Off to Avalon!

Off to Avalon for the long Thanksgiving weekend.

I should arrive at Avalon by dusk on the 22nd.

I may go to other points on Catalina as well. So any So Cal Ericson owners feel free to stop and say hi if you see "The Pride Of Cucamonga" at the Island.

Have a Great Holiday!

Remember how those Pilgrims got here!

I arrived at Avalon on Saturday afternoon, stayed until Sunday noon, but didn't see Pride anywhere in or out of the harbor. I was on a mooring just outside.

That's because we left around 10:00 am on Saturday.

Hi Mike,

That's because we left around 10:00 am on Saturday. We got in just after dark on Wednesday so by Saturday we had enough of paradise.

Thanksgiving Dinner that was provided by my friend Rich who works for a catering company. The Dinner came with all the Turkey, potatoes, veggies, rolls and stuffing in two zip lock bags. We had to do our best to separate the food stuffs into designated piles and heat each item separately on my one burner stove. It was a Thanksgiving meal I will never forget. All and all it turned out pretty good, just not pretty to look at.

There were three power boats tied together with all the Thanksgiving decorations. That group gave us entertainment all through the night on Turkey Day complete with young girls dancing on the transoms. As the night went on the girls tops came off! Needless to say those girls had a hard time looking at us the next morning. A little too much holiday cheer I suspect.

We had great weather all three days. It was close to 80 degrees on Thanksgiving. Down right hot. We also had great sailing coming and going. I wish I could have stayed longer because after November 1st, when you rent a mooring for two nights, you can stay for five nights free. Tell me where you can get a Hotel for those rates.


Skipper Jeff, Out!

We didn't get much wind at all. Motored all the way across on Saturday, but for a couple of hours on Sunday, we had the pleasure of a downwind sail in light southerly winds and following seas out of Avalon. But it died to nothing by about 1:00pm. There was maybe 12 knots through Hurricane Gultch by the time we arrived at Angel's gate, but didn't feel like unfurling the headsail so we just motored on in. Other than that the weather was ideal. I love the fact that we get 70 degree sunny weather in November here!

Oh, and this was the first trip with my Simrad WP32 driving the boat. Forgot to mention that, even though it was kind of a big deal to not have to tend the wheel by hand, at last!

Wow

Motored to Two Harbors on Thursday morning (no wind whatsoever). It was chilly there.

No topless dancers in sight. Sigh.

Motored home on Sunday (again, no wind at all).

Had a great time, though.

When I left on Wednesday about 12:30 pm the wind did not come up until around 2 pm. Then we got about 11 knots of wind and averaged about 6 knots and arrived at 5:30 pm. Coming back on Saturday I left at 10 am and got about 8 to 11 knots of wind after 11:30 am until we arrived at the Gulch at 2:30 pm when it was blowing a healthy 14 knots. Again we averaged 6 knots of speed. Both coming and going we had to motor for the first hour and a half or so. I am very happy with my new sails. The boat seems to be preforming better in light air. I really hate to motor all the way to the island but when it's on the nose I often have no choice.