Would you do it again and if you did, what would you do different.
There's a lot of coastline left to explore, so I don't know if we'd do the pacific coast again (except for the parts we didn't get to yet), but we'd definitely recommend it to anyone with a capable boat.
We were certainly in a rush to begin the trip, so there are some things I'd have done differently:
- Get a full mechanical inspection of the powerplant and resolve any issues before departing, as opposed to trying to deal with them on the way. There will always be new problems, but try to depart with a clean bill of health, at least.
- Complete major projects prior to departure (water-maker, SSB, solar installation, etc).
- Depart earlier. We started down the coast on August 15th. I'd say leave by the end of July at the latest, otherwise you might find your weather windows closing. We certainly got stuck in a few places for longer than we had expected (Astoria, Newport, and Morro Bay come to mind).
- If you can afford it, have some sort of stabilization capability, maybe flopper-stoppers or a steady sail. The rolling wasn't too bad, but it could definitely be a more comfortable ride
- I was very happy to have my AIS receiver, but in hindsight I'd have gone with the full transceiver. Knowing you're seen by almost anyone, regardless of your radar cross-section, brings real peace of mind.
And it would've been nice if we had some fishing experience before we left. We're still working on that one, actually.
