Please help with first coastal passage

[Therapy]

I think most everything has been covered except, don't forget your camera.


OH.

And toilet paper.

No TP can really spoil an evening sail!

[DeepFrz]

Relax and fill us in on the trip afterwards...I'm envious.

[Kanani]

Oh ya....your course is rum-line from LB Harbor entrance straight to the sea buoy at SD Harbor.

The only obstacles are oil rigs and ships. You may want to wander a bit further toward shore just to avoid ship traffic. When I say "Ship traffic" you may see 5 of 6 ships (in the distance) during the night. Chances of one getting close are slim to none but heading inland a little will keep you off the major shipping lane. It's important to understand how to read a ships running lights. The one thing that you don't want to see is the red and green lights with the white light in the center. That's not good. You will be in deep water with no obstructions all the way down until you get to Pt Loma.

Drag a lure at sunset and sunrise, you may snag a Barracuda or Bonita. The water is too cold for anything else.

[Tempest245]

East coast sailor here....but your post made me look at the trip...looks like a nice coastal cruise! And you've gotten great advice.

Pick your weather window.....set the jacklines and cockpit tie-ins..Time your arrival for full daylight.....and relax.

Sounds like you have an experienced skipper to help, but he will need a few hours rest.
So you'll have to divide up the watches. You should have the 2nd most experienced person on the opposite watch, I'm assuming that's you. If you pick your weather right, the toughest thing you might encounter is other ship traffic in the middle of the night.

Knowing how to read the navigation lights, a good set of binoculars and..( radar/AIS if you have it ) go a long way to ease the anxiety of late night encounters with shipping.

Have Fun, be Safe

[Bash]

You're going from Long Beach to San Diego without stopping at Catalina Island? What's the point of owning the Willard if you don't do Catalina? Nobody, absolutely nobody, goes LB to SD without a Catalina stop.

A better itinerary:
***Day one: leisurely mid-morning departure from LB, arrive Catalina no more than 6 hours later, HAVING SAILED MUCH OF THE WAY. Grab a mooring, open a bottle of wine, roast some flesh, sleep once it gets dark.
***Day two: crack-of-down start from Catalina, now in "delivery mode." arrive SD before dark.

No sense getting a life-sling if you're not going to have a life.

[Charlie]

Best $25 bucks you can spend is to pick up Brian Fagan's book called Amazon.com: The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California: Golden Gate to Ensenada, Mexico, Including the Offshore Islands: Brian M. Fagan: Books It is fabulous and will let you know alot about the trip you are planning.

MV just have to ask this question but have you sailed the boat much since you bought her? I would take at least a couple of day sails before taking off on that trip. You don't want to find out that your seacock doesn't hold water when heeled over or anything like that. Nice to do a small stress test Long Beach harbor is good for that.

I am planning a trip similar. WE are goign to sail from SD to Mission Bay to Dana Point to Newport Beach to Avalon then Two Harbors and from there we are still checking to see whether we go to Redondo Beach or Ventura or Channel Islands We will end our cruise in Santa Barbara where we will pick up the delivery crew who were going to help me take the boat up to SF BAy. They weren't upset when we said that we were goign to keep the boat in SD and they would have to help me bring the boat back to SD via Catalina. I think you should take your time and make it a cruise.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Best $25 bucks you can spend is ......

Poor bloke. If he bought everything suggested in this thread he would spend thousands and 6 months installing it all.

Have we all gone so far off the deep-end of cottonwoolism that 3 men in a boat can't even do a night sail without half of Westmarine shoved in the cockpit?

We should be telling Michael to screw up the damn list and go sailing!

Well thats my thoughts I am off to polish my jacklines. (I would if I hadn't taken them off and dumped them.. someone wanna give me 2x39 feet of 1 inch tape?).


Mark

[unbusted67]

Don't calm down I know just how you feel and it is reassuring to hear someone else share the same worries.

On that note I'm sure you will be fine. I would like to second that note about giving point loma a wide berth. There are kelp beds that are not well charted that extend out. Just shoot for the number 1 buoy at the beginning of the channel that leads into san diego harbor. Then hang a left. We will be neighbors. Good luck.

PS Does everyone else agree that this will take him as long as he says? I don't have charts on me but I know that Catalina is only 70 miles from Point Loma. Long beach doesn't look to be twice that right?

[unbusted67]

PPS I just charted it out and it's really more like 90 nautical miles so you can figure on about an 18 hour sail if all goes well.

[Steve Thompson]

MarkJ
Your a bloody mind reader my thoughts to a T
Take a deep breath and go for it just my 2cents worth
Have a great sail
cheers Steve

[rjrap]

I agree with MarkJ. This is just an easy day sail. I did it before in my Catalina 25 when I lived there. You be in sight of the shore day and night. You probably wont even use the GPS or chartplotter.

In Feb you are looking at WSW wind approx 7 knots based on historical weather data.
Just have fun.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by rjrap

In Feb you are looking at WSW wind approx 7 knots based on historical weather data.

Winter sailing on the SoCal coast can bring some pretty heavy weather. Typically it's either blowing 40kts or no wind at all. Thus the "avg 7 kts historical data" (which is worthless information).

There is a series of winter storms rolling through right now and it was blowing 50kts in thunderstorms, with sightings of water spouts last weekend, just off of LB Harbor. This weekend is supposed to be similar. Right now, there are marine warnings up. After this next storm blows through, it may well be dead calm and you may have to motor the entire distance so be sure that the engine is up to it.

Don't pay a lot of attention to the forecasts until 3 days prior to departure. 3-day forecasts here are usually pretty reliable but you must be prepared for anything. Winter sailing off the Cal coast should be taken seriously on an over-nighter.

BTW unbusted67 is right.......it is only 90 miles. However, I would still do it as an over-nighter. It's always best to time your arrival at an unfamiliar port for before noon. That way, if you have issues along the way or there is a light breeze, you are not forced to push the boat to get in before sunset.

I'd leave about 5:PM. That way if you do 7kts all the way down, you'll arrive happy & proud, around dawn. If you only average 4kts, you'll still be in happily before sunset and hopefully not have to motor at all. Remember, the more that you run the engine, the higher the chance of an engine failure. If you were more familiar with the boat, this wouldn't be as big an issue. However, you really don't know much about that engine and I wouldn't put a lot of faith in it.

I remember a guy that sailed over to Catalina from San Diego, a few years back and got dis-masted on the return voyage. They found him 3 months later drifting off of Costa Rica. Sailors get in trouble in that channel all the time. 99% of passages go without incident. You are wise to be prepared for anything.

[pefjr]

When you get exhausted from reading all of this expert advice, discard it and go, send us an email when you get there, enjoy

[Tempest245]

When did 90 miles become an easy daysail ?? There's only 12 hours of daylight.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by Tempest245

When did 90 miles become an easy daysail ?? There's only 12 hours of daylight.

People that don't know what they are talking about always say, "Oh, that's easy". Makes them feel like they know more than they do.

I even liked his prior post better, "In Feb you are looking at WSW wind approx 7 knots based on historical weather data". Now there's a bit of wisdom worth treasuring.....

Anyone else have pilot charts out there?????.....throw the darn things away.....they are useless to a cruising sailor. They mean absolutely nothing when you compare them to real time circumstances..