Some basics about Northern Hemisphere weather (reverse in the Southern Hemisphere):

• Pressure and wind circulate clockwise around high pressure systems.
• Around low pressure systems, the winds circulate counterclockwise.
• Heading north on the Pacific Coast of the US, frontal boundaries trailing from low pressure systems to the north and west have southerly quadrant winds.
• The arrival of the western edge of a high pressure system brings winds from the north.
• During periods of heating, inland large thermal lows can develop which reinforce the winds flowing out of the highs.

Keep the above in mind when heading north, leave early enough in the year, and you will have southerlies as you head north, riding the low pressure systems in the process. But, if you wait until the high establishes itself, headwinds are going to be your lot, possibly reinforced by a sea breeze or valley thermals (more on this later).

Over the years we’ve found what works is to push hard during the period ahead of a front in light winds, then ride the front until the frontal passage brings northwest winds, and duck in to await the next front. Sometimes it is hard to keep going when there is a pleasant spot to stop and rest up, but working the weather makes for a fast and overall more comfortable passage.

There is another facet to this. If you miss the front, this time of year the Pacific High may establish itself on a semi-permanent basis, and then there will be long periods of north winds. So when the going is easy, we really want to take advantage of the situation.

On our trip north we spent an evening with old friends in Santa Cruz, and then headed out the next morning with NOAA’s promise of an imminent front. By Bodega Bay the front was delayed and forecast to arrive 24 hours later. With a building northwesterly, we decided to stop for the evening.

Early the next morning the forecast was for a front within 24 hours and an area of little activity except for sea breeze between us and the front. So off we went again.

Check out those cumulus clouds building over the mountains. Those are sure signs of a building sea breeze. Warm land creates a local thermal low pressure area and the cool air off the sea rushes in to equalize the pressure. The sea breeze will usually blow at right angles to the coast. If there is a pressure gradient wind blowing in a similar direction, the two winds will reinforce each other. In our case, it is just a 10 to 14 knot sea breeze with no pressure gradient.

The next morning we are off Crescent City, California, having worked through 60 miles of north winds off Cape Mendocino. We stop for a couple of hours to check the engine room, and then with a front hanging just to our north, get under way again.

There are 15- to 20-foot swells rolling in at 18- to 20-second intervals.

This local fishing boat is almost hidden behind the big swell.

The area just north of Crescent City is festooned with rocks and reefs. Note the sea humping up here at a spot five miles off the coast.

The swell recedes and we see this little piece of momentarily dry land. It is well charted, but we feel better with an eyeball ID. If it were foggy, or night, we’d be at least four miles further offshore.

We think this might be an albatross. He is moving so quickly that it is hard to get him (or her) close enough for a good photo.

Within a half a day of leaving Crescent City we are in southerly flow.

Here is the surface analysis for this part of the trip. We are just south of 40 degrees latitude. You can see an area of little pressure differential near the coast where we are. But up the coast there is favorable wind flow leading the front. Can we get there in time?

We’ve got the breeze behind us. Fourteen knots of it pushing us along.

The booms are out for their added windage – more "sail area".

We’re running at our usual 1900 RPM. Those lower meters are exhaust temperature. This is down 10% from what it would be if the winds were ahead of us, indicating lower fuel burn.

A day later and the breeze is into the 20-knot range.

Boat speed is oscillating between 12 and 13.5 knots – averaging just under 12.5. We want to get around the corner at Cape Flaherty and into Neah Bay as quickly as possible, before the wind goes to the northwest with the passage of the front.

The weather gods are with us and we’re anchored in Neah Bay ahead of the frontal passage. Our net time under way from Marina del Rey to Neah Bay is 92 hours, for an average speed of 11.2 knots.

There is one caveat with these tactics. The risk factors from the approaching low pressure need to be carefully evaluated. During the period when seasons are changing – in this case winter to spring – weather is less predictable. And this is not a good coast on which to be caught out. North of Crescent City all harbors require crossing river bars, which typically break on the ebb tide. So playing with the fronts requires a degree of caution, and the ability to ride out a mis-forecast storm, at sea.

We’re in the Puget Sound area for a few days, and then on to colder regions.