Sail Hawaii to California

[pguatney]

Good Morning all.

Has anyone had any experience with sailing from Hawaii to California? Of course you have.

I am considering a boat to replace my 40' ketch lost in Hurricane Wilma in 2005. I have found it......in Hawaii. I sailed a lot of the Caribbean and the East coast, but only a small part of the coast of California, no real Pacific blue water. How long would it take? What trouble am I likely to get into? Best port to aim for? I'd like to haul out in Oxnard. Yes, it's stupid, but it is a 25' Cheoy Lee. I'm Brave (read "stupid") but have nothing to lose. I'd spend a couple of weeks in Hawaii to get used to the boat and shake it down before leaving. Rent an EPIRB and Liferaft for the trip and all that. (no death wishes) I have a very capable crew for the trip, but they have not made that trip either.

I sure could use some quality advice, not just how dumb of an idea it is. Be kind...I'm delicate, landlocked, and sometimes desperate .

Thanks in advance!

PG

[Stillraining]

Iv always heard it was 18 days going and 21 coming back...give or take...I only have one friend who's done it both ways...

Sorry thats all Im good for.

[tdw]

Hey look, I'm not gonna be of any use to you re sailing from Hawaii to California cos I've never done it but my presumption is that a Cheoy Lee 25 has to be a Vertue. Correct ? If so they are really a sweet little thing. don't know if you know anything about them but they have a very impressive pedigree having been designed by none other than Laurent (Jack) Giles himself. If you don't know who LG is then shame on you. Read up on him. Vertue XXXV, Cardinal Vertue and Ice Bird are all part of my early years of wishful thinking and did some amazing voyages for their time and size while Eric and Susan Hiscock's Wanderer III was (indeed is) a scaled up Vertue of 30' and circumnavigated more than once.

So the point is that presuming she is sound she should be more than capable of sailing from Hawaii to California via Capetown and Panama let alone the boring way you want to go. Soundness being very much the key word there. Any doubts then don't do it, she cannot be a young slip of a thing and age does weary them I'm afraid. (Actually that could be rubbish. According to the CLO site , see below, Vertus were still being built into the 90's, amazing.)

There is a Vertue (an old timber one) moored near our boat and I can just sit and look at her all day. Sweet sweet boat, small but perfectly formed as they say.

Anyway, good luck with it. Hope it all works out. Worst thing than can happen is you sink........well yes thats not good I know but hey.....think of the stories you will be able to tell......oh yes sorry, sunk, probably drowned.......oh well.....

Nah , just kidding.

Cheers

ps - google cheoy lee owners if you havn't already. Great site.

Oh, here, save you the trouble

Cheoy Lee Sailboat Association

Lots of info on Vertues.

[wallybygolly]

Did it two years ago aboard a rebuilt CAL-46 (Cal-Vader 49).

Best time to go is in the fall (we left late September and it was pushing it). This is due to the North Pacific High. I will let some more experianced members chime in, but basically the high moves around and its calm in the middle. The winds rotate in a clockwise (i believe its clockwise...) motion around this high. When you leave Hawaii, you will be sailing North until you catch those winds, then basically slingshot East toward California. Only thing...the high moves around. *grins*

We were at sea 23 days...but it was a bad October weather-wise. I live in Hawaii and alot of friends said that the trades weren't strong at all and it was very humid while I was gone.

I hope this helps! Oh, any port is good...generally the more northern ones (we went into Monterey Bay) will save a few days off the voyage.

PS...let me know if you need crew. I live on Oahu and am looking for a boat back to the mainland this summer.