Catalina

The boat is ready, prep is done, well almost, and we are heading out this Thursday at 5 am. Family trip with kids for 6 days.

Will troll about 15 miles from the island, and hopefully get some sashimi.

Water still on the cold side at 65, but weather looks nice except for some higher winds thur and fri afternoons.

I hope your run to Catalina is as fun as ours was back in April. We're planning another run but this time we want to experience more of the island and not just Avalon. Probably will moor at Emerald cove or White's beach.

If you're not familiar with Emerald, I suggest that you not try to leave the Cove by going between Indian Rock and the shore towards Arrow Point. There's a nasty reef along there that's just underwater. I know a couple of people who tried to get out that way and did memorable damage to their underwater appendages. Like props and rudders.

Codger2 said:

... but this time we want to experience more of the island and not just Avalon. Probably will moor at Emerald cove or White's beach.

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It's about time!

Warmer water finally making its way up the coast. Still a bit chilly, but improving.

Don't forget to take the kids to Big Olaf's.

ancora said:

Don't forget to take the kids to Big Olaf's.

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I heard Big Olaf is no more.
Can anyone confirm? My kids (and I) will be heartbroken.
I heard they did not have their lease renewed.

We left Ventura Harbor last Friday morning and had incredible conditions for the 65 mile trip to Catalina and back.
Have a great trip!

I will give you a report on Big Olaf's. They have been around for decades.
Glad to hear everyone had good trips the past few months. I was planning on leaving at 5 am, but the wind appears to be worse early, and then subsiding around 8 am, especially on the east end where I plan to troll.

Big Olaf's is alive and well. We have club members who own condos at Hamilton Cove and would have reported otherwise as the club always goes to Avalon in September and has an event at Big Olaf's.

Well, the trip was not as planned.

Afriend and I were running the boat up the coast (90 miles), and my wife andkids would meet me there later, via ferry.

Weleft yesterday, and the combination of a big swell, and wind chop 90 degreesoff that were combining to create some craters. We took a good pummeling, andlost the coffee maker (that was a hard hit).

Iam not a big drinker, but I was still recovering from a hang over from my sonsgraduation party, and when I went below it hit me like a rock. Spent the nexthour with my head in a bowl. We still had a good 60 plus miles to go, and at thereduced speed, it would require another 6 hours to get there.

Theboat was getting hammered, and so was I, so I had to tell my buddy we needed toabort. I was also concerned I would be dehydrated and sick while on a mooringout there for the next few days, and not able to function. Man, that was atough decision. A few years ago I would have kept going, but I am finallyfiguring it out, it’s a marathon, not a 100 yard dash.

Good decision! It can get sloppy out there in the wrong conditions. There will be better conditions in the future for the next attempt so you can wade into these waters more slowly.

It ain't fun if you're not having fun!!

Marine Forecast

Fletcher500 said:

Well, the trip was not as planned.

Afriend and I were running the boat up the coast (90 miles), and my wife andkids would meet me there later, via ferry.

Weleft yesterday, and the combination of a big swell, and wind chop 90 degreesoff that were combining to create some craters. We took a good pummeling, andlost the coffee maker (that was a hard hit).


I'm curious if the sea conditions you encountered matched the NOAA weather forecast when you left the dock or did things change hours later? thanks

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Good question.

A few clarifications first. I got on the boat feeling poorly, and the rocking put me over the edge. Normally, I would have been ok. A good lesson that I am not 30 anymore.

I monitor Bouy weather and it is excellent. It's the same guys who developed Surfline. They get data from noaa, and other sites, and package it with a nice interface.

The forecast was low in magnitude compared to the conditions. We have been having a lot of inland heating here, so that may have caused the higher than exptected wind. There was a good swell running that day, and combined with the short duration chop it was causing some good craters to form. Again, nothing major, but the boat was getting hammered as well, even at 9 to 10

FlyWright said:

Good decision!

It ain't fun if you're not having fun!!

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Roger that Al.

Someone told me a long time ago that you only need water wings and a guitar to get to Catalina. Is this true?

HopCar said:

Someone told me a long time ago that you only need water wings and a guitar to get to Catalina. Is this true?

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Almost! If you sing 8 bars of "26 miles across the sea" 3 times, the sea will lay down right before your eyes. I've tried it and it works!
(God, I would love to see how many people will actually do that.)

Damit, now that song's stuck in my head.

HopCar said:

Someone told me a long time ago that you only need water wings and a guitar to get to Catalina. Is this true?

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I paddled a kayak there from long beach years ago. "26 miles across the sea, Catalina island is the place to be"...

Catchy tune

HopCar said:

Someone told me a long time ago that you only need water wings and a guitar to get to Catalina. Is this true?

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Once knew a lassie who had neither water wings nor a guitar. She knew the ways of love that got her free passage to the island by various means. Probably not the first one, come to think of it...

Nowadays, it's probably a different world.

I don't know Al, seems to me she'd need some pretty big water wings to get a free ride.

Mooring There

I should start by saying I know almost nothing about the Catalinas islands. In fact when I saw the title I thought you were talking about an aeroplane.

Having said that if you are going into Avalon harbour you might want to watch this video about how to moor there. It took me a few viewings to fully understand.



Brett

She is wearing gloves as the sand lines sometimes have rusty fish hooks embedded in them.

FlyWright said:

Once knew a lassie who had neither water wings nor a guitar. She knew the ways of love that got her free passage to the island by various means. Probably not the first one, come to think of it...

Nowadays, it's probably a different world.

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Not that much different today, Al, or so I'm told.

ancora said:

Big Olaf's is alive and well. We have club members who own condos at Hamilton Cove and would have reported otherwise as the club always goes to Avalon in September and has an event at Big Olaf's.

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Well, looks like my source was correct.
Big Olafs is no more. They lost their lease.
I'm here at Catalina and saw it with my own eyes.
Bummer