Sailing the US West Coast and Alaska: California, Puget Sound and the Inside Passage

The Pacific coast of the USA is an open, straight coast with few natural harbours. Harbours are often 50 nm or more apart, and many entrances cross a bar off a river mouth. You find sheltered sailing in Southern California behind the Channel Islands, in San Francisco Bay, in Puget Sound and in the Inside Passage, which runs from Washington through British Columbia to Skagway in Alaska.

Which cruising areas does the US West Coast have?

Southern California from San Diego to Santa Barbara has the calmest weather on the coast: sunny, a moderate westerly in the afternoon, warm water in late summer. Catalina and the Channel Islands lie a day's sail off the coast. San Francisco Bay is known for its summer wind: almost every afternoon it blows 20 to 30 kn through the Golden Gate, and against the ebb a steep sea builds there. Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands are a sheltered area of sounds and islands with many marinas, state park mooring buoys and whales; to the north they lead on to the Gulf Islands and the Strait of Georgia in British Columbia.

When is the best time to go?

In Southern California the season lasts all year, at its best from August to October; in winter there are occasional storms from the south and the dry, hot Santa Ana winds from the northeast. Further north, summer is the time to sail: from May to September a steady northwesterly blows along the coast, often 20 to 30 kn off the capes, with fog in the morning. From October to April the lows of the North Pacific sweep over Oregon and Washington with gales from the south and heavy swell. In Alaska the season runs from May to September, with long days; in autumn wind and rain pick up quickly.

What makes the coast difficult?

• Bars: Off river mouths such as the Columbia, Coos Bay or Humboldt Bay, the sea breaks on the ebb and in heavy swell. The Coast Guard then closes the bars to small boats at times and reports their condition on VHF. Cross a bar only on the flood or at slack water and in moderate swell.
• Fog: In summer dense fog often lies over the cold water, especially off San Francisco and along the coast of Northern California. Radar and AIS help.
• Long distances: Between San Francisco and the Columbia there are few harbours, and off the capes (Point Conception, Cape Mendocino, Cape Blanco) it often blows hard. Heading south is an easy sail with the wind; heading north it is best to go at night and early in the morning, when the wind is lighter.
• Kelp and driftwood: In California fields of kelp float off the coast; in the north and in Alaska there are logs in the water.

What is the Inside Passage?

The Inside Passage is the sheltered route from Puget Sound through the channels of British Columbia to Skagway in Alaska, around 1,000 nm behind islands, through sounds and fjords. The dangers are the few open stretches (Queen Charlotte Sound, Dixon Entrance) and the current in the narrows: in Seymour Narrows in British Columbia it runs at up to 16 kn, in Alaska in Sergius Narrows and Wrangell Narrows. Take the narrows at slack water. In Alaska the tidal range is 4 to 6 m, in Cook Inlet up to 9 m. Ice drifts off the glaciers, and in Glacier Bay motorized boats need a permit from the national park from 1 June to 31 August.

What applies when you enter the country?

If you arrive from abroad, report your arrival immediately to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with the CBP ROAM app or by phone. Anyone who needs an I-94, which means every foreign crew member on first entry, must appear in person at a reporting location: in California for example at the Customs Dock on Shelter Island in San Diego, in Washington in Friday Harbor, Point Roberts, Anacortes or Port Angeles, in Alaska in Ketchikan, Sitka or Juneau. The crew needs a B1/B2 visa; ESTA is not valid on a private yacht. If you come from British Columbia, you report in the same way, even after just one day in Canada.

What should you watch out for?

• Whales: In Washington you must keep 1,000 yards from the Southern Resident killer whales and 100 yards from other whales. Off the west coast of San Juan Island there is a zone closed to boats.
• Protected areas: The National Marine Sanctuaries from the Channel Islands to the Olympic Peninsula prohibit discharging sewage overboard, and fishing is prohibited in the Marine Reserves.
• Shipping: Off Los Angeles and San Francisco, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and in Puget Sound there are traffic separation schemes; traffic of large ships and ferries is dense there.
• Ballard Locks: In Seattle the locks lead into Lake Union and Lake Washington around the clock.

How does Sailseer help on the West Coast and in Alaska?

In the map you plan between around 340 harbours from San Diego to Kodiak, through San Francisco Bay into the Delta, up the Columbia to Portland and through Puget Sound. Sailseer shows the warnings and coastal forecasts of the National Weather Service from San Diego to Anchorage, the high seas forecasts of the Ocean Prediction Center, also for the Gulf of Alaska, alongside GFS and ECMWF the HRRR model of NOAA and the HRDPS model of the Canadian weather service, measurements from around 120 buoys and coastal stations and 50 tide gauges with tide above chart datum, and tide and current at every point. The official NOAA ENC lie as the chart beneath the route, and the formalities are on the USA page.

Sailseer is a planning aid and not for navigation. Official charts, the Coast Guard's Local Notices to Mariners and the forecasts and warnings of the National Weather Service always take precedence.