17 October 2000
Note: We got a bit behind in writing the log in San Diego when Suzette flew up to San Francisco when her mother had hip surgery then had computer challenges in Cabo San Lucas so the San Francisco to San Diego segment turned into the San Francisco to Cabo segment and is now being brought to you as the new and improved San Francisco to La Paz segment.
We Left San Francisco on October 12 a day later than we had planed. We decided to wait out the trailing end of the first storm of the year that brought snow to the mountains of California. Paul worked aboard the boat storing all the gear back into its traveling space. Suzette ran the last minute errands and grocery shopping.
We sailed out under the golden gate about 4:45 p.m., Suzette’s parents were at Fort Point to take our picture as we sailed by. It didn’t turn out to be the best photo as the roller furling line got tangled and the current was setting us toward the south caisson at an alarming rate so it was a bit of a panic. So much for a picturesque departure under the bridge at sunset.
We had thought about stopping at San Simeon to tour the Hearst Castle but sailing speeds are so unpredictable that we passed there about 2:00 a.m. and decided to go on. The wind picked up earlier that afternoon to about 25 knots, and luckily we had figured out how to work the monitor wind vane earlier that day. It was great! We just sat back with amazement as "Monte" steered down the waves better than we could have done steering by hand. The real challenge on the trip was expected to be Point Conception and we wanted to pass it in daylight so we used the motor to keep our speed at a predictable rate for most of the day as the winds had decreased. We rounded Point Conception about 5:00 in the evening. The wind was blowing 25 to30 knots and the seas were at the most 9 feet (a calm day by Point Conception standards). Once we were in the Santa Barbara Channel the winds diminished and before long we decided to motor sail so we could make it to Long Beach in day light the next day. It certainly is amazing the sail by the big oil platforms in the middle of the night. They are light up like small cities.
We sailed into Long Beach harbor and found a nice spot to anchor behind a man made island called Island White. There are three islands in the harbor that actually are oil wells. I guess the city made the oil companies clean up the eyesore’s so the islands are covered with palm trees and cement structures like Mayan ruins and water falls. It was a great place to anchor if you can put up with the sound of the generators and pumps all night.
We visited with our friends Pete and Linda White in Long Beach for a few days. They are with the Sea Launch program and were recently transferred to Long Beach from the Cayman Islands and are renting a great place right on the beach and boardwalk in a really neat neighborhood. We put our new yacht club membership to good use and stayed at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club which was a five minute walk from Pete and Linda’s.
20 October 2000
Today we sailed to Avalon, the main port of Catalina Island. It was an easy four hour sail from Long Beach harbor. "Monte" the Monitor self-steering vane drove all the way while we read books and took turns napping. This sailing is really rough.
This harbor is an interesting study in how many boats you can pack into a harbor and how much can you get those boaters to spend on their visit. All the boats are on moorings (at $16 a night and you must be off by 9:00 the next morning) and water taxi to town is $2 per person one way which we did instead of launching the dinghy. The town is incredibly picturesque and the front streets are packed full of shops, restaurants and hotels. The main means of transportation is by golf cart as the number of cars on the island is limited. The streets are narrow and busy with the putt and whine of golf carts in the hands of people who have never driven such a vehicle, but everyone in town was having fun. Great new ceramic tiles on the walk way out to the "casino" which is a huge building that has a 1200 seat movie theater and a huge round dance floor on the top floor. The tiles show all aspects of Catalina Island history and are beautiful. Unfortunately the casino was not open for tours as they were having their annual jazz festival. The building was built in the twenties I think.
We sailed out of Avalon about 8:00 p.m. the second night and arrived at 11:00 in the morning the next day in San Diego. We got the boat anchored and went ashore and found a "get to know each other BBQ " going on at Downwind marine for the Baja Ha-Ha fleet. We have great timing for free food and beer!