Thanks,
Just a flashlight but we'll have red and green too
Catalina Island?
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 03:27 PM
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 04:18 PM
Yep...only a Flashlight is required.
Here is the applicable section:
(d) (i) A sailing vessel of less than 7 meter in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in Rule 25(a) or (b), but if she does not, she shall exhibit an all around white light or have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 04:54 PM
I certainly hope that you don't end up out their after dark. I crewed on a 35' boat back in the 80's that did the Marina Del Rey to San Diego race. We spent the night drifting and wishing we had wind.
On the way home, we motored all the way to Catalina Island and spent the night in Avalon. -
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 09:06 PM
according to the rule white lights are ok when regular nav lights are impractical but it's not clear how "impractical" it is for beach cats. From a distance white lights could also be mistaken to be a light source on land and if you do end up at sea in the dark, a vessel in line of sight can tell where you are heading with a nav light but not with a white light...
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 09:37 PM
I don't think that anyone will argue that a flashlight is better than having navigation lights, but if you are on a sailboat under 7 meters they are not required.
I look at coast guard requirements as minimums. Most sailors I know generally carry equipment that exceed the basic requirements. I personally like redundancy when practical. On this trip we will have navigation light on our boat, at least one LED lantern, and several flashlights.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Posted: Oct 30, 2014 - 10:07 PM
for anyone interested the red/green portable come with all kinds of mounts like these:
http://www.wholesalemarine.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=portable+nav+lights
BTW, I am looking for a mast (strap)mounted wind/knotmeter + compass to have the hands free from Iphone, GPS for some of the time while doing a trip like this...any recommendations? Hopefully not too pricy..
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Nov 02, 2014 - 06:34 PM
Just a heads up for anyone else that is interested in this trip...most of the planning has moved to direct emails. If you are interested in joining on email any one of the guys that have committed to going and we can get you up to speed.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Posted: Nov 19, 2014 - 01:00 PM
Soo...did everyone make it back okay? The weather at San Pedro has been bliss over the last week.
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Cole
DTLA
'81 H16 Project to Catalina
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Posted: Nov 19, 2014 - 03:56 PM
the plan is to meet Saturday Nov. 22 morning at San Pedro launch ramp for a 10:30am launch and beach at Parsons Landing campground. Sunday would be a sail to Two Harbors, Monday return to San Pedro. So far 4 boats & 8 crew are committed.
If someone still wants to join the trip, look up visitcatalinaisland.com for camping reservations at Parsons. There should still be room for Sat & Sun nights.
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Nov 19, 2014 - 05:00 PM
I think the campsites are good for up to 8 people each and we have have two sites so if someone wanted to join, I think there is room.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Posted: Nov 25, 2014 - 09:32 AM
Back from Catalina. Light wind seemed to be the theme of the weekend. We had a small motor on our Hobie 18 which worked out really nice. When we got close to the island there were common dolphins in every direction, more than we could count. We got in about a bit before sunset which was critical as most of the beach was protected by rocks. We circled around outside a couple times before committing to landing. The beach had a pretty good surge. We came in pretty hot, jumped in a ran the boat up the beach. Other beach campers, helped us pull the boat up above the high tide mark. Two of the other three boats turned back before the shipping lane, Marek and Lance forged on with very light conditions. After a couple hours of sleep we got the call that they were close so we climbed out of our sleeping bags, but on our wet gear and helped bring them in. There was no wind so they paddled in, Carl and I waded out to grab them. There were some exciting moments but all in all both landings went smooth.
The camping on the beach was nice and the scenery was spectacular. Marek and I went for a nice hike on Sunday and saw some really nice views and had a few encounters with Buffalo. One was blocking the road we wanted to go down and made it clear we were not getting by. We also saw a Island fox which is a treat. Both nights we had nice campfires with small bundles of wood provided with the campsite.
Monday morning we pushed the boats off with very light wind. We towed the P19 out clear of the land then headed a few miles over to Two harbors to get more gas for our trusty motor. From there the wind was pretty much on our bow and very light so we motored most of the way. Just past the shipping channel we saw a tall column of mist, followed for several others then we saw the massive body of a Humpback whale surface. When we got within a 1/2 mile or so of the harbor entrance the wind picked up and we sailed into the Port of LA. The wind didn't hold so we pulled up to the dock on motor power.
All in all it was a really nice trip. The light wind was disappointing but the warm temperatures and warm water was a treat...especially for November. I look forward to the next trip.
Edited by genehacker on Nov 25, 2014 - 07:40 AM.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Posted: Nov 25, 2014 - 12:28 PM
Geno,
Thanks for the report and glad you got the trip done and got home safely. Light winds a bummer but there is always next time!
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: Nov 25, 2014 - 11:42 PM
Very cool. It makes me wonder what sort of overnight trip that I can do up here in the SF/Santa Cruz area. -
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Posted: Nov 26, 2014 - 12:30 PM
Sounds like you had a great trip! I've been following the plans with Lance via email. Sorry I could not join you guys, but I'm on a work project that won't let me get a away until the end of the year.
I hope to do Santa Cruz with my son this summer on the H18. Refitting the boat with new sails and possibly a motor. On our last trip we also flirted with some weather fronts and ended up paddling mid channel with no wind, landing at Tinkers Cove in the dark.
Glad you all got back safe. Post more pics if you got 'em!
Bill Mattson
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Posted: Nov 26, 2014 - 11:19 PM
Hey Bill, good to see you on here, glad to hear you are still getting out on the Hobie 18.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: Nov 27, 2014 - 08:28 AM
The trip was a fun first island cat adventure for me. Unfortunately for us the engine that we had planned to mount on my Prindle 19 flunked and we had to leave it at home so when crunch time came that 2 other boats made the decision to turn around Lance and myself quickly went over the pros and cons and decided that we were pretty committed to this trip.
The wind completely died on us about 5 miles out from the island early in the evening and we kept drifting towards Catalina at about 1kn in the dark. After establishing communication with the Hobie 18 crew planning the landing was more straightforward. At about 1.5 mi out from Parsons they began flashing a light to guide us to a safe landing area and we began paddling in to speed up our arrival. Landing in some surf was not too bad since we had 2 helpers on land to help pull the boat up on the beach.
Compared to the landing and lackluster first sailing leg the rest of the trip became a breeze. There was some hiking and snorkeling we did and Gene and I saw plenty of bison that wander the island and some other critters.
I tried inserting some pics, for some reason that doesn't quite seem to work. The pics I took can be looked up in my album though. I will try later to get a few into this post again.
Edited by marekli on Nov 27, 2014 - 08:41 AM.
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Dec 05, 2014 - 07:18 PM
I also put up a few pics on the Prindle FB page...there's a few more there, that I had problems inserting in the correct orientation here on beachcats that some may be interested checking out. If you are not a member...anyone can join, even non Prindle owners, it's a fun and friendly group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/173120656090532/
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Apr 05, 2016 - 03:43 PM
spfx and myself plan to do another trip to Santa Cruz island April 23-25, launching out of Ventura Harbor. We will be staying at the Scorpion campground that is located just by the landing area at Scorpion landing. The reservations for the nights of Sat 23 and Sun 24 include a few extra spots, so if there are any other sailors interested joining get in touch with me or spfx via PM. There's a few sailors other sailors interested so hopefully we can get a good group of cats.
For more info on Channel island sailing, trip planning etc. look up this or other Catalina island threads (just search Catalina in forums) or look up Bill Mattson's blog at catsailor.com.
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Apr 05, 2016 - 03:56 PM
spfx and myself plan to do another trip to Santa Cruz island April 23-25, launching out of Ventura Harbor. We will be staying at the Scorpion campground that is located just by the landing area at Scorpion landing. The reservations for the nights of Sat 23 and Sun 24 include a few extra spots, so if there are any other sailors interested joining get in touch with me or spfx via PM. There's a few sailors other sailors interested so hopefully we can get a good group of cats.
For more info on Channel island sailing, trip planning etc. look up this or other Catalina island threads (just search Catalina in forums) or look up Bill Mattson's blog at catsailor.com.
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Marek
1992 Prindle 19
1981 Prindle 16
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Posted: Apr 03, 2020 - 01:26 PM
Holy hell I just found this thread again after five years! In the meantime here' what ended up happening with me:
2015: I sailed around Mission Bay San Diego with a GF and slipped on the boat overnight while at anchor. She was a trooper for doing that but wasn't really my type in the end.
2016: Sailed Dana Point to Seal Rock in San Clemente to just get time on the water. Sailed a few times out of Cabrillo Beach, mostly just inside the breakwater, and really ripped, the way Mr Alter himself designed this boat to do.
2017: Realized over the summer that I hadn't been sailing in over 6 months and that this trip might not ever happen, so in October 2017:
-I outfitted the boat with a Minn Kota trolling motor, a 100AH marine battery from Autozone and a 100W solar panel and charger from amazon. I do not recommend doing this.
-Reserved a site at Parsons Landing having never seen this thread, or the campsite before.
-packed water, camping burner, homemade chili, bacon and four eggs, tent, sleeping bag, pillow, lanterns, firewood, snorkel gear, GoPro, backup phone, compass, waterproof MP3 player, VHF vest radio, Map with printouts from google Earth showing what the island would look like when I approached it with nothing but land mass formations to see where the beach was, a Mavic Pro (drone), sunscreen, and some rum to celebrate.
I arrived at sunrise on the ramp and began rigging the boat, left the dock and my car and trailer at about 9am. There was NO wind. Glass. So I had to burn up juice motoring to the harbor entrance. At this time it was about 10am and the entrance has a lighthouse watching over it so I decided to use the dead time to but out the drone and get some footage of the boat and the lighthouse, trying to make a production out of the thing. Spent about 20 minutes doing that, but (as you all have already guessed) the footage looked like shit because you can't steer a beach cat and fly a drone at the same time, even if you hold the rudder crossbar with your foot and the boat is under power.
Put everything away and made my way W along the breakwater (climbing the anticipated angle into the wind to try and make the crossing with as little tacks as possible). The wind got better and better as 12pm turned into 2pm, and the water had a light chop. The haze in the channel was enough that I could not see the island at all, which added some fun to the equation because I really did use the compass and bearing angle I had figured out beforehand. I think it was like, 54 deg SW or something like that. As I saw the island take shape, I began getting concerned that I was still trying to climb so high into the wind and still wasn't going to hit Parsons in one shot--and it was approaching 5pm. By 6pm, I knew I had to tack back, and as you all know, the wind will start dying by sundown. It was already lightening up. And while I had been trying to keep the solar panel charging that battery back up, I knew it wasnt quick enough, so motor power was now an issue.
I got within about 300-400 yds from the shore and was basically about that many yards south of my landing point--all rocky shoreline in between. I knew if I got too close the wind will also die in the shadow, so I cut back out again, with the sun now pink, and just hitting the horizon. I could see basically two small lanterns in the growing shadows of the island. That had to be Parsons. So I cut back north, climbed until I thought I had it, and made my final turn toward the beach. I honestly could not tell until I got again within that 300 yds or so, that it was in fact the spot. By then it was like after 7pm, and I was standing on the trampoline with the electric motor tiller in one hand and a flashlight in the other--rudders were up, sails were slack. And then the kelp came. I could just see it in time to turn around it, knowing that if my pussy little troll prop got into it I'd be stuck. 100 yds away I saw rocks submerged and had to dodge that too. As I approached the "sand" I could see what you guys confirmed as well; my quaint, quiet little leeward-side landing on Catalina was now a 2-3 foot vertical surge up and down the beach--which equated to 30 or 40 feet horizontally, rushing water back and forth, over 1-inch pebbles, not sand. They made a horrendous racket when I beached, and while immediately conjuring images of cracking fiberglass (I had never heard my boat make that noise before), I jumped and set to trying to pull the boat up the beach, fully loaded. Not happening. I realized immediately that I had to unload the entire thing for me to make it up the slope to the flat area. so there I was, getting kicked around in the surf while trying to unload the boat, two handfuls of gear at a time, running up and down the slope in the lulls, and simply holding the boat in place during the sets. It took me almost an hour. It was now dark, and approaching 9pm.
At this time I finally saw that I was at the southerlymost area of the beach and my campsite (as directed by the aloof mountain biker group that had watched the whole thing from a nearby site) was still another 100 yards away to the north. So the boat and sails got left on the crown of the slope (I had checked the tide already, I was good until the following afternoon) and did the whole stumbling in the dark with a headlamp to the site, back and forth, THEN made a fire, THEN set the tent, THEN cooked the chili, THEN took a bunch of excedrin PM and tried to sleep. It was 1130pm.
I had originally planned for three days there, but after what I thought was a 5-7 hour voyage that took 10, I didn't want to chance being caught in the channel with a lull. Heading into the harbor in the dark was not my idea of a grand return, and I was already more wired with stress than enjoyment, so I woke up automatically at like 5:30am with the dawn (sleep was terrible), and packed up. No coffee needed. Made bacon and eggs while jogging back and forth with gear. Was in the water by 7:30, and felt really good. The Island looked gorgeous at the start of the day! Dolphins and whatnot, although not very close. I was under motor power, knowing I didn't have long, but my gamble went like this: "if I lose power, then I should do so as far out into the channel as possible, to get the wind, away from the island." So I did just that, and sure enough by 9am I was dead in the water. No wind. The island still felt like it was poking me in the back, it was so close. Frustration set in early, and then left quickly as I knew the wind had to come eventually. This was October, so Santa Anas might have caught me dead in the water all day (as the onshore collides with the offshore and stagnates out there sometimes), but the winds slowly showed up. VERY SLOWLY. So I was sitting there fooling around with the drone at about 1130 or 1200...when an effing Sunfish showed up. And not just swam by, but like, spiraled out of the deep below me, circled the boat twice, and then left. Being a sunfish, this took him ten minutes to accomplish. I got footage of it, and that was my close encounter with channel sea life for the whole trip.
By 12:30 or so, the slightest ripples showed up on the water, and I was still sitting just offshore from Parsons. I knew I needed to make up for lost time in the latter half of the day, so I decided to basically sail directly downwind, towards Two Harbors, before making a broad reach straight to the Cabrillo harbor entrance. Haze was the same as the day before so I used my phone's google map and GPS to kind of ballpark when to turn. I had a serious debate in my head though, about just turning in to Two Harbors and asking if I could stop and stay over, get a beer, a burger and just reset from the whole thing. I was riddled with stress--not fear--the need to GET GOING. The need to be moving toward my destination. Casual was nowhere in my vocabulary at this point.
In the end I turned toward home and started making good time. I was a fully loaded Hobie 16 though, and "good time" was made relevant by a H18 with basically nothing on it but two people (looked like a father and son) trapped out and hauling ass. I thought about hailing them but didn't have any real reason to, so they waved and were gone. I followed their track and eventually crossed the shipping lanes (missed a tanker by about 10 minutes, I guessed). I noticed midway that I was waging an internal battle; on how hard I wanted to push the boat and how much of a hurry I was in. It was an angled, following sea--and I was fully loaded with gear. The leeward hull was intermittently knifing below the surface and I sat back on the corner as far as I could. Doing this trip solo was foolish in general, I knew, but trapping out alone would have been idiotic. So I pushed it hard and had close calls, backed off and then pushed it hard again. I rode a couple waves, like really rode them for about 100 feet or more, and then the boat would settle off of the wave and continue.
Made it into the harbor by 5pm, only to be greeted by a cruise liner with escort tugs coming out. So I actually had to sit there in both the wind show and the actual shadow of this beast. By 5pm the wind in Cabrillo is whipping, but directly head on to my route back to the ramp. So like so many times I had sailed there for fun, I tacked and tacked and tacked up the narrow (like maybe 300 yds wide I think? ) corridor until I was able to cut north toward the ramp, and again, pulled up to the dock at sundown, under the last smidges of power the solar panels had replenished all day long, at about 7:15pm. Fucking beat, and thankful I made it out. Never doing that again.
Cole
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Cole
DTLA
'81 H16 Project to Catalina
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