Transiting Long Beach

[theonecalledtom]

Hi There,

I'm looking at closing on a boat in Marina Del Ray over the next few weeks and will move it to Oceanside as soon as I can arrange it.

This is about 85nm, give or take a few and I'm assuming an average of about 7kts, which depends on the weather at the time.

Not having sailed into Oceanside harbor and knowing the entrance has a reputation for picking up the winter NW swells I would prefer to arrive during daylight. By my reckoning leaving MDR by 4am should just about achieve that but this leaves us passing Long Beach at about 7am. Looking at the AIS tracking this morning a convoy of container ships left about this time.

Any suggestions on how to approach getting past the shipping lanes?

Thanks!

-Tom

[Kenomac]

Stay in the Dana Point anchorage near the marine museum overnight. It's free, near a beautiful beach and lot's of restaurants. It will become a regular weekend getaway for you after that. We spend many days there, enjoyed every minute of it.

Make two enjoyable day trips out of it. What's the hurry?

Or, if you don't get as far as planned on the first day, Newport Beach also has a free anchorage area at the tip of Lido Island. We've also spent the evening on several occasions at the Cannery Restaurant's private dock for just the cost of two great dinners.

[roverhi]

Don't run into one of them and don't let them run into you. They have the right of way because of navigational restrictions. You have a maneuverable boat that should easily be able to avoid them. Since you have AIS, calling them and can identify the ships that you'll be trying to avoid, talking with the bridge will let them know that you are about, what you intend to do and they may have good ideas what you should do to stay out of their way. Channel 16 is always a choice for communication but they probably have a channel that they use for ship to ship/shore communications while in transit. CG or the Long Beach Port Authority would probably be able to tell you what that is.

Your being awfully optimistic predicting a 7 knot average unless you have a very large boat and/or will be powering the whole way with other than a headwind/sea. I'd dial that average speed expectation back a knot or two and leave earlier to get to Oceanside two hours or more before official sunset.

Got a slip in Oceanside you lucky bugger. Thought you had to inherit one or be put on the wait list at birth to get in there.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by theonecalledtom

Hi There,

I'm looking at closing on a boat in Marina Del Ray over the next few weeks and will move it to Oceanside as soon as I can arrange it.

This is about 85nm, give or take a few and I'm assuming an average of about 7kts, which depends on the weather at the time.

Not having sailed into Oceanside harbor and knowing the entrance has a reputation for picking up the winter NW swells I would prefer to arrive during daylight. By my reckoning leaving MDR by 4am should just about achieve that but this leaves us passing Long Beach at about 7am. Looking at the AIS tracking this morning a convoy of container ships left about this time.

Any suggestions on how to approach getting past the shipping lanes?

Thanks!

-Tom

Tom--

If you are sailing from MRD to Oceanside, I'm not sure why you'd be going anywhere near Long Beach harbor. You will be crossing some of the shipping lanes but that shouldn't present much of a problem with a good watch on deck, day or night.

Beyond the foregoing, I think your numbers are off somewhat. The 367 has a LWL of only 30.25'. While your maximum speed is, theoretically, 7.4 knots, as a practical matter you are not likely to achieve an average of better than about 5.5 knots indicating about 15-1/2 hours in transit. Surfing down some of the waves if you get a good blow may/will give you a better speed, but unless you've got good helsmen, that can be more of a problem then advantage.

Having made that transit quite a few times, I'd suggest going from MRD to Two Harbors on Catalina--30 miles or about 5.5 hours, which will give you some time to adjust to the boat, and then the next day from Two Harbors to Oceanside, which is roughly 57 miles or about 10 hours or less. Departing Two Harbors is easy and the run down to Oceanside will be off the wind (ususally) and down wave and you'll move right along.

You can of course run down to a point off Palos Verdes and then hang a left and shoot straight down to Oceanside for a run of about 77 miles, but that's a long run and will keep you in the shipping lanes for much of it, and will have you in relatively more shallow water with less favorable conditions overall and I wouldn't do it. N'any case,you might want to time your arrival at Oceanside for slack water before the flood to make the entrance there easier.

FWIW...

[theonecalledtom]

Thanks for the responses.

I have personal reasons for needing to keep the trip as short as possible, hopping over to Catalina was my original choice and would a be a great way to say hi to a new boat properly Another option is to leave the boat in Newport or (better) Danapoint until a later date when I can bring it the rest of the way but the ideal situation would be to get it home in one go.

I'd been considering running inside the shipping lane as you say then either crossing nearshore in front of the harbor or (more likely) jumping across the northern shipping lane, heading south and jumping back inside the southern lane, which would add some time but keep away from a lot of shallow water.

FWIW a late arrival in Oceanside would coincide with the lower high tide.

-Tom

[Capt.Don]

If you stay close to Palos Verdes, inside the shipping lanes, you shouldn't have any trouble. You will have to be careful crossing the LA harbor entrances. There's plenty of room and just have to pick your way through the traffic. Also need to be careful rounding PV point - there's a reason it's called hurricane gulch. From LA harbor, it is a straight shot past Dana Point to Oceanside.

One thing to keep in mind, there's been heavy coastal fog in the morning, lately. It seems to be burning off around 11:00am. I wouldn't want to be near LA harbor in morning fog. If you are leaving at 4:00am, it will dark and foggy! Also, due to the harbor clerical worker's strike, there probably is more traffic in/out of LA harbor.

[theonecalledtom]

Yeah fog is scary. Out of interest does anyone know where to get statistics on the likelihood of fog (year round)?