Seattle to ventura on chb 34

Any thoughts on what time of season might make this trip possible?

Considering relocating a 34 trawler to Ventura. Truck might be best, but it could be great fun to motor it...

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Sounds scary. Gettin' around Point Conception would be the game changer for me. I would feel safer truckin' the thing.

Watch your weather windows, and don't be on a hard and fast schedule, and you'll do fine. Boats of all sizes make that trip all the time- the problems usually happen when schedule is put ahead of safety.

ancora said:

Sounds scary. Gettin' around Point Conception would be the game changer for me. I would feel safer truckin' the thing.

Click to expand...

Its funny how many people think it is all gloom and doom at P.T. Conception, I have done it numerous times with no issue. Its just that south of there the weather is so benign most of the time..locals think a little bumpy sea is like the perfect storm.
Summer can be nice except for the fog.
Hollywood

I'm think'in it would be more a matter of how much the shipping bill would smart. Shipping would be best.

If you are keen for an adventure and the trip wasn't adventurous at all it would be best to ship it. If you encountered lots of adventure you'd probably consider it too much adventure wish you'd shipped it. And if it wasn't very adventurous it would be very boring.

Being out in the ocean w a dead engine would be more scary than adventurous and even risky if the seas were up. If you do it I'd do a fairly extensive fitting out and you may spend money on things you'd otherwise not need.

Seattle to California

Pacific steamer said:

Any thoughts on what time of season might make this trip possible?

Considering relocating a 34 trawler to Ventura. Truck might be best, but it could be great fun to motor it...

Click to expand...

If you have the time it is a great trip. I have done the trip in August and September. We had great weather on one trip and terrible weather on the next. I have been out on the big blue Pacific a dozen times and in every case, the weather was the key to a fun trip. The second key is to take your time and pick your weather windows. Every time I have been on a schedule with a hard deadline, I ended up pushing the windows and got my ass kicked. If you don't have the time, send the boat by truck. I think the third most important thing is a very well prepared and thoroughly checked boat. I took a friends boat down the Columbia River heading to San Diego. We got as far as Northern California, just before Cape Mendocino, when I used up the last of the 48 filters I took with us. The boat was just not well prepared and it dam near killed us. It was not the bad engine that almost got us but the broken pin holding the anchor to the deck that finally snapped in a storm and let the anchor start to swing in a big arc on the front of the boat. I managed to secure it before the anchor put a hole in the hull but I can tell you it was a very close call. Fourth key is experience. If you have never been out of Juan de Fuca and on to the Pacific, it is really good to take some folks with you that have. We made two trips on a friends boat before we made the trip ourselves. Getting that coaching and knowledge proved very valuable. The fifth key is mechanical knowledge. Equipment will fail and being able to either do without it, or have the ability to repair it is pretty handy. The sixth is an ability to stay calm. I remember a day when we were getting pretty pounded in a short but intense storm. We called one of the Coast Guard stations to ask about coming across the bar. His response and I quote, "No matter how bad it is where you are, it is worse here." My wife (our Skipper) response was to suggest to hove to and make dinner. Dinner tasted great and the winds calmed shortly after dark and we were able to carry on. If you decide to go, take the time to enjoy the experience.

Shawn

Each season has special considerations. Summer can have fog and winter can have storms.

Depending on what is involved in transport, I think delivering her on her own bottom may be easiest on the boat. Some of the boats I thought about transporting were big enough (40-45') that the flybridge would have to be taken off and then put back on.

If you don't have a ton of ocean experience you might want to consider a delivery captain who will let you be crew. A few years back I helped bring a Bavaria 34 from Seattle to San Francisco. The owner hired a delivery captain and a few of us crewed .

As Salish Lady said, the weather is the key, no matter what season you do it in. Be prepared to spend a few nights in port or have a miserable time out if the weather kicks up. Don't worry too much about Pt Conception, it can be an uneventful trip around there about 65% of the time.

Lots of good advice in the posts above. Personally, I would only come southbound April through Aug, DEPENDING ON WEATHER. And it's not the kind of weather that looks horrible to folks like weather routers or the talking heads on the TV, either. Summer thermal winds, caused by heating of the inland areas from CA to WA, often appear benign to those lacking local knowledge.

They see the nice Pacific High settled in, and equate that with benign conditions along the coast. Not so. Nice hot days bring up sometimes heavy thermal winds, booming CW around the highs, and generally blowing westerly off the ocean. They can raise a very uncomfortable wind chop on top of the normal 4-6' westerly ocean swell in the summer. Yeah, you're going down-wind and down-swell. But in 25+ knots of wind, surfing in a 34' trawler can be a whole new experience!

In addition, if you're considering day-tripping down the coast, one needs to consider the state of the tide, coinciding with the expected time of arrival, at each desired overnight port. If all is well, it's cake to scoot across for the night. If it puffs up during the day, or the fog settles in, or there is unexpected onshore swells, and the bar conditions are lousy, the USCG can and do close the bars with little warning. If so, it's certainly best to keep on truck'n all night, and rest sometime the next day, if necessary.

Having said all this, it's a fun trip southbound, if the boat and crew are properly prepared and experienced. If the fishermen are coming in, come in with them. If they are staying ashore, stay moored also. If the boat's OK, but the crew are novices, best to hire a delivery skipper, and crew for him. If the boat's suspect (especially the fuel system), then best to ship it. Costs WAY more, but can cost WAY less, if things go to hell in a handbasket.

Of course, YMMV. It could be a dead-flat trip like a millpond with brilliant sunshine the whole way. It can be just the opposite. And Pt. Conception is generally a piece of cake in the summer. Cape Mendocino's a bit more of a handful, IMHO.

Enjoy!

Pete

The wind in summer can be horrific. Late spring and September-Octoberish are typically the best bet. But you have to watch the forecast! I have been out here visiting friends and family between Fort Bragg and Santa Cruz the past several days and you could make the trip in a 13' Whaler if you wanted. Me and another guy once took a 24' Bayliner Ciera from Bodega Bay to Eureka with careful planning... and some luck.

Thinking of summer wind...

We get afternoon wind that can blow things up pretty bad.

Its flat calm in the morning and by 2:00 pm its starting to kick up pretty good.

I've heard thats the case as well along the California coast.
Folks are reporting that they leave well before dawn and plan on being in port by 2:00 pm or so.

Just how true is what I've heard about this?

I think the major issue after weather is your fuel tanks. Are they new? Are you certain there is no crud on the bottom waiting to get riled up in a seaway and do your filters and motor in when you need it most. If you do the trip open up your tanks and inspect and clean as necessary. You may have to put ports in tanks if not already there. Remember if your diesel motor is in good condition it will keep running PROVIDED IT HAS UNRESRITED CLEAN FUEL AND AIR.

Bad fuel=bad trip

eyschulman said:

I think the major issue after weather is your fuel tanks. Are they new? Are you certain there is no crud on the bottom waiting to get riled up in a seaway and do your filters and motor in when you need it most. If you do the trip open up your tanks and inspect and clean as necessary. You may have to put ports in tanks if not already there. Remember if your diesel motor is in good condition it will keep running PROVIDED IT HAS UNRESRITED CLEAN FUEL AND AIR.

Click to expand...

Having actually made this mistake, next to weather, it is the most important factor that I have had to overcome off shore! We happened to have lots of filters but changing one filter after another in a 10 foot sea for 24 hours was no fun!

Shawn

Pacific Steamer, last June (2013) I had the opportunity to help take a 58' boat from Lake Union, Seattle, down to Stockton, CA. Parts of the trip were fantastic. Parts were not.

If you want to read about the trip, here's a link to my writeup....

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s36/journey-lifetime-10565.html

This the rule

ksanders said:

Thinking of summer wind...

We get afternoon wind that can blow things up pretty bad.

Its flat calm in the morning and by 2:00 pm its starting to kick up pretty good.

I've heard thats the case as well along the California coast.
Folks are reporting that they leave well before dawn and plan on being in port by 2:00 pm or so.

Just how true is what I've heard about this?

Click to expand...

Localized conditions can vary wind conditions by twenty knots or more over the forecast. The wind and seas calm by 1 am or so and pick by 2 in the afternoon as a general rule. I have personally seen 45 knts at Cape Mendocino. The average wind speed last trip was in the mid 20's, it was a October trip. The winds did not subside at night. There are several areas where the shortest distance puts you well offshore and it just makes sense to run all night if you are doing this as a delivery. The trip in a 34' boat will be physically hard, so if your not in good shape it will be grueling. An auto pilot that works will make life much better. The typical sea state will put following seas on your starboard quarter so a good tracking boat is a big benefit. If your boat has a tendency to broach, which many hard chined boats do, steering will be exhausting. I have heard of steering failures on deliveries. Finally the scenery is just not that great, you really stand too far offshore to enjoy it, so unless you like looking at waves, it not a scenic trip. It is a merit badge however and a effective way to deliver your boat.

Don't let this happen to you....



Interesting bit of history. A division of 14 destroyers steaming off the coast of CA at night, and in fog, ran into the coast line at Honda Point/Point Pedernales in 1923. Seven ships where lost with 23 dead.

Pretty horrible photo...

Later,
Dan