Rounding Point Conception

Our friend Martha was right. San Simeon was one of the most beautiful spots we have encountered on the California coast. A perfect anchorage for scenic beauty. I hated to leave but we had a good weather window with gentle seas forecast to get around Point Conception. This land mass has a reputation as being treacherous to mariners for several reasons. There is a collision of currents, changes in temperature and often gale force winds that whip around the jutting land mass. The changes that occur on the sea state are sudden and well defined according to the Coast Pilot. The Pilot also describes this rounding as the "Cape Horn" of the Pacific Coast. That got my attention! We had a 21-24 hour passage to get to Santa Barbara from San Simeon. We planned our departure to arrive in Santa Barbara mid to late morning. That put us rounding the cape at around 2-3 AM. I'm beginning to think all gnarly passages must be made in the wee morning hours. We had a great sleep and were ready to head south. The winds were light so we motored initially until conditions freshened. Finally we were sailing in consistent 15 kts making 5.5-6 kts SOG. The trip was uneventful and we approached Point Arguello without much change in conditions. As we rounded the point we received a call from "Zoe" advising us they were rounding Point Conception and had a weather update for us. This was a surprise as we thought they had gone into San Luis Obispo Bay. They were advising somewhat heavier conditions then what was forecast, giving us peak wind gusts and sea state. It was a welcome bit of news and much appreciated as we were discussing the need to reef and tighten things down a bit. Their report left no question. We reefed, just getting Talos IV settled when the sea state suddenly became very confused. The winds began to whip and gust with peaks already hitting the mid to upper 20s. Talos IV handled it very well. By the time we made the point we had seen peak gusts 31-33kts, the seas were certainly confused but I don't think they were more then 10 ft. There were wind waves on top of this but I am not sure how much. The forecast was for 1-2 ft. It is had to say since you can't see anything at night. I only judge this by how the boat felt. Talos IV stayed dry in the cockpit thru the ordeal. She just seemed to hunker in and move thru it. Overall, this was probably the easier of our difficult roundings. If this was "light sea conditions" for Point Conception then I would absolutely not want to make this passage when the conditions were any worse. As we made the turn into Santa Barbara Channel the seas mellowed almost to a flat gentle state. Winds dropped to around 5-8kts. The transition thru the channel approaching the harbour is very creepy at night. There are huge city size oil platforms off shore which we passed. They are all alight, looking like a set from a sci-fi movie of drilling operations on an alien planet. They have official names on the charts. "Heritage", "Harmony", "Grace" seem a little odd when you view the actual structures. It must have been a marketing move during the approval process. Calling them "Belcher" or "Blowout" probably would not have sounded so loving on the prospectus. We started the motor and motored sailed into Santa Barbara arriving around 10:30am. The marina environment here is very "Southern California".

It was a grueling run around Point Conception and
some members of the crew just couldn't handle it.

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