San Diego to Santa Barbara this month?

[Salth20sr]

Aloha all.
Just wondering if anyone out there is cyber sea can give me some pointers on bringing my Islander MK2 30' from SD to SB at the end of this month (April). I'll be the most experienced of the 3 of us having sailed for the past 5 years, with quite abit solo, but no professional instruction. I plan on going port to port, but am curious about wind patterns. Will I be able to sail the whole way this time of year, or will I rely on my Atomic 4 for most of the trip?
ANY feedback would be very appriciated!

Stefan
"Carla Sea"

[poopdeckpappy]

You'll be sailing with 0 - 10 in the Am & 0 -15 winds from the SSW in the PM and against currents, so yeah, you'll be motoring some.

Sound like a great sail, SD to Oceanside to DP ( we have a great mooring cove in the west basin ) to Cat Is. to MDR etc,etc..........Fun stuff

[sailingdog]

You may have a good chance of sailing much of the way, but it will likely be a beat to windward at the beginning. You can see what I'm talking about by reading the tables in this PDF file.

San Diego area—A large percentage of the observed winds are from the W to the NW... and you're course is effectively NNW... so it will be an upwind beat or dead into the wind at worst, to a reach at best. Mean wind speed for the month is about 7 knots for the SD area.

Los Angeles—A very large percentage of the winds are SW to W...so you'll be on a reach for a good part of the time. Winds are a bit stronger, mean is 7.4 knots.

You'll probably be motoring initially, but once you get a bit further north, you'll probably be able to sail quite a bit.

[poopdeckpappy]

At this time we're getting winds in SD from the SW @ 5-10, light and veriable in the PM,( Motor ) this pattern will most likely remain until May-June, same here in DP but more from the SSW, it will pick up in the evenings to 10 -15 sometimes, but come June/July/Aug 10-15 kt pm winds will be pretty much the normal

[ianhlnd]

No problem, you're looking at an easy 24 hour ride. Avalon is just about 1/2 way and makes for a good spot to relax for a while.

You can expect S to SW winds until you get to Catalina, about 10 mi north of the island it'll die, then shift to about 270 degrees. Plan on motoring. The seas and wind funnel down the SB Channel, so you'll be against wind and current.

Winds usually pick up from 11am to 3pm with the ocassional sundowner. Watch the high pressure. If there's a high over the 4 corners you might luck out and get N to NE winds, but that's not normal this time of year. Expect fog, and take care, especially in the shipping lanes into Long Beach and in the Channel where north and south bound run parallel to each other.

[ianhlnd]

SD:

You may have a good chance of sailing much of the way

Dog, I've never heard of anyone who sailed from San Diego to Santa Barbara in under one month. S'matter of fact, I tried it once, spent two days tacking between Magu Rock and the east end of Anacapa for a net gain of 1 mile. Last year I tried the same thing for 6 hours for a net loss of 3 miles.

Turn on the iron jib, autopilot, and tough it out.

[zaldog]

Ianhlnd, Maybe it may have taken a little less time if you didn't have that distraction ( a little less cheek) in front of your mast. :-).

[ianhlnd]

hey zaldog, it's like alligators, seen one, seen em all. . . .



NOT!