No doubt Cape Mendocino commands respect. A commercial
fisherman in Ft Bragg once told me "Arrggg, it'll slit
you a new #@*$%" [yes, he really had a pirately
swagger]. But I made 13 trips north and 3 south around
this headland last year alone, and generally had
satisfactory to excellent conditions. Only once was I
seriously delayed, and much of that was due to the
owner's desire - they were having a great time in Ft
Bragg.

A good tip from the Douglass's "Exploring the Pacific
Coast" guide is to call NWS Eureka. It's staffed 24/7
and they love to hear from end-users. It's a good
break from their computer modeling.

This coast is transitted by hundreds of recreational
mariners each year in safety and relative comfort. It
takes patient planning, common sense, and an
acceptable boat.

Peter
www.SeaSkills.com

peter@seaskills.com
At 10:57 PM 6/15/05 -0700, you wrote:

I have had a long think about The Cape and perhaps it is time to share some
of the thoughts. The coast has so many myths and misconceptions it is hard
to know how to put them to rest. It is neither as dangerous as it's
reputation nor is it a really safe place. It is sort of like the little
girl who when she was nice was very, very nice but when she was bad, she
was just awful.

Every year is like previous years and at the same time, not like them. In
other words the weather is the underlying force and the pattern that exists
at the time is that which determines what we mariners have to work with.
The first mistake is assuming that the weather is like last year. That's
just fine, if it is so, and has been fatal to some who assumed it and found
out otherwise.

I had some disagreement with Bob Austin about making a passage up  the
coast, since he has done it a number of times and has come to assume that
and according to the coast pilot, if you are a sailor the thing is to ride
the South Westerlies up the coast during the late spring. Now this works
just fine, if there are weak fronts coming through and as far as that is
concerned, even mid summer is just fine if that is the case. But, take
note. If there are no weak fronts to work with, it matters little what else
is going on. Keep in mind that weak fronts are the predominate weather
storm feature in late spring and sometimes into the summer and fall. But,
sometimes the fronts are not weak even during those periods when it is
generally the case. On average there is a 70 knot SW storm during August
about one year in 3 on the Oregon Coast and the effects may reach all the
way to LA, although these storms are generally pretty compact and fast
moving and clear out just as fast.

The overall situation is much safer today than it was 10, 20 or especially
30 years ago, what with the increased number of weather satellites and
buoys. But, some years are just plain miserable. For instance, the spring
of 1999 was an especially bad year for northbound boats. The weak fronts
were not as weak as usual and the worst of it was that they hung off the
coast 50-100 miles and just pounded the coast with lump. The lump came from
more than one direction and was so fierce that even boats in the 60' range
were having a terrible time getting above Bodega Bay. In case I haven't
made the situation clear, there was little or no wind inside of 20-30 miles
of the coast, but the 40-50 knots that was raging just beyond was making
for conditions that are hard to describe. I recall picking up a boat there
which had been holed up for almost 10 days along with numerous other boats,
some up to 75 feet. I had to wait 2 or 3 days more and then it was so nasty
that we anchored about 20 miles south of Ft. Bragg(Noyo River) because of
the lump, but no wind.

When we finally got up to The Cape, it was blowing 30-40 and we would not
have gotten around it if it had not been for the fact that there was almost
no wind past 10 miles north of it. We had a couple of years of that sort of
spring pattern. Last year and this so far have had numerous weak fronts
that have made it much easier to get up the coast. Of course the weak
fronts have to be pretty weak in order to move boats down the coast where
the wind is on the nose. Some years there are precious few weak fronts to
use to get up the coast and some years the lack of weak fronts continues
well into the fall and then changes with a vengeance, replaced by repeated
strong fronts with high winds and large swell, shutting down the bars for
days, sometimes weeks. The fall of 1990 or thereabouts was the year that
Frenchman fellow rowed across the Pacific and he got into 3 weeks of some
of the worst weather, back to back weather, that had occurred in October
off the Oregon/Calif coast in perhaps 25 years.

In any event, I advise anyone who is within striking distance of The Cape
and it is calm to not waste a single hour getting around it. I can recite
case after case where we have just gotten past before the wind came up
enough that we would have been pasted good had we delayed. The precision
with which we can estimate conditions near The Cape is much better than it
used to be. But The Cape is still the same old antagonist, and it has no mercy.

By the way, I expect to be the object of the Cape's attention next Tues,
after the remnants of the burned out typhoon that is approaching the coast
tonight, clears out. I have my plans and The Cape has it's. We'll see, just
who really has the upper hand.

Regards,
Mike

Capt. Mike Maurice
Tualatin(Portland), Oregon