Distance Sailing

So I am planning to sail at Dillon Beach, CA soon as well as in the San Fransisco bay with a friend of mine I have been saiing with this season. My plan is to sail from Dillon Beach down to Lamantour Beach in the southern "bay" of Point Reyes. The distance is 37 miles by the way the bird flies assuming it doesn't fly across land. I know the trip would be more than that depending on wind and such but my question is;

What is the longest sailing trip that you guys and gals have taken on your H16?

Is a trip that could be 80 (round trip) miles considered a long trip or is that considered insane? I am a very prepared person and do things safely so I would not go sail off into the blue all willy-nilly. I am working out the best and safest way to do this with my new crew. We spent 4h 30min on my boat and traveled 26 miles in medium/light winds. Whats another 54? San Fran bay isn't a concern for me but what about Northern California open ocean? Am I foolish?

Corey

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Corey
82 H16 project complete

What are some things that you would do to prepare? That's serious open ocean, a big lee shore, and usually pretty swelly.

Do you surf?

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as a former coastie that patrolled that area, I would recomend against it. Pulled way to many people out of the water in that area...

Now thats not to say you can't do it, but at the very least you need to bring a bunch of safety gear.

Things like:

Hand held VHF
EPIRB and/or GPS locator
personal strobes
signaling gear( flares, horns)
sea anchor
Dry suits
and the list goes on and on...

You have to realize, even if you get on channel 16 the second the (censored) hits the fan, it could still be hours before some one could get too you. How long can you last in 50 degree water? Oh and don't think you can just swim to shore if something bad happens... the coast line/surf for a big part of the area is very nasty.



PS you do know that limantour beach is a nude beach?

Maybe that's his "Modus Operandi".

But seriously, WOW. I just Google Mapped that route and them's some pretty exposed waters, there.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ll ... 8&t=h&z=11


Being from the other side of the planet, I have no idea what winds are like over that way, but how long do you expect it would take???

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'97 Hobie 16.

Skype: rob_arnolda

Having attended High School in southern Marin County (Mt. Tamalpias HS in Mill Valley, I lived in Sausalito) and then living there for several years after I can tell you that I knew only a small handful of surfers who went out at Stinson Beach, Rodeo Beach, etc.

I wondered why there weren't more. I asked the ones I knew and they were quick to tell me about a known great white breeding ground ~100 miles due west of the Golden Gate. Maybe lore, maybe not, but it was accepted knowledge in that area. "Food" for thought....

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'81 H16

If it ain't a blowin', I ain't a goin'

Corey - about 80 miles round trip on a Hobie 16 with your new crew - it doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
My longest sailing trip was from long beach to Catalina on my Hobie 16 (twice) with 99 other Hobies, chase boats carrying our dry gear, camping in a cabin with cots, hot showers, meals provided, and sailing back 3 days later - Labor Day weekend. I did it twice with an experienced crew and they were both organized trips. It was a tremendous amount of FUN! Your trip sounds like pure Hell!
If you think this is a good idea then share the fun with others. Organize it and invite others. Get chase boats or, at least, cars or trucks to meet you at camping spots along the way with dry clothes, towels, food, etc. Run this idea by the U.S. Coast Guard and purchase liability insurance for this trip.
Do it right and you'll probably get others to join you. Make it safe and fun!
Richard

These are the responses that I thought I would get becuase they are my concerns as well. To be clear I am not arguing with you cause you are all right. Well except the Nude beach thing I haven't seen anyone naked at limantour yet.
The coast gaurd was an issue I figured they are quite a ways away. The water is cold and thats the truth in late summer it might get to 60 degrees. The shark thing is not a rumor and the reason why is because of the seal breeding grounds nearby, very easy food source for great whites but the chances of me getting eaten is still slim even in those "shark infested" waters.
Jeremy, I don't know how to surf but that trip would help me learn. Preperation is having emergency equipment like radios and flares (good idea I didn't think about that) and wet suits. I would also have a shore crew. This is why I ask the questions becuase it its a bad idea and appearently it is, I would like to hear it from guys who I know understand these boats and capabilites.
I have gone 26 miles in 4.5 hours in medium-ish winds. One way the trip could be up to 50 miles I would guess. Perhaps I should just sail off dillon beach and see how scary the open ocean is. My crew has sailing experience on monohulls so he isn't bright green in sailing.

The fact of the matter is I will do what you guys think is best and the majority has spoken. I was in the Navy and know how fast things both on and in the ocean can change for the worst so perhaps I should stick to the Bay and lakes?

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Corey
82 H16 project complete

you could very easliy sail to bird rock from dillons beach. Its not very far and has a bunch of boat traffic( rec and fishermen) So it would be some what safe.

I'd still not make that trip with out a bunch of safety gear and a chase boat.

"Each year a number of multihull sailors sail from San Pedro to Catalina Island and return. The group trailers the boats to Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, rig, and with favorable winds can make the 20 mile crossing in about 2 hours. Members of the fleet have successfully completed the Newport to Ensenada ocean race on a Nacra Inter 20 finishing in about 21 hours and sailed Newport to San Diego in about 8 hours."
Corey - I copied the above from the Mission Bay Yacht Club, Multihull Fleet page. If this is of some interest to you, contact Steve Stroebel at 619-987-4630 or [email protected]
You might also want to check out:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/So_CA_Beachcat_Sailors/
Corey, it's much safer and more fun if you can find an experienced group of multihull sailors to take long sailing trips with.
Good luck!
Richard

The way I see it is that I would go out there with the mind set that if the conditions weren't conducive to me swimming through the surf if things went bad, I'd probably forgo the trip. That's not the friendliest coast line to swim to the safety of the sand.

I hate to discourage people, but I would prepare incredibly thoroughly for that trip. It's definitely not SoCal. Get a couple of boats together at least. Take off in the morning, only if the weather was perfect.

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It's not the distance that is concerning, it's the conditions. The Gulf and East Coasts have catamaran distance races, and there are many reports of people sailing Hobies long distances (especially from Southern California beaches to Santa Catalina island), but Northern California waters are cold and windy.

1. Before doing this consider sailing it on a much larger boat to survey the conditions. 2. Point Reyes is one of the state's windiest places, so check weather reports.
3. Don't do it alone.
4. Make sure your boat equipment is in top condition with at least new(er) anchor pins, shrouds, bridal tangs, clevis pins.
5. Take plenty of safety gear, including water.
6. Do you know how to land through surf?
7. 80 miles in one day is a long trip and would be quite exhausting, or are you planning to make it a two day thing?

Fear not I smell what you're steppin' in. I will check out those other trips too.

You see the thing is (get ready for the reason for my crazy idea) that many times since I have been sailing Hobie's I get these motor boaters who tell me that my boat isn't made for the ocean like its a canoe or something and I constantly have to tell them that isn't the case, just ask the polynesians. I didn't just choose this trip becuase I wanted to prove them wrong (but I do, my brother in law mostly the tool) it is also because Dillon beach has a beach launch facility and lamantour Beach is perfect for landing on. The winds almost always blow consistently from North to South at around 10-15 mph. It looks like the perfect place to open ocean sail minus the sharks, distance from emergency services, frigid water, waves and often times violent surf. Perfect I tell you.

Maybe I should just go see Jeremy at Surf City or go even further south. Anybody sail off Pismo beach before? I am in Sacramento so ocean trips are kind of a big deal in terms of time and money especially with a 2 month old daughter at home and going to school full time.

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Corey
82 H16 project complete

A good distance race to try out would be Santa Cruz to Moss Landing. 13 miles, slightly protected...sort of.

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Not off Pismo, but Port San Luis near Avila Beach. It's a protected cove and once you get past the moored boats the water is pretty open with mild winds, mostly, until about 3:00 when they can get mighty strong outside the jetty. I've also been stuck in no wind on the water for an hour. There's RV camping and a ramp for car access to the beach, but don't get stuck in the sand. Fires are allowed on the beach.

The crap about Hobies not made for the ocean is just that. I'm not even sure what it means that beach cats aren't made for the ocean since the name "beach cat" implies sailing from an ocean beach. Do some searching and you'll find plenty of stories about guys who did impressive/nutso things on beach cats. And if it's ocean sailing you want then there's no need to turn it into a distance challenge to make your point, just come to the Shark Feed regatta in September at Bodega Bay and launch off Doran Beach. Even if you want to sail recreationally there will be plenty of folks to welcome you, and if you don't have beach wheels then borrow one of ours.

Here's a Google map of places to sail, including the ocean.

I'm in sacramento... well kind of Fair Oaks.