How long would it ... should it take to sail a boat from LA to Seattle?

Question

This is a 43 foot Sloop a Westsail any info will be appreciated

Newbie43

Thank you

Answer 1

You got a good boat to do it in. But your going to be motoring a lot, and it will be difficult. If you have some time on your hands and can afford to wait out the weather in various ports, which incidentally is really fun you should make it... eventually

Answer 2

Formersalt nailed it. Except s/he forgot to mention the part about how the northern trip around the North Pacific High generally sucks. Sad to say, you're going the wrong way; Seattle to LA in the summer can be a pleasant trip. My most realistic advice would be to put it on a flatbed truck, or else hire an experienced delivery skipper. With the latter option you can go along as owner/crew, which can be fun as well as educational. The other option is to simply forget that your Westsail is a sailboat, and just plan on motoring the entire trip.

If you do end up going it alone, forget everything you've ever read about coastal passage making, and hug the shoreline from Pt Reyes all the way to Cape Flattery. The seas off the NoCal/OR/WA coast can be hellacious, maybe 10% of the time in the summer. Even if you're only a few miles offshore, treat the voyage as a 1000 mile ocean passage making; you may simply not be able to get across some (or any) of the bars, other than Crescent City. And get going soon (mid-July at the latest), or you're going to be fighting fog the whole way. Unfortunately we're still getting big seas even this late in the season, so there's not going to be a huge window this year.

Answer 3

Bashing up the coast with the wind and currents against you is going to be long and ugly.  Better you should head to Hawaii, then north around the Pacific high.  The time required will be about the same, but much more pleasant.

Answer 4

833 nautical miles.  Let's say your LWL is 39 feet (boat length at the water line).  Maximum Hull Speed = 1.34 * (LWL)1/2.  The maximum speed of the boat is: 8.37 knots.  

So at non-stop maximum pace, sailing 24/7 it would take theoretically 4 days to get there.  Reality - not even close.

You have the prevailing southern California Current and headwinds.  Sailboats rarely hit hull speed until the conditions are perfect (substantial wind and calm seas).

Furthermore, you're going to sail a lot farther than 833 miles unless you motor straight into the winds and don't tack.  If you tack, your distance becomes approximately 1,178 miles (perfect close haul at 45 degrees into wind).  A reasonable rate against current, wind and waves would be 4 knots.  That would be 12.3 days sailing 24/7 nonstop.