First Russ was very lucky to have only 10% of his time in rough conditions. Despite "weather reports" one really never knows what he will find along the West Coast. An example is our last trip North. We left Long Beach, CA. just before sunup and by about 5 PM reached Coho. We were going to put in for about 6 hours rest, but since it was calm, and the forcast was for calm seas and wind that night we elected to continue. Russ is correct the conventional wisdom is to wait until the mid night hours to go around Pt. Conception and Argeullo. We did fine until about 11 PM, when the wind continued to build at Aqruello and rather rapidly went to 45 knots, with seas at 14 to 15 feet. Needless to say, we slowed down considerably and by dawn were around Pt. Sol. We elected to Continue to Morro Bay, since the bar was reported calm and Morro Bay is a favorite of ours--and the wind remained in the 10 to 15 knot range. The next day we had a liesurely sail to San Seminon, then left there at 3 AM and were in Santa Cruz by about 4 PM, never encountering more than 15 knots of breeze. The West coast has some long legs with little protection and quite unpredictable conditions. The East coast can be unpredictable, but generally one knows from the weather reports ie: 50% chance of thunder storms by late afternoon. Also the runs are short and for the most part good protection is available within a few hours. When you are doing serious cruising you are going to have some rough times. I know people who have waited weeks to get around Pt. Conception in calms--they never made it--and turned back. There are times you have "to put it in gear and go"--rounding the capes of the West Coast may require this. Thus a cruising boat doing this coast must be able to stand up to this type of traveling. This holds true all the way form Cabo San Lucas to Cape Flattery. Bob Austin

At 09:09 AM 8/23/02 -0700, you wrote: >Exactly. >Russ > >When you are doing serious cruising you are going to have some rough times. >I know people who have waited weeks to get around Pt. Conception in >calms--they never made it--and turned back. There are times you have "to >put it in gear and go"-- > >Bob Austin I can't quite tell just who wrote this, but a few comments. In general, anyone who waits weeks, has dawdled when the real openings occurred. In other words, they did not anticipate the opening and missed it. Or, did not recognize that the opening was happening and slept through it, or some such thing. The phrase, "waited weeks" is a minor bit of verbal overkill and may mislead inexperienced people into thinking that such a thing is real. That does not mean that a "useful" opening, necessary for several hundred miles of running, might not on some rare occasion have to wait weeks. But such delays are in reality so rare as to be almost, but not quite impossible. Example: This spring on arrival in Ft. Bragg CA, I find a 48' offshore, newer model of the one I am driving; sitting. The owner has been up to Cape Mendicino three times and turned back. There is no doubt in my mind that he had an opening but failed to understand when it was happening and even if he was within a mile of good water, failed to understand that such was the case. To make the matter clearer. The WX forecast is a fairy tale. The conditions are what count. The conditions can be deduced from the buoy reports. A 300 mile stretch of coastline is not one 300 mile segment of weather. It is a series of smaller segments, sometimes as short as 5 miles. You can deduce from the wind speeds/direction, wave heights/periods what the actual surface conditions are and from that draw conclusions about whether the boat you have can traverse the segments with some degree of comfort/discomfort. This is not matter of planning a trip to the grocery store. It requires finesse, patience and attention to details: the wind, the waves. After you have the condition reports and it helps a lot if you have the history over the past 3 to 6 hours, by the hour. You are then in a position to estimate the surface conditions ahead of you. Remember, what you have from the CONDITION reports is a crude picture of reality. To be successful, you have to supplement this information by studying the wave conditions that exist around you in real time. If you have NO wind, but filthy sea conditions with a big lump, you can assume the wind is blowing somewhere, nearby. Small short period stuff is very near, longer period stuff is coming from farther off. 1-2 seconds, within a couple of miles. 3-4 seconds, within 20 miles. 5-7 seconds within 100 miles. Longer periods, beyond 100 miles out to thousands. This tells you how far off the generation area is. Now you need the condition reports to help determine the length of the fetch. (fetch you recall is the length of water expanse over which the wind is blowing). Ah, but you say, you have never seen filthy seas, without wind!! So, the wind is upon you. But the waves are still just waves and you can use what you know to deduce what is ahead. One more comment, this applies to open ocean was well as coastal cruising, but my comments are skewed towards coastal conditions. I suppose this will just bring more questions. Regards, Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Near Portland Oregon.

Exactly. Russ When you are doing serious cruising you are going to have some rough times. I know people who have waited weeks to get around Pt. Conception in calms--they never made it--and turned back. There are times you have "to put it in gear and go"-- Bob Austin