Want to Rent: Moorage in Morro Bay area

[Nammy]

Thanks for the concern! I'm doing all my due diligence. I had a great teacher that put safety first. I do love to hear the experience of others and, find it greatly compliments any studying I might do. I think mostly, it's being Captain of a heavier boat for the first time in unfamiliar waters. I learned to sail South of Tacoma at the end of the sound so, big seas were something I never had to deal with. Puts the fear of God into me! I am having a gentleman named Bud Taplin do the survey. He's quite educated in Westsails specifically. I may ask him to Captain the boat for her maiden voyage. He can really reach me how to sail that boat specifically. That's the tough thing, right? Walking onto a strange deck and trying to be fluid.

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[Yeti]

Originally Posted by Nammy

I would love to leave it in San Diego and feel her out for a while but, it's so expensive!
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You could call up the San Diego Mooring Company (619) 291-0916 and see if they have any temporary moorings available. The cost is $7.50/Day or $225/Month. That's relatively inexpensive and would give you some time to get familiar with her before heading up.

[Nammy]

Ohh, don't tempt me to leave her down there. That's a 5 hour drive to see my new girlfriend!

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[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Nammy

He can really reach me how to sail that boat specifically. That's the tough thing, right? Walking onto a strange deck and trying to be fluid.

"Sailing" on a trip North from San Diego to Morro Bay....ah....no, not really. My advice would be to have plenty of Diesel and make DAMN sure your diesel engine, fuel system, belt, hoses etc are ready for a 3-day continuous motor trip.

Oh I know, I know it's a sailboat not a motor boat right? Ok ya I'm sure you will have some time to raise sails here and there but get the concept of it being a motor boat trip into you head and you will be able to deal with it when it happens much easier. Going through the Santa Barbara Channel you may get some sailable wind, but I wouldn't plan on a sailboat trip, think upwind motor boat ride for calmer/easier seas to bash into. Besides, a Pt Conception rounding isn't a time to be learning and F-ing around under sail on a boat you don't know well. You want to round it and be outta there when going North, AFAP!

[Nammy]

No, yeah. I'm planning on motoring all the way. I'll put the sails up if there's wind as part of the shakedown cruise but, I'm trying to get there while headed all the way. I don't have a week. But, don't get me wrong. If I get 10-20kts of wind, I'm gonna see if I can bury the rail once or twice. I'm under no illusions though. I'm gonna make the motor work.

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[neophytecruiser]

Just returned to San Diego after helping another cruising friend deliver his boat from La Paz to Santa Cruz. Our itinerary was scheduled around GRIB weather predictions for the Pt. Conception/Pt. Arguello rounding. While this wasn't a full on delivery or die situation, it wasn't a full exploration of all the channel islands and anchorage in between, either.

The first part of July saw some pretty breezy conditions all the way from San Francisco to Pt. Conception. From San Diego we did an overnight motor sail to Emerald Cove on Catalina. We spent two nights there to allow for a better weather window for Santa Cruz Island. We spent two nights at Santa Cruz Island (Yellowbanks anchorage and then Forney Cove) with the hope of being able to explore the Painted Cave and allow for predicted "calming" at Pt. Conception. The swell was too big to make for a safe foray into the Painted Cave and we proceeded northeast across the Santa Barbra Channel and on up to Cojo Anchorage in the lee of Pt. Conception. Afternoon breezes were in the mid to high twenties, but predicted to drop to the 10-15 kt range the following morning. We left Cojo around 6:30 am and rounded Pt. Conception in 5-8 kt. zephyr's and continued to motorsail to Port San Luis, arriving there in the early afternoon.

Morro Bay is about 20nm further up the coast and would have been easily reached during daylight hours. Since we didn't need additional diesel to reach Santa Cruz, the following day we by-passed Morro Bay and continued on up to the anchorage at San Simeon. A 3am departure the following morning put us in Santa Cruz (with some spinnaker sailing, without the infernal engine,in Monterey Bay!) by 7pm that evening.

We did have the flexibility to plan the trip around a favorable long range weather window prediction rounding Pt. Conception and had time to briefly explore places between San Diego and the rounding before committing. We got nightly GRIB forecasts, via SSB, and used these to fine-tune our itinerary for Point Conception. This allowed for very mild motorsailing to weather conditions the entire route between San Diego and Santa Cruz.

Assuming you may not have SSB for GRIB access a smart phone with a weather prediction app (such as SailFlow or EZ-GRIB) can be used to secure some 'long' range weather prediction information for planning purposes (predictions of 72 hours out are pretty reliable, but tend to be less so the further out they go). The anchorage at Cojo puts you right at the point and is very secure from the predominate weather patterns out of the NW; you might get the wind over the point, but there will be no waves. As Rich and others have advised, it is prudent to add at least 5 kts of windspeed to the predictions and maybe as much as 10-15 kts. to account for any point effects on the wind velocity. Once you round the points, the trip north to Morro Bay should be significantly less breezy (and bouncy). Good sailing (of the motor type, unfortunately) and enjoy Morro Bay!

[SV THIRD DAY]

My Verizon cell phone worked for most of the trip rounding Pt Conception. (Santa Barbara to Morro Bay)
It's not wilderness since it's part of the Air Force Base and has good cell coverage for smart phone weather.

[Nammy]

Hey all, thanks for a ton of great info. All the research I've been doing confirms absolutely everything you guys said. I'm feeling much better after the survey and sea trial. Damn, that boat is a beast! She had less water coming from the exhaust than I would like to see and, when she got warm, she blew just a little steam. My first though, being trained as a diesel mechanic was a head gasket but, I think it was a semi clogged heat exchanger. We'll see! A bad engine isn't enough to scare me away. I got it too cheap. But, of the motor fails on the shakedown I'll have a great story to tell of hopefully, my sailing prowess! Any thoughts on the engine are more than welcome. I would be more upset about it but, I'm right on the edge of going hybrid so, any failure on the engines part will cause me a clean engine room and glassed over through hulls!

[Nammy]

So, I made 5 miles out of Port of San Luis before my engine died. Is there anyone there that would be willing to pull my westsail32 over to the haul out crane? I'm going to put it in the yard for a couple months and, I need to tow it over there. Its only what, 500 yards or so? I'd buy lunch and a case of beer, at least!

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[SV THIRD DAY]

Holy Smokes....If I was over there I'd help for sure....but Morro Bay is more than a quick dinghy shoot away.

I have seen the Port San Luis Harbor patrol bring plenty of boats with dead motors from the floating work dock (AKA Sea Lion Alley) to the Haul out Crane. Have you checked with them yet? Also talk to Brent (Yard Manager) about it because I bet he can help. Brent takes a little getting warmed up to at first, depending on the day and stress load he can be short and gruff, but once you get to know him he's a nice guy.

[Nammy]

I have talked to Brent and yes, we're still in the warming up stage... He mentioned the harbor patrol. I just assumed they cost money and, I'd rather make a friend, u know? I'm working on getting my own little dinghy up there and, will not hesitate to use whoever is available at the time. Thaynks for The offer though. I wish I had made it up there to meet you but, after the leaky, smoky, iron Benny died, I'm ready to pull out now! I can't wait to glass over all those thru hulls!

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[Nammy]

Iron "genny"!

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