hi,
i'm headed to san diego on jan 22, 2014 with my wife and was hoping to get onto the water for some sailing. i've looked at the dennis connor 'next level' cup boats, the whale watching tours on the 139' America and have read about renting a small 22' monoslug as options.
we won't be bringing wetsuits or any catsailing gear so that is probably out, but i'm wondering if you could advise me regarding the venue that would interest me without making my wife freak? she does sail on my cat and enjoys it. i've sailed for 32 years. i found the harbor cruise in boston this summer onboard a tall ship to be a yawner. sorry.
any advice?
thanks!
j
Harbor Sailboats is a charter co that rents boats also to non-members..they are a bit pricier than other charters (seaforthrentals and marinasailing are a bit more affordable) but their boats are always in impeccable shape. Westcoast Multihulls rents larger cruising cats. They are on Shelter Island together with Marina Sailing while Harbor Sailboats and seaforth are on Harbor Island. From there you will be sailing into the San Diego Bay or you can hit the ocean easily. I used to take a ferry to Coronado island with the family from SD Harbor and then you can shop and walk the docks and beaches of Coronado Island (famous Coronado Hotel) but you may find that a bit boring. Glorietta Bay by Coronado island is a popular anchoring spot when you sail from Shelter or Harbor island...Mission Bay Aquatic Center also rents beach cats to sail in Mission Bay.
oh man, can't believe i misspelled san diego in the title... 🙄
marekli, thanks for the info. what are your thoughts on the Next Level (dennis connor) cup boats? will they make me giggle?
j
Edited by arch on Jan 17, 2014 - 10:44 AM.
I am not qualified to comment on those boats...but one other thing that comes to my mind is there's been increased whale sightings...might be something fun your wife would enjoy too...
Check the local whale report...'tis the season...
The water is 60 and the air has been 75 - 85, who needs a wet suit? Almost went today, but for that thing called work. Checking the weather now to see if there is any wind forecast for Saturday.
You can rent a cat, kayak, small sail boat, or SUP from Mission Bay Watersports. They may even rent a wet suit. Great little park setting right there to sail off the beach into Sail Bay.
I went out on my power boat last weekend to find some whales...we went out probably 10-12 miles off the coast. The waters were calm and we spent the day sitting out there seeing basically nothing expect for a bunch of sea gulls and jelly fish. Eventually, on the return trip to the harbor we encountered a very large pod of dolphins that did the most fantastic acrobatics I have seen in a while and low and behold also saw a grey whale just a few hundred yards(!!) outside Oceanside harbor....we followed the beast going South for about 20 minutes before abandoning it....
we're signed up for a whale watching trip aboard a 40' monohull for thurs afternoon. hopefully there is better wind and warmer temps in the afternoon. hoping to see some whales, et. al. but if not we'll still enjoy the sail.
thanks for the tips!
j
the temps have been awesome but there's not much wind in the forecast.....hopefully it picks up by Thursday. Whom did you charter the boat with? I saw HS also runs whale watching tours...you would like their boats and the staff, gear and the boats are always in top notch condition...
i booked with sailsandiego.com. it was a close decision between a couple of those sites.
i'm looking at renting a boat from HS to sail myself later in the vacation if time allows. they look great, just as you described.
here in the midwest, we've been having sustained winds of 45mph with gusts as high as 65mph in the last week. it was -3 degrees this morning. -6 tomorrow morning. warm with light winds sounds pretty nice!!
wave if you see me......i'll be wearing the grin. 😎
j
i'm back from san diego. beautiful place with lots to do!
we took the whale watching trip on a 40' jeanneau but were forced to motor both out and back in. bumber!
saw a handful of whales from a moderate distance and joined in the chase with the two large, three-level whale watching tour boats and another smaller RIB. kinda funny.....if you don't think about it too long.
almost no wind each day, certainly not enough in my experience. watched some parasailers on the cliffs at la jolla one afternoon. even they had to wait 3 hours for the thermals to come up enough to carry them.
guess i'll stay here and fight the insane gusts for another year.
j
arch wrote: almost no wind each day, certainly not enough in my experience. watched some parasailers on the cliffs at la jolla one afternoon. even they had to wait 3 hours for the thermals to come up enough to carry them.
The wind is a fickle mistress.
Sorry you didn't have more wind.
Haven't been able to count on a good wind here lately, but it's hard to complain when one can be out 'Paragliding' in January off the cliffs. I've been out 4 times so far this year at our thermal site in the San Bernardino mountains.
Just a little heads up on 'Paragliding' off the cliffs in La Jolla. It's all about the wind there, not the thermals. The ocean is not much of a thermal generator. You need about 12 - 15 mph winds in the correct direction to fly there. It is all about flying in ridge lift, that bubble of vertical wind that gets created when the wind hits the cliffs. It makes for a very pleasant and typically smooth ride. Thermal flying on the other hand can be a wild ride when done in the middle of the day, with vertical ascents that some GA aircraft can't do. I've had my wing go from being above me to out front and below me in a fraction of a second when it went out into the descending side of a wicked thermal. The backside pucker factor followed shortly after, and all I wanted was to land! But when there is lift everywhere, sometimes it just ain't going to let you, and you are going up whether you like it or not.
added a few 'paragliding' shots in my album. this still counts as sailing doesn't it? it's hard to think clearly when it's -20 wind chill.......
