At the docks in Channel Islands Harbor.

Freedom Too, a slightly aged but nicely rigged Catalina 27

It was overcast and gloomy pretty much the whole morning there but we had about a 5-mile visibility so we felt pretty save crossing the channel. We only saw one tanker in the southbound lane on the way there and it was really booking along…

My first mate was my friend Bill who lives just a couple of houses down from me. We had been talking about getting out to the islands to do some surfing for awhile. Although we considered taking our boards, as Bill had not been there to the islands and it was kind of a last minute call, we left the surfboards in the car. The other option for a day sail was to Malibu but we decided that it was kind of silly to take the slow train to a busy surf spot. Bill had sailed with me a month or so ago on a day sail to Ventura harbor so he had some experience on the same boat. Since the autopilot mount was broken on the boat, we had to hand steer the entire way across the channel.

Broken autopilot mount… Bummer.

The crossing was pretty good with one starboard tack the entire way there. As we were motor sailing across, we consistently hit 7 knots on a beam/close reach. There must have been some dolphin party going on in Santa Barbara because we probably saw over 500 of them swimming north up the channel. They just kept coming and some hung around with us and played in our wake for a little while.

When we starting to get the islands in view, we changed out heading a little to go towards Smuggler’s Cove at Santa Cruz island. For some reason, the marine layer opened up right at the cove and it was sunny as warm as can be when we pulled up to anchor. There were about a dozen other boats there and we tucked in in between a couple of sailboats and tossed in the danforth and set anchor about 150-200 yards from shore. We did not have a shore boat/dinghy so now we had a dilemma. We wanted to get on land to do a little hiking but that means we would have to get to shore with shoes. As we didn’t have wet suits either we decided to just jump in with out shorts and shoes as gloves and swim to shore. The sun definitely helped us to warm up and the water was not terribly cold. as least once we were numb from the temperature we were able to bear it without feeling hypothermic.

It felt longer than it probably actually was for us to get to shore but when we did, we were glad to have been there. We started out on the Scorpion bay trail and about a mile in, we cut across down to the creek that eventually lead us to the Yellow banks trail with the historic ranch.

The olive trees and trail heads next to the historic ranch at Smuggler’s Cove.

We got back to the beach after about an hour of hiking the island and now was time for us to summon up some more courage to get back in that water so we can swim back to the boat. We probably had a little bit of current helping us on the way in so it means that we will be swimming against it on the way out. It was certainly a workout but it felt good once we got back to the boat and was able to just hang out a bit to warm up and dry up before pulling anchor to head back across the channel.

The wind in the afternoon had picked up to about 12-14 knots and we were sailing and surfing downwind the entire way there. For awhile we were sailing on the broad reach to get across the shipping channel faster and the GPS was actually registering over 8 knots of speed as we surfed down the face of waves. I couldn’t believe it and it is theoretically impossible for a displacement hull like ours to achieve that speed but it is apparently all fair game with you’ve got the swell behind you. Once we got across the shipping lanes I steered to a downwind course again and held a wing-on-wing course for a good half hour with the swell and wind behind us.

The skies never cleared up away from Smuggler’s Cove and it was great to be out there enjoying the only sun that was probably around for 50 miles. We made it back to the slip around 6:00PM and cleaned up and headed back home. The sun and the long day had wiped me out and hitting the sack that night was a delight. It was a great day of sailing even though we did not get a chance to check out the surf while we were there. Maybe in August or September I might plan an overnight trip and we will try to hit either Marmetta or Chinese Harbor for a little
surfing…

So what are you still doing on the computer?!?! Get out on a boat and do some sailing!

The sailing was great and the jetties of the Port of LA stretchs for miles which makes the water nice and calm as in a lake but the winds are relatively consistent.

The little area where I spent some of Saturday and Sunday of last week.

I had a twinkling of an idea that I was going to try to make it to the Queen Mary but later I found out that it would be way to out of reach. It would probably take a good 10 hours to get there in my little 10 ft dinghy.

Walker Bay 10 RID with sail kit unmounted

Looking toward the ramp on the way back

Good to know the life guard is near.

Sailing down wind in the sea of glass.

When I got back to the ramp, I saw the most bizarre thing ever. These 2 guys were trying to load a Coronado 25 with a fin keel up to a flat bed trailer with old tires strapped to it. I realized their attempt was futile and just assumed that they would give up sooner or later. However, when I got my boat out and was ready to drive way, I heard the most awful grinding noise coming up the ramp. Looking over I saw that same Coronado 25 being dragged on the asphalt up the ramp behind a Ford Explorer towing a flat bed trailer.

I was utterly shocked to see what had just happened. To make it even more ridiculously amusing, one of the man who had earlier been cursing up a storm about why his winch couldn’t haul a 5000 lbs boat up a ramp gets out of the car and managed to produce a chain saw. He pull started the saw and proceeded to try to cut the keel off of the boat!!!!!

I knew something was going really wrong and at that same moment, the yellow life guard truck pulled up next to him and ordered him to stop what he was doing.

Notice the chain saw on the ground.

Once the Port of LA Police arrived on the scene, he somehow convinced them that he had a plan to get this boat off of the pavement and on to that trailer as he restarted the chain saw again and began hacking away at the boat.

I might not be as bright as him but I just couldn’t see how he was going to do what he needed to do with the equipment he had. Two guys, a car, a trailer and a chain saw. I hung around for a minute watching him hack away at a perfectly good boat with the Port of LA officers and just decided that I couldn’t stand to watch it anymore.

I went back the next day and to my surprise there most of the boat was gone. I wouldn’t be surprised if the police just sited the owner of the boat and brought in some heavy equipment to get the job done and will be billing them later.

Sometimes I wonder why sailing ever even appeals to me. You wouldn’t understand it either if you saw what I saw. Those guys and I actually have it in common…..

*** UPDATE 6/4/2008 ***
My friend Josh from Carrboro Yacht Club posted this story on the O’Day Owners Forum and I have been getting little traffic spike from it. For those of you who want to see more photos of the incident at the launch ramp, here are a few more I snapped with my camera phone…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danlin/tags/cabrillolaunchramp/

Here is an action shot of the guy half way through his keel job

I decided to take the dingy out for a little row in the harbor while I had a couple hours free on Sunday afternoon. The Ventura harbor is relatively small but has a pretty decent shopping right along the docks. I rowed between the banks and the boat docks right next to the restaurants and shops and saw some cool photo ops. Here are some I decided to share with you.

My view at the middle seat

The famous Dragon Lady Junk Boat at Ventura Harbor

The calm and smooth water between the banks and the boat docks

Look at these cute little swallows in a nest under the gangways!!

I pulled up to the public fishing dock at Marina Park at the other end of the harbor and took a photo of the dinghy. The boat docks near the center is owned by the city of Ventura and they offer both adult and youth sailing programs.

When I got out of the car I noticed the owner was inside the cabin tidying things up so I walked up next to the boat and introduced myself. He was an older man and later I found out that he had just bought this boat from Redding in Northern California and was on his way down to the Yucatan peninsula. The tow vehicle was a smallish, 20 year old Ford pickup truck and I was frankly kind of amazed that he had made it this far already. He proceeded to tell me quite a scary tale about coming down the side of a cliff with the brakes on the verge of failure with the boat and trailer behind him. It apparently had already been quite an adventure for him thus far and it is no even close to being over.

He introduced me to his native Yucatan wife whom he met and married while he was living in Mexico. They flew up to the States to visit his family and bought the truck and the boat for the trip back. It’s great to see someone his age still has the spirit of adventure in him. I wished him farewell and bon voyage as I snapped this little photo of his boat with my cameraphone…

I have no experience in sailboat racing but it seems to me that they have more crew than is needed for a 25 ft boat. I had 5 people a few weeks ago on the O’Day 22 and with that much weight on board, distribution of bodies became really important. Of course it can obviously help you if weight is distributed properly but in this video it definitely seems to hold them down after the broach due to all the bodies on the leeward side of the boat.

Sailing accidents are like train wrecks where you just can’t take your eyes off and you hope it never happens to you. Luckily no one seemed to be hurt in this video.

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The day started pretty calm and slow which was actually pretty nice for a change. We hoisted the 110% jib in lieu of the genoa just in case the wind picks up. A few hours into the trip, the wind indeed picked up. We were sailing in about 20 knot winds with visible white caps by the time we entered back into the harbor.

The usual route involves just a little upwind sail up to the Ventura pier and tacking around starboard and evetually heading back in on a broad reach. Once we got back to the launch ramp, there was a plenty of traffic congestion. We managed to locate a spot on the leeward side of a dock and hung out there for a bit as some activities were unfolding at the ramp.

For whatever reason, there were more PWCs out that day than I’ve seen before. Maybe its just the time of the year. Everyone and their grandma now own PWCs and decided to take them out this afternoon. We even saw a guy get a ticket from Harbor Patrol before we headed out for the day. This guy didn’t just get a ticket. He also got a 20 minute lecture from this officer. He must have really screwed up while putting around out there.

Another thing that unfolded at the launch dock was this family of 3 who apparently decided to take out their little Capri 16 dinghy for the afternoon. The father and son duo looks as if they were trying to impress the boy’s girlfriend as they managed to launched the boat without much incident at the ramp. However, as they were trying to rig the boat, it was obvious they had little idea about what they were doing. It looks like complete chaos as the father was trying to give directions to the son while the girlfriend sat in the cockpit with her life jacket on fearing for what was to come. At one point the dad nearly slipped into the water while trying to hoise the main.

Andre and I at this point was clearly fixated at this scene. It was like watching an eminent train wreck but you can take your eyes off. Once they finally had their sails hoisted and rudder and daggerboard in place, the wind had picked up significantly and 2 boats had docked on both sides of the ramp. They would need to sail through a narrow space as they do not have any other sources of power such as oars or motor. Liuck for them, one of the boats in their way offered to help as he walked their dinghy around his boat and into position at the end of the dock.

The girl at this point decided that today was not going to be hers to go out. She had by now removed the life jacket and planted her feet firmly on the dock. As the father and son climbed into the cockpit, they only have the main sail hoisted and no jib. They would have to sail upwind to get themselves out of the ramp area and I started to worry for them. There is no way these guys would be able to get out to the open harbor. Without the jib and having such strong winds, they will not be able to point high enough or manage the multiple tacks it will take to get them to a safe place.

As they are planted in the cockpit, the girl was left holding on to the bow dockline to help them push off. As she struggles to position them into place, someone jumps in and helped them around to the other side of the piling to get better positioning. The boy at this point decided that he didn’t want to take his sunglasses with him out just in case if they were to capsize. He promptly removed them and motioned for the girl to take the it from him. He was just a few feet from the dock as he tossed it from the dinghy towards the dock. Unfortunately, his miscalculated how much force was needed to clear the gap as his, presumably valuable brand name, sunglasses slipped in the the murky and choppy waters of the harbor.

Watching along with us is this man coming back from a day of jetskiing. All of us could just watch and hope these guys have what it takes to pull this off. As they started floating away from the dock untethered, they began floating backwards with no control whatsoever of the dinghy. Everything was in slow motion as they drifted towards a cove full of rock pilings. I realized at this point that we are about to watch someone wreck their boat into the rocks. Without any help, they are doomed. As they continued to drift backwards past out dock they are unable to turn their boat to make any headway. The father managed ,as calmly as possible, said to the jetskiier, “Can you grab our dock line please?”. It was too late. He had started to drift out of reach.

Almost as if it was in a movie, the jetskiing turns around and darts towards his PWC. As he unties the docklines and mounts the water hog, a stream of water shoots out the back of this craft as the motor roars to life. Spinning around quickly and away from the dock, he gets to the father and son in the dinghy as they are merely a few feet from the rocks. Somehow at this same moment, the dinghy begins to propel forward. We were all gasping as this unfolds in front of our eyes. It almost looks as if they are going to make it but they quickly lose all of their speed and begins to drift backwards again while trying to tack. The jetskier doesn’t hesitate this time and grabs the bow dockline and drags them to the safety of the leeward dock where they had first pushed off.

As dramatic as this happened in front of us, there really was no real danger for physical harm for all that was involved. In worse case scenarios they would have had some deep scratches on the hull of the dinghy. It was very amusing nonetheless for us and reassures my belief that people should not take sailing any vessel lightly. Take all the precautions you can and don’t go out if you are at all not comfortable with the situation.

As fun as the event was, it had nothing to do with sailing. You might have noticed on this blog that I am a bit of a fan of wind-powered vessels. However, while we were there the city was hosting another event called Tall Ships Chicago. I didn’t have time to make it to Navy Pier to see the event but it looked like a lot of fun. Daily tours were given on the docks as well as some cruises around Lake Michigan. Only if I had more time on my hands… We did however make it to Gino’s East twice for some lip smacking good dish dish Chicago pizza. It made the trip all worth while despite the heat wave.

When I go back late Friday night I was jonesing to get out on the O’Day to go sailing and Andre and I did just that Saturday. That shall be another post as we encountered some interesting events on our trip…

I’ve been checking out little dinghy’s on craigslist for use with the sailboat. Preferably I’d like to find a little walker bay style dinghy that is versatile so I can row, sail or motor. My wife does not like the idea of me getting another boat even though its not REALLY another boat. I will just keep a sharp eye out for whats in the market in the meantime. I’m also contemplating building my own dinghy using downloadable plans online. This guy made a nice little D4 Dinghy from the free plans offered by bateau.com. I’ve not built my own boat before but I think it would be a fun and interesting project. We’ll see how things go in the next few months.

Thinking about building a home made boat that looks something like this.

Next week I am going on a little camping trip to Yosemite National Park. A friend of ours invited us to come along for this trip. It was a nightmare apparently to book the campsite as they are extremely book in the summer time. Unfortunately there will be no sailing involved in this trip. Hopefully I will get to take the boat out again in the next couple of weeks…

Andre came down for the day to join me for the day. He has become my go to first mate on the boat. For only being sailing on the O’Day 3 times and once on the Capri, he is getting more and more competant. His wife got him sailing lessons at the Santa Barbara Sailing Center for this birthday so he will finally learn from someone who actually knows what they are talking about

Having learn the last lesson when we sailed down to Oxnard and ended up getting home late, I told Marlene ahead of time that I was more of less going for the whole day. We packed lunches and brought drinks for the trip and off we went at around 10AM.

The boat ramp was crowded as many people have the day off before the 4th. There seemed to be a lot more PWCs than usual both in and out of the harbor. As long as they follow the rules of the water, they don’t much bother me. I have been on them myself and they are actually quick fun. It’s when there is a dude doing donuts at the harbor entrance then it becomes a nuisance for everyone.

We started out by just sailing up towards the pier as we did not want to beat and tack all afternoon on the way back. After a few tacks we made it about 4 nautical miles up the coast to around the area of Emma Wood State Beach. We decided that we wanted to make a run for one of the oil rigs out in the middle of the channel and see if we can make it there and back in time. We tacked to starboard and began sailing on a close reach headed directly at an oil rig in the distance. I had no idea how far it was and did not know whether or not we would make it in time. The plan was just to make it out as far as we can before we have to turn around. It was closer to noon at this point so we figured that we could make it out about 8 miles before having to turn around.

Andre getting ready to head out just outside of Emma Wood State Beach

That turned out to be just about right. We made it 8 miles out and get as close to the rig as we could. We didn’t have time to round it as it would have taken at least another 30 minutes and caused us to be late.

Other sailboats had the same idea as us. This is as close as we got to the oil rig

Just when we got out and was about to turn around and head back, we started noticing that there was a school of some kinda fish out in the distance headed our way. After a closer look we realized they were a pod of Common Dolphins! It had been along time since I had seem them out in the channel. Often they like to come right up the boat and swim near the bow wave. I didn’t think they would have much interest in the O’Day’s miniscule wave as we topped out at just over 6 knots but I was surprise to see about 5 of them doing just that.

5 Dolphins at the bow of the boat

Swimming along next to us

It was pretty cool to have them come up as close as they did to check us out. The previous times when I’ve seem them I had been in much bigger power boats. This is as close as I’ve gotten to see them come up to any boat. At one point I thought I could literally reach out my hand and pet them as they came up for air. They stuck around for about 15 minutes and left probably to find other faster and more interesting vessels.

Here is a video of the Dolphins as they swimmed next to us. Towards the end I climbed up to the foredeck and probably scared them away

This is when we first spotted them. I just happened to be shooting a video clip. Note how excited I got when I saw them…

We made it back to the harbor right on the money at 4PM. The winds had been perfect all day and we even sailed right up to the dock without using the motor. Today was probably the furthest trip we’ve made so far since I got the boat. In the next few weeks maybe I will plan a weekend trip up to Santa Barbara and stay a couple nights at a guest slip. Before the end of the summer maybe I will even plan a very first trip out to the Channel Islands.