My O’Day 22 Sailboat Blog

I believe that stereotypes are wrong. They are based on a small portion of the population and usually is not true for the majority. But sometimes the stereotype holds true when you come across that small cross section. This is what I have found about certain members of the sailing community. Especially within people who run sailing clubs. Having been a member of Marina Sailing for nearly 2 months I have chartered twice and taking one overnight ASA lesson to the Channel Islands. Everyone from my local Marina Sailing office (Channel Islands Harbor) have been very nice but there is one guy who runs the Long Beach office that I’ve talked to a couple of times has been the stereotypical, arrogant sailing A-hole.

I have only met him once before I decided to join the club while looking at their fleet in Long Beach. I don’t even know his name because he doesn’t introduce himself when you meet him in person or when he answers the phone. Every time I talk to him on the phone he speaks in a very condescending tone regardless what we are talking about. He assumes that you don’t know shit and/or are lying unless proven otherwise. If I had not gone to the Channel Islands Office I probably have chosen another club to join because of this guy.

I sort of understand where he comes from since he is constantly dealing with people who are new to sailing. It can be frustrating to do day after day dealing with members and students who are difficult to teach. I have heard many, if not all, sailing instructors go into a rant or two about hard-headed sailing students and their frustrating failures. This guy however is clearly jaded in the business and thinks everyone is stupid and unteachable. He should not be the person in charge of the club in such a busy marina. Maybe that’s just it, he doesn’t have to treat people nicely since there are plenty of business there to go around.

You may now be wondering what exactly has this guy done for me to have such disdain for him. Well, let me tell you a couple things. First time I’ve ever met him, I was in the Long Beach club office inquiring about becoming a member. I wandered about and read literature for close to 10 minutes before he decided to drop what he’s doing to acknowledge my visit. He clearly did not think I fit into the primary club member demographic as I was dressed casually and probably 20 years younger than the average member age. He responded to my questions with just enough info and enthusiasm to where it felt like getting your teeth pulled stone cold sober.

After I joined the club I made numerous phone calls to his office inquiring about the ASA 104 class schedule and it was more of the same. He makes you feel like he’s always got something better he needs to be doing and you are just wasting his time. I am guessing that Marina Sailing would probably do quite a bit more business if this guy was not there. Are there anyone else that have felt this about this man? Does anyone know what his name is what why he is allowed to run this portion of Marina Sailing’s business? As an active member who plan on chartering boats out of the Long Beach area for trips to Catalina Island, it would certainly make my life a lot easier if someone more personable was left in charge instead.

I am currently planning a trip to Catalina out of Long Beach so I have to continue to deal with this A-hole. We’ll see if he eventually warms up or if he just stays a douche bag forever…

On the same trip to Santa Cruz island last weekend, we had the opportunity to participate in a survey the Channel Islands Park Services was conducting and got a chance to tour one of their research vessels. It is a twin engine 1200 HP diesel powered aluminum hull catamaran. They allowed me to video our visit and Dennis the guide was great at showing us around. The sailboat in the background at the beginning of the video is our boat and home for the weekend, ‘Calaloo’.

This past weekend I sailed to Santa Cruz islands on a chartered Hunter 31 for an overnight trip. On the way there we came pretty close to a loaded container ship which can be pretty tense. These guys travel at a surprisingly high rate of speed and do not alter their course for anyone besides maybe another freighter in the lose… I will do a more thorough post later about this trip but here is a little video clip of the freighter.

Finally today I got to go sailing! I have been talking about renting a boat from Marina Sailing for awhile and today was the day. Last week the weather got really crappy so we canned the idea but today my friend Mikey said that we should swing by the marina and take a look since the sun was out. I was a little hesitant because the wind looked like it was picking up and might turn out to be a chilly afternoon. When we got to Channel Islands Harbor, the guy at the marina said that it was beautiful so far but winds might pick up beyond 25 knots late in the day. We looked at the boats they had available and decided to make it an adventure anyways.

This is what I saw this afternoon

We picked a 2006 Catalina 28MKII which was a beautiful boat. Only a year old with roller furling main and jib as well as all the canvas one can mount in the cockpit. Dodger, bimini cover, the whole kit and kaboodle. We were getting excited about the day as I quickly familiarized myself with this new boat. It has been awhile since I piloted an inboard diesel but it came to me fairly quickly. I quickly gave Mike a brief overview of the boat and we were off. The winds started out being about 15 knots even inside the main channel of the harbor so we only unfurled part of the main and the jib to be safe. As we were moving towards the mouth of the harbor everyone is on their way in. They were probably laughing at us but we didn’t care. We were determined to make it a day even if it meant white knuckling it all afternoon. Although winds were fairly strong but not too many white caps were visible in the area.

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. We sailed towards Anacapa Island with the intention of making it out as far as we can before having to turn back around. Fury (The name of the boat) actually took us almost to the middle of the channel averaging about 5 1/2 knots before we turned around and sailed downwind almost all the way back to the harbor entrance. Not too many sea life were visible today but Mike did see a sea lion jump out of the water a couple of times which is pretty rare. Fury is the newest boat I have probably ever sailed and it was nice to be equipped with the latest of sailing technology. It made everything a little easier to handle especially sail handing but deep down inside I still like the look and feel of the older boats.

Steering with my toes under perfectly trimmed sails

Sailing downwind on the way home

On the way back we shook out the reef and even sailed Wing-On-Wing for awhile before making it back to the harbor. Since we technically had the boat until 8AM the next day, I called up the family and some friends to have dinner onboard before turning it back in. It was a beautiful day but unfortunately since we weren’t sure at first that we would go out we forgot to bring any cameras. The only evidence we had were pictures I took using my cell phone.

Mike’s ’soon to be’ MySpace profile photo

Nice coverage under dodger and bimini

In two weeks I will be going out for an overnight trip to get my ASA certification from the same marina so this was a great refresher sail before the class. Expect to get a complete run down of that trip in a couple of weeks.

Here is my 4-month-old baby girl Ava getting ready to be a the next Ellen MacArthur