Cat harbour or Isthmus Harbour this weekend ?

We're hoping to cross from MDR to one of the two Catalina isthmus harbours this Saturday, 6-12. Since we'll be rushed we'll probably set out early on Saturday, under power until the prevailing winds appear. We'll be heading back on Sunday ... unavoidable.

Any other Ericsons on this board planning to be out there Saturday or Sunday ?

Santa Barbara Island is an alternate destination, but I don't feel too comfortable finding a proper anchorage without a sounder. Trial and error with a 22 lb bruce and 15 feet of chain and no roller is a workout !!



-Sven

Catalina

Hi - Wish we could go but it's too long a haul from here for a weekend. We have a trip scheduled for mid-August. Can you reserve a mooring or is it first come, first served? I've only been out there once, and we got a mooring right off in Avalon and then in - whoops - I can't remember the name of the place - anyway, that was some years ago. I would imagine it is more crowded now. What do you think?

Too busy

I have to move furniture all weekend. Auugh!!! Anyway I''m down here with Lew. From Chula Vista to Avalon is at least a 14 hour sail. And one other thing for you to think about Sven, this week and next week are high school graduations. Catalina is a primary destination for many graduates. It will be packed. Try checking out the website and see how crowded Avalon is:

http://www.catalinas.net/livecam1/.

Even if it is too crowded the sail should be fun I hear the weather is supposed to be almost perfect.

Catalina results

We ended up motoring :-( against a southern wind to make it to Catalina Harbor on Saturday. Our first time on that side of the Isthmus in La Petite.

Headed for Cat Harbor instead of Isthmus Cove to avoid the crowds ... HA !

It was pure luck, but we were followed by 70 (seventy) sailboats out of MDR who decided to race to Cat Harbor the same day we decided to go there for quiet ! They filled the moorings and the village, but we got a mooring before they got there and it was all-around nice !

I think we'll go to Cat Harbor again and use that as the first leg in a Santa Barbara Island trip this summer.

BTW, the scrossing took 8 hours against the wind, under power and swells. All told, we got 11 (!) hours out of our 3.5 gallon fuel tank, cruising around at 5-5.5 kts. Not too bad !




-Sven

Envy!!!

I am envious of you Sven. I want so bad to sail Dodlrums up to Catalina and it seems every weekend there is something that comes up. This coming week its a new job I am starting. A total career change for me. I have been self-employed for 12 years and now starting next week I will be working for someone else and getting a regular paycheck. Anyway, that means I won't be able to do any extended sails until I have accumualted enough vacation time and have passed my probationary period.
I've always figured I would sail to Avalon, but what about Catalina Harbor? Do you think that it is a better place to stay? What are the accomidations like? Did you take pictures?

Avalon vacancies ?

Hi Jim,

I don't know about Avalon but have heard that there is often a line waiting to get on a mooring. I think the process is that you take a mooring in the neighboring coves and wait until one frees up in Avalon, days later.

Since we row our new inflatable, we couldn't be too far from the docks or we'd spend our whole visit rowing, for that reason we'll probably stick with the less crowded spots. Before the inflatable we'd use the water taxi and that works well too.

We'll definitely be creating some 3-day weekends this summer ... everything is too far away otherwise !



-Sven