As someone else pointed out, for those of us outside the Bay area and consigned to running our own qualifying cruise in lieu of the Long Pac, we at least get to choose a favorable weather window. The problem from San Diego is often too little wind, and I don’t have the luxury of taking off more than 4 or 5 days at a time. So I need good wind for 4-5 days straight -- not always a given.
My next trip to the boat is coming up, and while planned for 4 days, I could stretch it to 5 just to be safe. And at least for the moment, the weather forecast looks like it might work.
I had initially thought of just mimicking the Long Pac by sailing west from San Diego for 200 nm and then turning around. Now I’m thinking of a course with a few more turning marks: Cortes Bank buoy, DART buoy, Begg Rock, and Santa Barbara Island all to starboard, then San Clemente Island to port, then finish.
Plugging these distances into my Excel float plan calculator, putting in a start time of 13:00 on Friday, March 24, and inputting best guess as to VMG for each leg, gives me a projected completion time of 02:34 on Tuesday, March 28.
If this plan held to form, and we were rounding the southern end of San Clemente Island Monday afternoon, I would heave-to for the night and wait until daylight to finish. I’m not exactly on my best game between 02:00 and 04:00, and there is usually no wind anywhere near shore in these waters during those hours.
The chances I will be attempting this next weekend are pretty small. I will not make the attempt unless forecast on Friday looks like there’s a good chance of getting back by mid-day the following Tuesday. I can adjust the projected VMG for each leg based on the forecasts as of Friday morning, and make the go/no-go call based on what the float plan calculator then tells me. And there is always the possibility that something comes up at work this week that makes me cut the trip short.
I’ve spent as much as eight days continuously afloat before, but with most nights at anchor, on a mooring, or in a slip. My longest prior run continuously under way was a 200 nm round trip to the Cortes Bank buoy and back, roughly 48 hours, last fall. That trip was very enjoyable, and very satisfying, so I am looking forward to doing the 400 miler whenever I can.
Any and all comments, suggestions, and criticism welcome.
My next trip to the boat is coming up, and while planned for 4 days, I could stretch it to 5 just to be safe. And at least for the moment, the weather forecast looks like it might work.
I had initially thought of just mimicking the Long Pac by sailing west from San Diego for 200 nm and then turning around. Now I’m thinking of a course with a few more turning marks: Cortes Bank buoy, DART buoy, Begg Rock, and Santa Barbara Island all to starboard, then San Clemente Island to port, then finish.
Plugging these distances into my Excel float plan calculator, putting in a start time of 13:00 on Friday, March 24, and inputting best guess as to VMG for each leg, gives me a projected completion time of 02:34 on Tuesday, March 28.
If this plan held to form, and we were rounding the southern end of San Clemente Island Monday afternoon, I would heave-to for the night and wait until daylight to finish. I’m not exactly on my best game between 02:00 and 04:00, and there is usually no wind anywhere near shore in these waters during those hours.
The chances I will be attempting this next weekend are pretty small. I will not make the attempt unless forecast on Friday looks like there’s a good chance of getting back by mid-day the following Tuesday. I can adjust the projected VMG for each leg based on the forecasts as of Friday morning, and make the go/no-go call based on what the float plan calculator then tells me. And there is always the possibility that something comes up at work this week that makes me cut the trip short.
I’ve spent as much as eight days continuously afloat before, but with most nights at anchor, on a mooring, or in a slip. My longest prior run continuously under way was a 200 nm round trip to the Cortes Bank buoy and back, roughly 48 hours, last fall. That trip was very enjoyable, and very satisfying, so I am looking forward to doing the 400 miler whenever I can.
Any and all comments, suggestions, and criticism welcome.
. . . ). Won't likely be a movie, but when/if I attempt this, I'll post a report.
