should have been avoided.

Martin,

When approaching the entrance to SF's Golden Gate, avoid the urge to cut the corner on the north (Marin County) side. You'll wind up in the infamous Potato Patch. If you're well offshore, enter into the shipping lane and cruise on through. Also, beware of tugs with tows... they're quite common into and out of the Gate.

Depending on where you're docking, Schoonmacher's Marina in Sausalito is nice, and walking distance to the downtown area where a visit to Smitty's (local pub) might be in order