Best month SF Bay to Catalina

[terrapin_sd]

We are considering doing a 2 week trip from SF Bay to Catalina as a shakedown trip for some extended cruising into. Mexico and points south in November. Im wondering what the best month is to make the trip up and down the coast to Catalina and back, which includes rounding Point Conception. Realizing that planning in advance and having a fixed schedule for a trip like this is less than ideal, the realities of work dictate that we could take 2 weeks in June or 2 weeks in August.

I've done the trip between Southern California north and south in a planing hull sport fisher before run at displacement speed (8 knots) to increase range and while we got tossed around at times the trip wasn't especially bad in either direction.

This time we have a Nordhavn 40 with stabilizers so it's a more appropriate boat for the conditions along the coast but I'd still rather plan to go in a month where we are likely to get a good weather window.

Any advice or sources of historic wind/wave data to look at as a planning tool greatly appreciated.

 

[Giggitoni]

Find Brian Fagan's book, The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California (Amazon?). He claims the best months for California coastal cruising are between May and October.

 

[sunchaser]

The Nordhavn's owner's site has tons of information on this subject. The big advantage of the May-October time GGT mentioned is the duration between storms is longer. But, the anchoring around Catalina can get difficult even in "mild" weather.

Why not to San Diego instead with better anchorages or marinas? Or a slip in Santa Barbara which is a pretty short trip from SF in decent weather. No matter what route you do, the boat will do just fine.

Twisted Tree on this site is planning on the rally in the fall and could weigh in with spot on information.