Have you traveled between SF BAY & San Diego?

B

behrkat

New member
Once I get my hands on a 16' Cruiser :twisted: we plan on traveling to San Francisco Bay via Catalina from San Diego Bay. Are their anchorages and fuel docks along the way to make the trip less scary? :oops: Can you direct me to where I can find the waypoints for the above, and maybe some maps of the areas? I really would appreciate it! :D
 
That is what I would call Adventure cruising! Making that trip would most likely not be "Calm seas and following winds".

The typical wind is from the NW and you would be going upwind most of the way - but you may know this allready. Do you have experience cruising the California coast?

If not find a few people that have done that kind of trip and talk with them. Also reading the local sailing rags could give you some insight.

Good Luck,
Steve
 
1) good - read this book

http://www.amazon.com/Cruising-Guide-Ce ... 0071374647

2) better - do the trip the other direction

3) best - don't do it. Plan a different trip (see 4, below)

Unless you really know what you're doing and you watch the weather carefully, this trip is probably a bad idea. I haven't made it, but I've talked to several who have. It's not nice.

4) trailer the boat there and enjoy the Bay Area or the Delta once you've arrived safely.

Jeff
 
Jeff is absolutely right!

I've read dozens of stories of sailboat races and boat deliveries that often run into severe weather where 30 and 40 ft boats have their seaworthiness and their captains challenged.

Plus, there are very few safe harbors in which to seek refuge.

Use the trailer and save your gas and time for exploring the San Francisco Bay and the California Delta.

My personal recommendation is to explore the Bay within the three bridges: The Golden Gate, the S.F.-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The interesting things are within this area.

Explore the Delta anywhere within the Antioch Bridge and the Sacramento to Stockton triangle. It's pretty much the same everywhere.

Forget San Pablo and Suisin Bays. Shallow water, large tidal movements, brown water laden with sediment, and wind and chop to pound your boat needlessly unless you're a determined striper or sturgeon fisherman!
 
oops, I had the CAPS on...thanks for the info. It looks like we're thinking of getting the boat in Northern California or Reno Area. We really have no place to leave a trailer at California Yacht Marina (where we live) but I hope to cruise from North to South, the 1st time out with the baby boat. We cruised quite a lot in our 26' Bayliner in pretty rough seas! With the tiny vessel we want to hug the coast on our way south. I've purchased the book as suggested - thanks for the info! :rose
 
Not a good idea in a 16'. :shock:
The seas north of Point Conception are a lot different (rougher) than the seas in the south. There are no marinas or good anchorages between Moro Bay and Monterey that I know of.
Hugging the coast is very dangerous, lots of ships lost around Point Arguello.
You would be wise to do as suggested in previous posts.
 
I highly recommend that you don't do this trip, especially in a 16 footer C-Dory. It would be very dangerous, even if you go North to South.

We have been doing the Bay/Delta Extravaganza for over 5 years, and we basically recommend that 16 footer's do not attend, and this is mostly inland waters, albeit can be very rough. The one year that a 16 footer did attend, the boat almost swamped itself on a very rough spot of the Sacramento River.

The 16 footer C-Dory is a great boat, but not big enough for San Pablo Bay and the San Francisco Bay, let alone the down the Coast.

I have been seriously thinking of taking my 22 footer C-Dory down the Coast for over 6 years now, and I still have not done enough preparation and had enough guts to do it yet.

The North Coast can be one of the roughest bodies of water in North America. This part of the Coast is not like the Southern California Coast in the Summer. I am experienced with both bodies of water and they are apples and oranges.

I have had my 22 footer C-Dory out the Gate and out of Bodega Bay many times, and at times it has been very hairy. On a good day it would be feasible for a 22 footer to make it down to Monterey or Santa Cruz out of the Gate. Beyond there, it will get dicey with regards to safe harbors, with the next safe point probably being Morrow Bay.

That all being said, I have heard of a wolf pack of 16 foot Boston Whalers gong from San Francisco to LA this summer. This is a bunch of crazy fishermen carrying a lot of jerry cans, and helping each other out down the way.

No offense, a 16 foot C-Dory is not a 16 foot Boston Whaler that is a very wet and uncomfortable boat, but is self bailing and probably unsinkable if kept running and upright. I know, because we have a 16 foot Boston Whaler also.

Again don't be offended. The 16 footer C-Dory is a great boat.

If you do the trip in your 16 foot C-Dory and live to tell us about it, please report it here. We all would be very interested!
 
I am probably one of the few people who have made this trip--both up and down a number of times. The smallest boat I have done this in was a 38 foot sailboat designed and built to go around the world.--other boats were up to 62 feet long.

I have friends who have tried to get North around Pt conception a number of times and never made it, despite trying daily for a week or more. I have only seen it calm at Conception at one rounding--and at that time I had Southerly. Yes, some fast small boats have made the trip--but many boats have been lost off this coast.

Consider that it is not unusual to have 55 knots of wind, and seas up to 15 feet at 8 to 15 second intervals off Pt Conception and Pt Arguello. If you want to really take a 16 foot C Dory into 15 foot breaking seas, I would really reconsider this and get a lot of sea time in less demanding condtions.

There are relitatively few places to stop below Quietwater Bay (Pebble Beach)--the last fuell stop before there is Montery Bay. You may get shelter at Peffier State Beach, but no fuel. Next stop is San Simion Bay, no fuel--then Morro Bay for fuel. From Avila (Port San Louis)--you have to go to Santa Barbara--the next fuel stop, and only "protection" is Gaviota or one of thes shallow bytes.

There are lots of rocks close in the coast--there is actually rougher water in close often because of the back splash off the clifts and rocks. Also in close you are bucking against the Louis current about a half knot counter current North bound--the California/Japanese current South bound, is a bit further off the coast. Anchoring along this coast is very difficult--kelp and rocks abound, there are steep drop offs.

Trailer the boat, and leave it in a storage lot. There are a number of boat storage lots in the Marina Del Ray area where you can leave your boat and trailer.

Charts--there are plenty of NOAA charts--you might start with downloading the EIN charts to get a feel.

Do not do this in a 16 foot C Dory!
 
:cry I so wanted to try it, but after ALL THE GRRRRREAT FEEDBACK...which I refuse to show my partner Monika and our 3 children & 15 grand children...I GUESS I WILL NOT BE GOING from SAN to SFO unless it's by plane! :bat

What about trailering to Oakland and checking out the DELTA? Are there any places NORTH of SF? Inland maybe? :lol:

THANKSLOADSFORALLTHEADVICE :star ...I can't wait to get the "book" and will KEEP the trailer when we get the boat!

At CYM-Chula Vista, we can end-tie the baby for $13.00/mo but will look for a cheep place to store da trailer (for our TRIP to my birthplace -Antioch)!

Melinda :rose2
 
behrkat":sg3vcnp0 said:
At CYM-Chula Vista, we can end-tie the baby for $13.00/mo but will look for a cheep place to store da trailer (for our TRIP to my birthplace -Antioch)!

Melinda :rose2
Click to expand...

$13 per month for an end tie? Pretty hard to believe, Melinda. Private marinas here in San Diego Bay are running anywhere between $11 and $15 per FOOT per month and that's not the length of the boat, it's the length of the slip OR the boat, whichever is longer. I consider myself very fortunate to have a 30 ft. slip for $225/month and that's only because it's in a military sponsored marina.

On edit:
On the other hand, I definitely misreading your post and assumed. Damn assumptions.... Now Brock and Bill are gonna feel bad 'cause they went from owning a nice 16 C-Dory to just sporting a tender little dinghy. :lol:


Don
 
My appologies, for some reason I had the idea that you were in Marina Del Ray--there are also plenty of storage places for trialer in the San Diego area, especially in the Chula Vista area.

As for the Delta--do yourself a favor and launch at Rio Vista. There is a good safe place to leave the vehicle and trailer. You can run down to the Bay if you wish--but you can certainly enjoy the joys of the Delta with a C Dory 16. Be sure and visit 'Locke Slough"--just to the East of the Old town of Loche--tie up bow to the old railroad right of way, and walk into town. My personal preference for the Delta would be in the fall or Spring, rather than the heat of the summer, but we have spent time there in all 4 seasons. Its a great place for a C dory of any size.

If you want to go from Chula Vista to Catalina, please consider trialering to the Long Beach or Sunset Harbor area, and running across from there, rather than going all of the way from San Diego--unless you want to stop along the way--then harbor hop, and take a week or two. If you want to go the Santa Cruz Island, then put in at Channel Islands harbor. Don't try and thrash to windward in the C Dory--especially if you start after 11 AM. Have fun.
 
A 16' Boat is still considered "TENDER-SIZE" so it qualifies for dinghy docking. We live on our Pacemaker MY so you can see why we only have to pay $4.00+1.50/ft=$13.00 I think. They don't let us put a dinghy in our slip (tight fight anyway).
 
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