Nice write up Cole.
When you camped on the Hobie in Mission bay...where did you stay? Did law enforcement give you a hard time.
I have stayed in my monohull a few times and I have always seen harbor patrol cruising around just before sunset taking down CF #s. I called and asked about staying on my H18 and they said that it was not allowed because there is not head/holding tank.
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Geno Hacker
Lake Isabella, California
Supercat 20, 1/2 of a B-Lion, H18, P16, H14
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Catalina Island?
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- Rank: Lubber
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Posted: Apr 03, 2020 - 03:31 PM
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- Rank: Online Pioneer
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Posted: Apr 03, 2020 - 06:56 PM
Had a trip planned on the P19 to Santa Cruz Island this summer around the solstice, but I personally expect this lock down to potentially go into August. On the upside, in preparation I had made a bunch of nice upgrades to the boat, including a cargo trampoline, but mostly just little stuff to make things work better.
After buckling the bow on my first P19 and removing the decks for the repair and noticing the lightweight construction, I am thinking the H18 was a better boat for this stuff, especially considering the rocky north shore of Santa Cruz. As it is, I am working on an idea involving cradles with teflon skids to move the boat on the beach without damaging it. I'm working on a design of foam core fiberglass cradles (formed around the outside of a 5 gal bucket), that will bolt on top of sections of 3" ABS pipes, with rubber pads between so they can flex without cracking. They will disassemble and fit in the deck ports. It could be one of those designs that work great in my head, but go to crap when trialed. Stay tuned on that one. The other idea is to take the repaired P19 and glass in some kevlar layers on the keels. I'm thinking that might get pricey.
Great write up, Cole. I've considered solo trips to Scorpion at Santa Cruz where I would probably find help to get the boat up the beach, or perhaps anchor the boat and swim in. But then I'll be out on the boat by myself on a heavy day and start imagining all the gear and complications and the solo camping trip idea goes away. You really need a 2nd pair of hands for landing and unloading the boat as your experience demonstrates.
I have to say though that whenever we made a successful landing, any anxieties about the return trip never surfaced until the morning of the return trip. I do remember waking up at 2am to high winds blasting through the canyon where we were at, watching trees bending sideways, and thinking "We are never getting out of here in the morning." Then waking up later to a calm morning with a gentle breeze.
Over the 10 years or so I've done those trips, I've had a few of those dicey moments of equipment breakdowns, getting becalmed with no motor or one that doesn't work, etc. My mantra became "I don't know how I am getting out of this, but I most likely will because I always do."
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Bill Mattson
Prindle 19 "Gelli Bean"
Prindle 19 "Cat's Pajamas"
Nacra 5.2 (Will sail her a bit and let her name herself)
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Posted: Apr 06, 2020 - 07:39 PM
Great story, coleinthetube, very enjoyable to read, and thanks for sharing - although definitely more "adventure" than I personally would want to experience. The idea of running out of wind just short of the island with night falling, and spending the night drifting out to sea in the dark, or drifting onto the rocks on a desolate part of the island, brings the shudders.
Reminds me of the quote from western writer Louis L'Amour: "Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it's hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.”
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1998 P18.2
Sailing out of SHBCC, NJ
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Posted: Apr 07, 2020 - 12:36 AM
That is a great quote. I am going to borrow that.
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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: Apr 07, 2020 - 10:10 AM
The darkness adds a new element. On "the trip where everything went wrong" my son and I had the H18, with no motor, got completely becalmed mid channel for hours until light winds returned, and ultimately spent 12 hours the water getting to Santa Cruz Island. The GPS took us to the anchorage in complete darkness, where there was a 200 yard wide beach among cliffs. Basically, I had previously just stuck a point on a map for the GPS to basically just get us there, where we could visually assess where to land (something impossible to do at that point). I had been at the anchorage before. Still, I could not avoid having doubts on the accuracy of the GPS point, hearing the swells thundering on the nearby cliffs in the darkness, wearing headlamps that probably were not illuminating much more than 5 ft off the bows. We slowly approached, started feeling the small surge, and the rocky beach appeared.
Two days later, on the return trip, we again found ourselves in light air, and ended up becalmed 12 miles off the coast of Ventura in the dark. I hailed the CG on the VHF, who relayed our position to Vessel Assist. Not having a Boat US membership at the time, I knew this would be expensive. The quote was $250 an hour, with an hour to get to us and a two hour tow back. The captain told me he would gradually increase his speed and I should signal when I started feeling it was right. Later he said the 11 knot tow was probably his fastest, but he knew it was on my dime. $700 later, we were at the dock.
Lessons learned: Got a Boat US Membership and a nice spot light.
Edited by mattson on Apr 07, 2020 - 11:09 AM.
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Bill Mattson
Prindle 19 "Gelli Bean"
Prindle 19 "Cat's Pajamas"
Nacra 5.2 (Will sail her a bit and let her name herself)
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- Posts: 251
Posted: Apr 07, 2020 - 01:46 PM
Or a small outboard!
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Carl
Dart 18x2
Nacra 5.8
Acat
Windrider Rave x2 for sale
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- Registered: Mar 27, 2013
- Last visit: Apr 13, 2020
- Posts: 13
Posted: Apr 07, 2020 - 04:49 PM
Gene--I was anchored in Mariner's Bay, that was the place they directed us to. Basically they told us if we wanted to do this at all, that was the only place we were allowed. The ramp was the big one, at the south end of the whole Mission Bay Area, (can't remember the launch name), but they have a couple of shops right there and a large overflow parking area. The rule in 2014 was overnight parking free for 72 hours. Which I think is totally awesome for those of us who just want an adventure on a low budget. We ended up ordering pizza by cell phone on the sand the next day, and then loaded up and left late afternoon.
Bill--I appreciate your help on this, you probably don't remember it but I wrote you back in 2013 asking about this and it took me four years to muster. Had a float plan filed (as much as they cared to record it), and the vest radio ready to go, but I really really didn't want to have to use it. I still wonder what I must have looked like plodding along at 8kts when that Hobie 18 with the father and son flew by me out of Avalon, not enough to call out to them though. It was my mess, I had to see it through lol. And as far as the return voyage, I think I was just weighing my risks and saying if anything happened on the return, I'd be stuck out there for awhile, and that would put me in late on Saturday night, rather than Sunday night before work the next day. I was right about myself too; when I got back I shared a couple drinks with friends and regaled them with my tale, but I was wired all the way until about 1am or so. It felt nice telling everyone about it, like unloading it all before bed.
Catfan--def a great quote. 90% of the friends I told about this do not sail, and as self deprecating as I remained throughout the story, they kept saying "But DUDE you did it!" I just kept thinking man, what would they have done in that beach surge in the dark, having just clamored uptake wind so far all day long only to be greeted with that whole other episode of unforgiving obstacles, with no one coming to help? I was gassed; my back was completely depleted of energy to lift the boat up the sand. Seeing the rocks on the way in, and hearing them beat up the hulls I felt exactly like that quote; it was literally the last place I wanted to be.
All in all, probably the riskiest thing I've done by myself. Wont do it again, but I'm glad I tried, and made it.
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Cole
DTLA
'81 H16 Project to Catalina
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- Rank: Online Pioneer
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- Last visit: Feb 18, 2022
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Posted: Apr 08, 2020 - 12:04 AM
Yep. You've really got the stones to attempt that trip solo on an H16 and earned the story tellin'. It is a great write up, and if I kinda get being over there all alone and thinking you'd want to get back as soon as you could just to know you pulled it off.
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Bill Mattson
Prindle 19 "Gelli Bean"
Prindle 19 "Cat's Pajamas"
Nacra 5.2 (Will sail her a bit and let her name herself)
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- Rank: Lubber
- Registered: Mar 27, 2013
- Last visit: Apr 13, 2020
- Posts: 13
Posted: Apr 13, 2020 - 01:03 PM
Yeah I had big dreams, of hiking around the island a little, snorkeling with gopro, finishing the drone footage and creating a real video out of it. But that quickly shifted into, "dont do anything else youre going to regret" lol
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Cole
DTLA
'81 H16 Project to Catalina
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