We used a weather-router for the run up from Ensenada – Bob from OMNI (Ocean Marine Navigation Inc). He’s an expert contributor on the Owners’ Forum and worth absolutely every cent he charges for his services.On our run we did stop at Santa Barbara, after refuelling at Jankovich in San Pedro LA (usually the cheapest diesel south of Anacortes in our experience).We rounded Pt. Conception on Nov 11th and ran straight to Bodega Bay (300nm).We had the worst weather/sea-state of the entire trip as we rounded Pt. Sal.Bob said that would likely be the case, but he also said that these were the ‘best’ worst conditions he could see developing over the foreseeable future – and he looks waaaay further ahead than just at the Mickey Mouse gribs you can get from Predict Wind. While the latter are excellent for making short-term go/stay decisions, they’re not a patch on a real meteorologist’s interpretation of the long-term raw data that no one outside the industry gets to see.So we opted to take the short-sharp smack on the schnoz early-on (uncomfortable for a few hours, but nothing worse than that), because delaying our departure to wait for any better conditions this far south this late in the year would only increase the chances of getting much worse conditions as we inched our way north and the year got older.We arrived in Bodega Bay on the 13th and left on the 17th for Crescent City (250nm).Once again, Bob identified the window and said ‘GO!’, because if we didn’t take that one we’d be in Bodega Bay for a LONG time…