Ping ksanders

Kevin, I noted you used a weather router, Rick Shema last year. Was he that valuable, would you use him again? There are so many expenses associated with our Pacific run from Seattle to San Francisco, I have to sort out the ones that are economically the most important.

I'm not Kevin and lack the sea time of many here but for a first journey of that distance in unfamiliar water I would consider it money well spent. It's not like you have that many safe harbors on that stretch.

If you have flat calm seas and bluebird days all the way it may feel like you wasted your money but if the fecal matter hits the fan you'll wish you had spent the dough.

My 2 cents

CPseudonym said:

I'm not Kevin and lack the sea time of many here but for a first journey of that distance in unfamiliar water I would consider it money well spent. It's not like you have that many safe harbors on that stretch.

If you have flat calm seas and bluebird days all the way it may feel like you wasted your money but if the fecal matter hits the fan you'll wish you had spent the dough.

My 2 cents

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That would appear to be perfectly logical. But for me it's not quite that black and white. We are doing a lot of research into how to do this trip safely, including where we source our weather information, how to handle bar crossings, and where to duck in if it really get crappy. The question is not so much is a weather router necessary, but rather will one bring enough added value to what is already available to us to make their cost justifiable.

Understand completely. I'm just weigh safety in a more top heavy manner than most.

"Murphy" and I are well acquainted. Too well.

I didn't mean to discount your very wise recommendation Craig. It has a ton of merit. Just wanted to share the methodology by which we are evaluating our options.

StuartT: Weather routers for the coastal trip? For me it would depend on how much time we have. If you have to get there in a short schedule, he can help with looking at the weather windows.

There are lots of outs along the coast. We've done the trip twice from the PNW. The first time we went off shore direct to SF in a sail boat, the second time on Hobo and harbor hopped our way down. The 2 longest jumps we made were from Tillamook to Newport (64 miles) and Fort Brag to Bodega Bay (88 miles). If you leave and you don't like the conditions you can go back.

We have used a weather router once for an off shore passage. He was able to give us a forecast for 5 days. After that we were on our own or we could pay for updates. $$$$. With your boat, the seasonal conditions aft of the beam and lots of outs as you head south, take a good friend along who has done the trip. Just my 2 cents.

We're planning on passaging non-stop from Dana Point to Alameda starting this Friday. However, right now there is a gale warning around Point Conception. Since we want to make this run non-stop, and it is our first long passage on Tropical Blend, we hired a Nordavn Captain to come with us. He was pretty insistent on using a weather router, and recommended OMNI Bob. I think for known tough passages (Pt. Conception and Tehuantepec come to mind), it makes sense to use a router for a forecast window.

The good news is that the forecast is improving. Wednesday night the winds are forecast at 35 knots, with seas up to 17 feet. By Saturday, the forecast is for winds 15 to 25, seas 5 to 8, so I am optimistic.

I just talked to "OMNI" Bob Jones and I liked him. He is very reasonable and we will use him as an additional resource to the education and research we are addressing ourselves. One more cog in the wheel of planning a safe trip.

Thanks for mentioning him.

Stuart

I found our weather router very valuable because he gave me the go ahead when my weather forecasting skills would have had me stay in port.

Not that staying in port was a problem, but my sons vacation time was running out and I either had to park the boat in Juneau, get another person to make that part of the voyage, or go for it.

As its been indicated before, if you have an unlimited time frame for this "delivery trip" then of course you do not need the services of a weather router. If you are on a schedule and need an expert to tell you if you'll be within the safe operational capabilities you define, then a weather router would be invaluable.

I appreciate the feedback Kevin. You probably noted I have hired Bob Jones as I noted above. I think since we have time, we could have gone without as you suggest, but it will be a good test of our combined skills to measure how we compare to a professional who does this for a living. It will dictate in many ways what I do the next time.