Passage to San Francisco
We arrived in San Francisco on Thursday afternoon (9/1). In total, it was 515 NMs from Newport. We went pretty far offshore due to weather routing - at times we were 70-80 NMs offshore. Out there we had song birds landing on the boat looking for some respite - and the water was a deep blue and something like 11,000 feet deep .
The deep blue of the Pacific just off the continental shelf
82 hours and 18 minutes from start to end. We had planned to leave Newport on Sunday afternoon but got pinned to the transient dock due to a strong quartering wind. We had not gotten fuel on our way in, so both leaving the dock and tying up to the fuel dock would have been dicey. And we had a little window, so we left at first light (and when the fuel dock opened) on Monday (8/29). For most the days we were there, a reasonable wind come up in the afternoon making exiting the dock hard - so bear that in mind.
Song bird taking a rest, checking out the bird guide
We had good wind the first day and some good waves to match. It then calmed down for a couple of days. We were treated to some beautiful sunsets and stary nights with glassy calm seas.
Sunset on a calm evening about 70 NMs off of Cape Blanco
On the second to last day, as forecasted, the winds began to rise mid-day. We watched the sea state go from long period gentle rollers, to getting a slight ripple, to slowly shortening in period and building. We sailed wing-on-wing into the early night, and then doused the whisker pole due to nighttime and the forecasted increase overnight - moving to a broad reach. The wind did pour on reaching 20 kts by 10/11 PM, gusting up to mid-20s. By midnight we had 25 kts with gusts to 30. We kept adjusting sails to keep boat speed fast enough to manage the waves & make SF entrance currents - but not so much canvas that we couldn't handle the gusts.
Sailing wing-on-wing in about 10 knots of breeze
The waves built pretty quickly and were on our port stern quarter. They probably maxed out at 5.5 - 6 feet, every 6 or 7 seconds. In the pitch black (clouds from edge to edge of the horizon) we would hear them and then see the white break right behind us as it was just off the stern. We kept a watch for big ones so we could manage steering and watching for something that would turn us broadside. When light came out we had sea lions surfing down the waves behind us almost waving at us.
Standing watch at night, monitoring navigation and winds
The clouds started to part - and the waves stated to subside as we neared Pt. Reyes. We had a gorgeous sail into the early afternoon down to the entrance of Bonita Channel. Sun came out, clouds disappeared, and fog burned off. We got to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge on September 1st, 2022
It was a fun passage with a great crew. We bonded through watches, meals, wildlife sightings, and waiting for the weather.