I am planning a sailing trip down the coast of California. We are first stopping in Santa Cruz/Monterey area then our final stop was going to be Santa Barbara. We wanted to stop around the San Louis Obispo area. Do any of you have some recomendations? Oh yeah I don't have cat tracks so that could limit the spots. Maybe pismo would be a good spot? Thanks for any ideas.
Avila Beach is a nice spot. Between the oil pier and the fishing pier there's a beach with a ramp down to it from the road. If you've got a vehicle you can drive onto the beach with, just drive down the ramp and park right next to the water (watch the tides, though). You won't need a beach dolly because you can just drag right into to water from there. Hope you don't mind wind!
Thanks for the info. The more wind the better.
Question? How is the surf getting off of the beach. I haven't sailed through surf before and am kinda worried about it. Please give any tips if you can. Thanks.
The part of the beach I'm referring to is well-protected and has no surf/wave issues. In fact, many fishing and sailboats are moored there. I've launched through bigger waves at Tahoe. Be aware that once you sail out past the point you'll likely encounter large ocean swells and higher winds. But if that's not to your liking just stay in the protected area with flatter water.
If you want to try out sailing in the surf you can sail south of the tourist pier (south of the oil company's pier) and try it out--always keep the boat perpendicular to the waves, keep up your speed, keep the sailed powered up. You need the sailing equivalent of "torque" when sailing through surf. On a Hobie 18 surf can be a lot of fun (big, forgiving bows) as long as you remember to pull up the boards...
Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I am looking forward to a week straight of sailing. We will be in the SLO area on Friday and Saturday I think. Hopefully some other people will be out on their cats on Sat. It's always nice to have other boats to sail with in an unfamiliar area.