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sww914 · 24-12-2009, 12:49

This is my home port. It was like this again last week and there's another one on the way. The boat is in the middle of the channel in this photo, famous photo.
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Intentional Drifter · 24-12-2009, 13:38

Great photo! Then, once you get a little north of there, you get to see things like this: OnBlueSky Columbia River Pilot Boat Chinook (Do check out the description of their pilot boats, at the bottom.)

For those who should ever be in Astoria, OR, do check out the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Welcome to the Columbia River Maritime Museum I knew those guys were good, really good. But a visit there left me with a deep, abiding respect. True pros!

ID

cchesley · 24-12-2009, 13:40

I actually would counsel the same as the other posters but an aquaintance of mine brought a 30' Mainecat up the coast in Jan/Feb a couple years ago. I can't remember whether it took him 18 or 30 days but he mostly motored. Just 'shows to go ya' that it can be done if you have time and patience AND very good luck.

Oftentimes what Can be done isn't the same as what Should be done and given that this is a vessel new to you, old-ish and 'needs work', not really a great idea. April would be my month of choice for the trip if everything else was ok.

**GordMay** · 25-12-2009, 05:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by cchesley

... Oftentimes what Can be done isn't the same as what Should be done and given that this is a vessel new to you, old-ish and 'needs work', not really a great idea. April would be my month of choice for the trip if everything else was ok.

Wise counsel !!!

Which is you?

highseas · 25-12-2009, 08:37

If you purchased vessel now,got refit done by Feb.,you could sail to Cabo San Lucas in March,(best departure point)
leave for Hawaii in May,arrive in PNW in July.That is a practical plan I would think.Or if boat could make it to Lapaz,or San Carlos ,do your refit there.

cchesley · 25-12-2009, 09:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by GordMay

Wise counsel !!!

Which is you?

Being the new guy, I got the new black gear. Lot's of fun!

Jmolan · 25-12-2009, 13:01

I have lived on the Oregon Coast for 35 years. Surfing and fishing for a living. I prefer the Aleutians over the Oregon coast to work in the winter. I quite working here in Oregon 30 years ago because I hated the Bars so bad. Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands are more friendly. The "Ports" in Oregon are 60 miles apart on average. They are all river bars. The suck bad on an ebb tide. I mean really suck. You can have calm conditions and a big lumpy swell that will do you in if you cross those bars at the wrong time.
April I brought 37 Trimaran up the coast (with useless 10 H.P. outboard) Had a fine trip, light southerlies, no stopping along the way. I could not make it in Sept. Gale NW day and night. Oct. became Gale SW.
The danger is in the crossing of the bar, the rest of it you can figure out. DO NOT CROSS A BAR ON THE EBB.....EVER. Even if it is flat. You will spend twice the amount of time on the bar fighting the current, just waiting for a bad one to swing you around. No fun.
I Do not know your situation. But try to price in the cost of trucking your boat up with the sales price. Try to negotiate that in. You could easily spend MONTHS picking your way in and out of these lousy river bar ports, and get a good whacking along the way.

MichaelC · 15-01-2010, 20:18

The advice is very clear. Don't do it. I have been DOWN the coast several times. From So Cal take two tacks - one to Hawaii, one home. You can sail TO Hawaii in almost anything that floats. From Hawaii to the PNW separates the tubs from the sailboats.

avb3 · 21-07-2010, 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelC

The advice is very clear. Don't do it. I have been DOWN the coast several times. From So Cal take two tacks - one to Hawaii, one home. You can sail TO Hawaii in almost anything that floats. From Hawaii to the PNW separates the tubs from the sailboats.

From what the best advice says, stay out of the area in the winter. What about doing San Francisco-Seattle in early May to mid- June? Does the same advice hold, tack Hawaii, and the back?

John A · 21-07-2010, 21:14

It depends.
The best time for sailing / visiting the Northren California, Oregon and Washington coast is September thru October. Where the Pacific High is positioned contols how the jet stream approches the left side of the US and ALL storms use the jet stream as a means to travel from the Alaskian Gulf. The Jet Stream sometimes approches the mouth of the Columbia river from the south or north and all points of the compass between, sometimes there is even an off-shore wind. Add to this the Ocean current that circles the North Pacific clockwise and travels from north to south thru this area. You will always have to contend with a large ocean swell that shoals on a Lee shore as the fetch accrossed the Pacific ocean is quite a distance.
Be aware that the US Coast Guard uses this area to train for heavy weather sea rescues. Including what to do when the boat turns turtle.

Last year the temps in July were in the hundred degree range, this year they're in the seventy and eighty range. So I stress again - it depends. No two years are the same.

May - June? Sure you can. I've even heard of 16 year old girls sailing non-stop around the world!

sundown · 21-07-2010, 23:41

Last year we brought a 54 foot commercial fisher north from Mexico to Van Island in mid Dec. I don't recall it ever blowing less than 25 knots Westerly after we left San Diego and by the time we were off Oregon it really started to blow. We rounded Cape Flattery in a 50 knt storm. The boat could take the punishment but it was a heck of a passage. The only reasons we kept going were bull-headed stupidity and we had promised our wives we would be home for Xmas.

Jmolan · 26-07-2010, 11:40

May and June are the best months to go north. You have a great chance for low overcast and less wind. Later the summer gets, the more you get gale NW winds. These are a real drag and blow harder the warmer it gets inland. I made a passage (among a lot of them) in an enginless (10HP Out board) trimaran in April May and had a fine time of it. April May and June. GO!