How hard is it to sail from LA to Hawaii?

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skyking

skyking

Lifer
Nov 21, 2001
22,704
5,824
146
Eli said:
With no experience, you would have to be insane. The open ocean is about as unforgiving as it gets...
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...and not really what I would consider fun sailing.
I have been on week long trips in the inside passage and the San Juans. It was beautiful with plenty of places to go and things to see, lots of wildlife.
The stark reality of 3 weeks of "hey look, another bird! that's three today" does not appeal to me.
 
Patranus

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
My Dad use to race sail boats and did it a number of times.
He can list all his times down to the second.

That was before all of this GPS/automatic sail boat shit.

Now it would be quite easy.

You just have to go during the right season and ensure there are no storms.

After one race, the idiots he hired to sail the boat back cruised around the islands picking up lady friends, sailed back 2 weeks late, got caught in a storm, and sank the boat. They was rescued by the coast guard and when they got back to the main land sued my dad because he didn't pay them the delivery payment. Let just say that didn't make my dad too happy.
 
CZroe

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
Patranus said:
My Dad use to race sail boats and did it a number of times.
He can list all his times down to the second.

That was before all of this GPS/automatic sail boat shit.

Now it would be quite easy.

You just have to go during the right season and ensure there are no storms.

After one race, the idiots he hired to sail the boat back cruised around the islands picking up lady friends, sailed back 2 weeks late, got caught in a storm, and sank the boat. They was rescued by the coast guard and when they got back to the main land sued my dad because he didn't pay them the delivery payment. Let just say that didn't make my dad too happy.
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I hope they lost the suit.
 
alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
JMorton6 said:
Wow, so a month on a non-powered boat huh. A bit much. How about a powered - it says 3 days, that's not bad. But are those insanely expensive to rent for 2 wks?
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going to hawaii is going to be expensive.
 
Nintendesert

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
Biggest challenge would have to be the navigation. Technology fails so you can't just rely on GPS or Google maps to do it.
 
zerocool84

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
Nintendesert said:
Biggest challenge would have to be the navigation. Technology fails so you can't just rely on GPS or Google maps to do it.
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The OP needs to remember the Sun rises in the north and sets in the south and the brightest star in the night sky in the west star.
 
Nintendesert

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
zerocool84 said:
The OP needs to remember the Sun rises in the north and sets in the south and the brightest star in the night sky in the west star.
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As long as the OP remembers that the OP should be just fine. Better bet would be to travel from Hawaii to California that way the OP will eventually hit something landmassy in nature.
 
pcgeek11

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
22,225
4,931
136
It probably is fairly easy if you know how to navigate and nothing goes wrong. What do you think the odds of nothing going wrong are?

Self burial at sea...
 
Blackjack200

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
15,995
1,688
126
OP, glad you're learning how to sail. I will bet two things:

1. You will love sailing.

2. After your first semi-long cruise (2-3 days in a protected waters, i.e. not the open ocean) you will abandon the idea of ocean cruising.

There are some people that really love sailing and actually enjoy the ordeal that is sailing across the ocean, but they are pretty rare. I sailed out of Long Island Sound to Block Island when I was 17 and even though I had never been seasick or anything before, after 10 hours of pitching and rolling in moderate seas I was puking my brains out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf7FddPO5QM

Read up on Joshua Slocum, it's pretty interesting stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum


Nintendesert said:
Biggest challenge would have to be the navigation. Technology fails so you can't just rely on GPS or Google maps to do it.
Click to expand...

I can't tell if you're joking or not, but if this actually happened the OP would absolutely be relying on GPS. Ocean sailors typically have quadruple redundant GPS systems and a satellite phone for a mayday call just in case. There's no way the OP is going to learn celestial navigation and get up on the foredeck with a fucking sextant.
 
JulesMaximus

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,550
940
126
911paramedic said:
Try for Catalina first, Hawaii may be a bit much for a first time.
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I've sailed from Oceanside to Catalina about a half dozen times on a 38' Downeaster. It is about 40 nautical miles and takes about 7 hours one way. Hawaii is about 2200 nautical miles...Do the math.

As for a power boat, it would be FAR cheaper to fly there. You'd spend thousands of dollars just in fuel.

Edit-Averaging 6 knots it would take 17 days to sail to Hawaii from California and you'd be hard pressed to average that on any sailboat, short of the cutting edge ocean racing sailboats, over that distance. I would plan on twice that at least for unfavorable winds/seas/weather etc.

BTW-Do you know how to navigate by star at night in the open ocean? I've done it at night by Loran and a compass heading.
 
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Blackjack200

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
15,995
1,688
126
JulesMaximus said:
I've sailed from Oceanside to Catalina about a half dozen times on a 38' Downeaster. It is about 40 nautical miles and takes about 7 hours one way. Hawaii is about 2200 nautical miles...Do the math.
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5.7 knots is outstanding unless you guys just have a lot more wind out there than we do on the East coast.

As for a power boat, it would be FAR cheaper to fly there. You'd spend thousands of dollars just in fuel.
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I don't get the appeal of this at all. Who the heck wants to listen to that engine for thousands of miles? And to your point, it would cost a fortune.
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
Seems that if you were able to rent a boat to sail to Hawaii, you might have to plan on the month to sail back to the mainland to return it to the rental agency. (Not that anyone is going to rent an expensive boat to someone new to sailing for the purpose you're suggesting.)
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
65,894
14,296
146
Don't listen to all the naysayers...

Just point the damned boat in a westerly direction and go.

How hard could it be?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
 
pcgeek11

pcgeek11

Lifer
Jun 12, 2005
22,225
4,931
136
Blackjack200 said:
OP, glad you're learning how to sail.

I can't tell if you're joking or not, but if this actually happened the OP would absolutely be relying on GPS. Ocean sailors typically have quadruple redundant GPS systems and a satellite phone for a mayday call just in case. There's no way the OP is going to learn celestial navigation and get up on the foredeck with a fucking sextant.
Click to expand...

Why not? Only a fool would try a trip like that ( CA to HI ) without the skills required to manually navigate using a sextant in the open ocean.

Even today in the USN it is required of Navigators.
 
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