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First Catalina Trip

Bill Upchurch

Member II
A couple of weeks ago my Brother, Son and two Grandsons and I made our first trip to the Isthmas at Two Harbors, Catalina Island. We were able to sail over taking a little over four hours. The seas were choppy and made for a semi-unpleasant ride. About a mile out we lowered the sails so we could motor in, however the usually reliable A4 would not start. I called Vessel Assist who towed us in and helped us hook up to a can. We paid for two nights and my brother Joe, who we now call wrench, fixed the engine. The first night was a rolling killer as we were out on an exterior buoy. The next day, which was Sunday, we moved the boat to a sheltered area where we were finally able to get some sleep.
The weekend stay was just great. We ate way too much and didn't get much exercise which is pretty much what we wanted to do. We all took Monday off work and about 11am fired up the A4 and started for home. We raised the main but after a mile or two at 2 knots or so, we restarted the engine and continued on. Our destination was Los Angeles Harbor. After ten miles we ran into some significant fog with visability restricted to about 50 yards. This lasted for the last ten miles. We broke out of the fog a mile off Angels Gate at the mouth of the Los Angeles Harbor.
Out boat Golden Girl is good sized, but after three days it starts getting smaller with five big men on it.
In any event, we all enjoyed ourselves and were glad we had the experience. By the way, we bought a ten pound block of ice at the fuel dock on the West Channel in San Pedro and it kept everything cold and lost only about 25 percent of its size over the three days.
 

ligolaiva38

Member II
Congratulations

Congatulations for going to Catalina. Try Avalon next time and you will probably have a smooth night unless there is East wind. A nice place to party on shore too. Next time you go to the Isthmus without East wind go to Cherry Cove and ask for C-3 mooring. The best mooring for 30 to 40 ft. boats along the wall deep in the cove. That is my favorite mooring at the Isthmus so please lets keep it a secret so I can still spend many days there.
I am also in San Pedro at the Cabrillo Marina, but now I just don't get down there often enough anymore from Ventura so I am debating if I should move my boat back up to Channel Islands Marina and be challenged more cruising the Santa Cruz island. There are many more nights in Santa Cruz like your rolling rough night compared to Catalina and traveling back to Catalina is 10 hrs or more on the ocean. ...And not to mention no cans just anchoring.
Hope to see you sailin' to Catalina,
John
Laiva E-381

PS. Thanks for the interior suggestion of cushion repacement, but I haven't been able to do it because I had to redo my rigging because it was done poorly couple of years ago. So maybe next year I'll have some money to redo the interior.
 
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Bill Upchurch

Member II
John,

Thanks for the suggestions.
I would think it is a real inconvenience to live that far from your boat. I live in Northwest San Pedro and I'm constantly running home to pick up the "things" I forgot to take with me. It's either that or stopping at West Marine on Harbor to buy a duplicate.
Again, thanks for the good ideas about Catalina.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
The hardest part is leaving the dock as they say.

Congratulations Bill,

The hardest part is leaving the dock as they say. I was at Avalon the weekend right after Labor Day. That was my 26th trip to the Island. Every trip is different. I have stayed at just about every cove with moorings as well as coves like Little Harbor with no moorings (nice and remote, anchored in 8' of water). The most comfortable spot I have stayed at has to be Cat Harbor on the back side of the Isthmus. I was able to anchor all the way in front of the moorings in 5 to 10 feet of water. I only draw 3'11" with my E-27. It was a absolute mill pond. No rolling, no strong winds, no noise from party boaters and no mooring fee! I know you would have to be out in deeper waters with your Golden Girl but I am sure you would be comfortable. It does take a bit longer to get there. 6 hours vs 4 hours, but you should try it some time. Catalina looks completely different once you round the West End. It looks a lot more like Santa Cruz with steep cliffs and interesting rock formations. I had been averaging about 5 trips a year to Catalina but this year I only went to Avalon twice, because of Family obligations. The thing I like about sailing to Avalon is not so much the destination any more but the Journey!. I always seem to have a better reach and usually don't have to turn on the Iron Spinnaker until about the last mile and a half or so. That's when I get in the lee of Long Point and I loose most of my wind. From San Pedro to the Isthmus I am almost always beating into the wind until I am about a quarter of the way across the Channel.

Any way I just thought I would share some of my learned preferences. Hopefully I will be going to the Isthmus or better yet Cat Harbor for Thanksgiving. All depends on the weather. Do you know about Little Giger Cove? A cove with only one mooring. It's a 50' mooring I think and you would have to pay a 50' fee but you get the whole cove to yourself. I think it's some where between 4th of July and Howland's Landing. Every time I have been out that way, there has always been a boat there. It's a dream of mine to get that can some day.

Beam Winds

Jeff:egrin:
 
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Bill Upchurch

Member II
First Trip to Catalina

Hi Jeff,
How have you been. We thought about you and wished you were aboard since you "own" the Island with your 26 trips. There is probably nothing that you don't know about Catalina.
Anyway, thanks for the nice words and suggestions and the map. We were planning on taking your advice and drink some of the Island "milk", but forgot and didn't think about it until we were on our way back home. Next time for sure. Hope you enjoy Thanksgiving.

PS. How about another Photo Shoot but this time with some wind.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Hi Bill,

I have been doing OK. The Island Milk as you call it is Buffalo Milk. I posted the recipe in Cooking On Board Recipes section a while ago. Of course they make them at the Bar at the Isthmus. I'm sure there's plenty of things I don't know about Catalina, that's what keeps me coming back. There's a lot of great history and mystery there.

The news with me is that I am considering moving to a berth at Al Larson Marina on Terminal Island where Greg Bauman keeps his E-30 Regulus. I talked to the Marina Manager last night and I could save about $97. a month over there. That's $1,152. a year. I as well have been affected by the economy. I haven't made up my mind yet and I am weighing the pros and cons. It's not nearly as pretty as Cabrillo but it's a straight shot in and out of the Angle's Gate. It would mean no more tacking up wind in Hurricane Gulch to get back to my slip. It's a bit farther from my house and means driving over the Vincent Thomas Bridge to get to the boat. Right now I am only 11 blocks from my Marina.

Yes another photo day might be fun. Maybe in the spring and hopefully we could get more boats involved next time.

I may be out on Saturday, weather service says winds increasing to 20 knots. I may head over to Al Larson's and see how my boat fits in their narrower slips. I think they are only 10' wide and I have a beam of 9'3".

Jeff
 

Meanolddad

Member III
Hi Bill and Jeff

Keep us posted on the next photo day. We still not made it over to Catalina yet. Seems something comes up every time. We have been mostly just daysailing Regulus.

We enjoy being at Al Larsons, definitely a cast of characters. You cannot beat the cost though. The first time we pulled into the slip my daughter was not sure we would fit, I told Jessica that the marina manager said we would fit so we went in. It was close but we did fit. I have about a foot on each side. The slips are angled like a parking lot. I am not sure if my wife has forgiven the marina manager for giving us the Potter though. Any social life is back over the bridge, and the prison and Coast Guard Base are right down the street. We would not move for anything. Keep us posted Jeff, we will probably not be down for a couple of weeks. I am envious of all of you that are close to your boats. We are at least 45 minutes away with no traffic, so I can't just pop down to check the boat.

Greg
 

ligolaiva38

Member II
Bill,
Yes, for some reason now it does feel inconvinient to drive that far to my boat, but for the last 25 years it has been a pleasure to keep my boat in places away from where I live. One great thing about boating is that it isn't your second house on a lake or ocean because a boat can be moved to different places as a home cannot. The last 12 years I have been in Cabrillo San Pedro Marina because it is so close to Catalina and maybe that is why I is getting boring being in the same place for so long. But before I have always moved my boat away from where I lived because it is nice to travel somewhere different to spend time on your boat and visit and hangout in the area. In the 80's I lived in Santa Monica and kept my boat in MDR, but then moved my boat from MDR to Channel Islands Harbor because it was great to spend the weekends somewhere nice and different with the unique nature islands close by. Being young the rough weather was challenging and lots of fun. Then when I moved up there I ended up moving my boat south to Dana Point, San Diego etc. When I did have my boat here in Channel Islands a few blocks away from where I live my wife always complained that we never go anywhere just spend every weekend at home.
But now, moving the boat anywhere else will mean a longer trip to Catalina which is where I like to go quickly.
John
Laiva E-381
 

Sven

Seglare
Jeff,

The news with me is that I am considering moving to a berth at Al Larson Marina on Terminal Island where Greg Bauman keeps his E-30 Regulus.

What is the security like there ? How about industrial pollutants settling out of the sky ? Do they have a range of slip sizes ?

Thanks,


-Sven
 

Meanolddad

Member III
Hi Sven
I have my E30+ at Al Larson on Terminal Island. The marina managers Mike and Jan are good people. We have been there 3 years and have had no problems at all with security. Other owners pretty much watch the marina. It is kind of out of the way and no one really knows that it is there. Very industrial. Closest Marina to the open ocean and possibly Catalina. Pretty much no night life, you have to drive to Long Beach or back over the bridge to San Pedro for restaurants. It is a very small marina that is part of a ship yard, not sure if there are any available slips that would fit your boat. It is very inexpensive compared to the other marinas in the same area. It is next to a working ship yard and near some container docks. We have not noticed any problems with pollution sticking on the boat. We are happy there, if we want the night life we just rent a slip in Shorline Marina in Long Beach.
If you have any other questions let me know.
Greg
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Hi Sven & Greg,

I actually sailed over there last Saturday to see how my boat fit in the narrow slip they are offering me. One concern I had was that the slip was only 10 1/2 feet wide. I got in fine but it was a lot narrower than I am used to. I would have to put fenders on both sides of the boat. The slip I have at Cabrillo Marina (newest marina at the west end of LA Harbor) has to be 12' wide X 30'. I am also in a very protected area behind the Double Tree Inn. I must have spent an hour at Al Larson's talking to some very nice boat owners there and I had a lot of questions for them that they we're very happy to answer.

I asked about the soot and dust and they said yes they got quite a bit. I also noticed three or four large Sea Lions lounging on the docks as I came in. I asked about problems with them and they said some shoot paint balls at them to get them off the docks. The power boat in the slip next to the one I was in had it's swim step broken off by a Sea Lion and the swim step was laying across the bow of the boat. They also said the Sea Lions occasionally would actually jump up on to some of the boats that were on moorings. I also asked if it ever got rough back in there. One Guy told me that he was going through a couple of sets of mooring lines a year before they put in a new inner breakwater. One other problem I had with the slip they we're offering me was it was right behind a floating dry dock. I am sure I would have to deal with dust from sanding and over spray from paint at some point. I think that if I could get a slip farther away from that dry dock it might be a bit more appealing. I also questioned where I would keep my dink. Right now I have a 30' slip and a 27' boat. The dink stays inflated laying across the slip in front of my boat. No room to do that at Al Larson's, and if I did I could easily see a Sea Lion claiming my dink as his new chase lounge.

All and all, everyone I talked to really liked where they were at Al Larson's and they all had been there a long time and the few problems they did seem to have were very infrequent. As I shoved off to go out for a day sail I told the nice folks that I met there that I wanted to go sail around and chew on the idea for a while. After a nice Saturday sail off shore in light winds earlier in the day, I sailed back through 18 knot winds in Hurricane Gulch, beat my way back up to Cabrillo in my typical 3 tacks, came into my well protected slip surrounded by nice landscaping, tiled roofs and palm trees and just felt that I wasn't ready to exchange that for views of containers, cranes and dry docks.

It's a hard choice to make. I could save almost $100. a month over there but I also think it's worth it to stay put as long as I can swing it. I have also Grandfathered my self in over there at Cabrillo, been there six years now. If I ever decided that I would want to move back there I would be paying a couple bucks more a foot than I am now.
 
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Sven

Seglare
Hi Greg,

We are happy there, if we want the night life we just rent a slip in Shorline Marina in Long Beach.
If you have any other questions let me know.

Hmmm, you make it sound pretty interesting. Do you have a name or e-mail address I could contact to see about a slip for an E39(B) ?

Many thanks,


-Sven
 

Meanolddad

Member III
Hey Sven and all

The only time that E-39 has moved during the thre years we have been there was when it dragged the mooring during a nasty blow. I looks like it was once a very nice boat. Since Al Larsons is less expensive it does collect boats that are not used all that much. I sometimes think that we do not get out enough and we get out more often than 95 percent of the boats in the marina. Jan the weekend manager calls them cocktail party boats. The only use the owners get out there boat is talking about them at cocktail parties.

We will probably be going sailing on Friday if you want me to take a look at anything.

Greg
 
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