A Two Month Voyage from San Diego to San Francisco and Back

For summer vacation of 2006, I decided to take our sailboat Mandala from San Diego to San Francisco and back. We had already sailed to Catalina Island twice and felt that we were ready for a more extensive cruise. After considerable research and planning, we determined it was feasable to comfortably make the trip up there and back in about two months. Here is a map of our planned route. Our northbound legs are in yellow and allow for tacking against the prevailing wind and current, whereas the southbound legs (in purple) will hopefully be more direct ...

As planned, the trip will take us 57 days, during which we will log approximately 1350 Nautical Miles during 270 hours of sailing. This works out to an average of 24 NM per day, or about 5 hours of being on the water per day. Of course we won't be able to sail the entire way; we will have to use the motor for significant portions of the voyage, but it is our intent to sail as much as is conveniently possible during the voyage. We hope to make it up to San Francisco Bay on a more direct path in about 2 weeks by July 4th, and then will take our time working our way back south including a week exploring the Channel Islands.

Here is our planned itinerary (not counting some planned day sails and tooling around S.F. bay, and with an approximate visual representation of our sea time in blue):

DateDayStartDepartMilesHoursArriveDestination
6/15thuSan Diego8:00 AM10521  
6/16fri    5:00 AMCatalina Island
6/17SATCatalina Island11:00 AM12024  
6/18sun    11:00 AMSanta Barbara
6/19mon      
6/20tue      
6/21wed      
LEAVE EARLIER IF POSSIBLE
6/22thuSanta Barbara6:00 AM13026  
6/23fri    8:00 AMMorro Bay
6/24SAT      
6/25sunMorro Bay6:00 AM16533  
6/26mon    3:00 PMSanta Cruz
6/27tue      
6/28wed      
ONE WEEK AS NEEDED
6/29thuSanta Cruz8:00 AM11022  
6/30fri    6:00 AMOakland
7/1SAT      
7/2sun      
7/3mon      
7/4tue      
7/5wed      
7/6thu      
7/7fri      
7/8SAT      
7/9sun      
7/10mon      
FIXED DEPARTURE DATE
7/11tueOakland7:00 AM3572:00 PMHalf Moon Bay
7/12wed      
7/13thuHalf Moon Bay3:00 PM8016  
7/14fri    7:00 AMMonterey
7/15SAT      
7/16sun      
7/17monMonterey6:00 AM12525  
7/18tue    7:00 AMMorro Bay
7/19wed      
ONE WEEK AS NEEDED
7/20thuMorro Bay6:00 AM15030  
7/21fri    12:00 PMVentura
7/22SAT      
7/23sun      
7/24mon      
7/25tue      
7/26wed      
7/27thu      
ENTIRELY FLEXIBLE
7/28friVentura9:00 AM3063:00 PMChannel Islands
7/29SAT      
7/30sun      
7/31mon      
8/1tue      
8/2wed      
ENTIRELY FLEXIBLE
8/3thuChannel Islands6:00 AM60126:00 PMCatalina Island
8/4fri      
8/5SAT      
8/6sun      
8/7mon      
8/8tue      
8/9wed      
8/10thuCatalina Island6:00 AM801610:00 PMSan Diego

Note that averages can be deceiving. There are many legs, particularly on the northbound route, that are over 100 NM and will take over 24 hours of continuous sailing to cover. I have been practicing night sailing and watch-keeping. Our planned watch schedule is to share the hours of 6:00 am to 6:00 pm mostly awake, with naps as needed, and then to do 3 hour watches thru the night.

Of particular concern are the legs that round Point Conception and from Morro Bay up to Santa Cruz, where there is limited VHF radio coverage. We have our EPIRB (emergency satellite beacon) if things go awry, but we have every confidence in Mandala's ability to sail this beautiful coast. Finally, note that I hope to create a webpage every week covering the voyage, so stay tuned to this website for progress updates!