Sunday, July 3, 2011

Offshore Sailing: Seattle to San Francisco | Sailing

Posted on Jul 1, 2011 in Sailing | 0 comments




Offshore sailing can be one of the most fulfilling experiences in life.? it is easy to reminisce about the explorers battling the sea, finding new lands, and dealing with life aboard a ship.

UPDATE: Disabled sailing vessel back in port after Coast Guard rescue Charter Fishing Sailing vessel &ampmdash the Coast Guard securely towed the lost operator and his sailing vessel Lancastrian, roughly 370 miles to Cobb&amprsquos Marina in Minor Creek, Va. the boat?s operator, David Chatburn, called the Coast Guard 5th District command center Wednesday to request assistance following getting to be confused about his place. Sailing vessel

When you are truly offshore (>50 miles), one really begins to learn to rely on one-self.? It?s you and the ocean, and there is no one to save you.? Even when sailing off the coast of the U.S., there are no guarantees about what can happen to your boat, or if the Coast Guard can save you from a life threatening situation.

Shaw Island ? 10/06/2011 Whitsunday sailing she is disadvantaged really as she can only get objects that we have on board where people that live ashore have various things at their disposal she often surprises others in the group what she comes up with. as a result when we go for a walk I often leave her because she is always stopping to take photos and I am not getting the exercise I need. Whitsunday sailing

4 Tips to Coming First in Club Dinghy Sailing Races Sailing race you want to get up there with the pros and start to get some wins under your belt. Here is a list of strategies that you should use on the line if you want to have a good start and a potentially good race:Get a stop watch! - The number of people I have seen without stop watches on a race is appalling. Sailing race

In my most recent voyage, I sailed with three others nearly non-stop from Seattle to San Francisco.? Our last stop out of Washington was Neah Bay, a few miles from the open ocean.? we decided to leave early in the morning in order to avoid northwesterly winds and swells that often build up into the Straights of Juan de Fuca in the afternoons.? a few hours after hoisting anchor, we were rounding Cape Flattery, the Northwestern-most point of the continental United States. as if they were wishing us good luck, a small pod of Humpback whales surfaced a few hundred feet from the boat just as we began to turn South.

Boston sailing Sailboats Carrying Students Flips Over In Boston?Harbor WBZ-TV?s Christina Hager reports. ?you know it?s high school sailing, so a lot of it is about teaching the kids safety, and they saw it about as bad as it gets now,? says the team?s coach, Jeff Brock. Boston sailing

The tough part of sailing off of the coast of Washington and Oregon is the extreme weather.? Fortunately, this weather usually comes out from the North, so you?ll be sailing down wind for the majority of the trip.? in my first voyage down this stretch of the Wild West, we were greeted with 35-knot winds and 15-20 foot swells.? with a double-reefed main as our only canvas, the boat would be hurdled down these mountains of water.? the strong wind would push the boat up the backside of a swell and over the top, where we?d then literally surf down the front side.? the bow would crash into the backside of the next swell, sending foaming saltwater down the decks, washing off the sides and aft quarter.? I once saw our knot-meter read 14 knots, which is quite impressive for a displacement boat that has a hull-speed of just over 8 knots.? Realize that this is continually happening for four consecutive days without stopping, day and night.

Jobs in sailing Topekan details trip across Atlantic Ocean Ann Marie Bush can be reached.

On voyage #2, the weather was much more civil, with 5-10 foot swells and 15 knot northwesterly.? we headed due South to let the coast gradually ease away (since the coast drops to the SE), and ended up about 80 miles from shore on the second day.? On the third day, with the wind stable at 10-15 knots, we decided to go wing-on-wing, using the spinnaker pole to hold out the clue of the Genoa.? Spinnaker poles are difficult to manage, especially when the boat is rocking back and forth from the swells off our stern quarter.? Fortunately, with 4 guys on board, we were able to muscle the pole in place.? this set up, wing-on-wing, worked great, and we sailed under this for about 10 hours.

Again, spinnaker poles are difficult to manage.? with the sun low in the sky, the night?breeze beginning to strengthen, and our being on track to hit Cape Mendocino around 2am, we elected to stow the pole.? When you first think you should do something, you should do that something.? Hesitation is a dangerous path, and one not worth taking in could-be life-threatening situations.? Stowing the pole was much more difficult than anticipated, with the limited light and larger swells.? After being thrashed around for a number of minutes, three of us were able to stow it securely.

This turned out to be a wise decision.? Ian and I were on first watch, from 9pm-midnight, and the wind continued to build as we approached the famed cape.? At first, we reefed the Genoa and main.? more wind.? now the sun had completely set, and moon was starting to rise, leaving us with limited visibility.? we reefed both sails a second time.? more wind. the main had no more reef points, but we could roll up the Genoa further, so we did until it was the size of a bed sheet.? the idea was to provide a little stability on the bow, however with the sail that small, the wind was thrashing it around like a flag. ?More wind.? this was getting very serious, so around 1am with all hands on deck we dropped all sails, secured them, and went bare-poles.? with gusts at 40 knots and 10 foot breaking swells pushing us, we were doing 3 knots through the water!

Adding to the situation, a fellow boater about 60 miles from us was caught in the same fierce winds, and was calling ?Mayday? over the radio.? His boat, a small fishing vessel, had either capsized or been drowned by a swell, and he was sinking.? Being far from shore, we heard the coast guard saying it would take several hours to reach him.? the only thing we could do was listen to the radio and hope he made it out alive.? (We think he did, since we heard no reports of a fatality the following days.)

Exhausted from the night before, it was welcoming to have the weather calm down in the morning.? over the course of the day, the wind died to the point where we fired up the ?iron genny? (i.e. our diesel engine), to bring us down the coast.? Finally, after 5 straight days, we pulled into Drake?s bay at around 1am.? it was nice to be at anchor at last, have the boat settled down, and allow us all to have a sound sleep.? Since we wanted to arrive in San Francisco mid-day, we pulled anchor at around 6am (yes, 5hrs later) and had a relaxing motor down to the mouth of San Francisco bay.

There?s nothing quite like sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge after being at sea for days on end.? Not only did it turn out to be a gorgeous cloudless day, but also we were the only vessel in the channel!? great timing.

Its weird seeing so much civilization after being isolated for over a week.? seeing all the buildings, cars, stores, people- all bustling about with their busy lives, like ants in farm.? I?m not saying I?m not one of them, but most others don?t take a step back and view life from the big-picture, and push themselves beyond their comfort zones.? Flying out of SF really hit this home.? taking the flight back home, that was boring, ?safe?, convenient, and all too easy.? Sailing the same distance, now that was a journey.

Source: http://travelandleisuretoday.com/offshore-sailing-seattle-to-san-francisco/

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