More Tales of the Southern California Santa Ana

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Sean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty years ago, Captain Sean Quine set out for the first overnighter on his new yacht. He sailed to Smugglers Cove on an idyllic afternoon.

Conditions changed.

Radically.

People – though not in Sean’s crew – died.

Log entry: 28 October 1988

Maiden overnight voyage on Down Under, a 54-foot Hunter cutter-rigged sloop.

Aboard: my girlfriend Nicki, my soon to be step-daughter Brittany, a friend of Brittany’s and me.

Weather: Skies clear, a steady 10 – 15 knot wind out of the NW.

Passage to Smugglers: Uneventful and entirely enjoyable. We arrived at Smugglers to join about 9 other boats. We chose to anchor approximately 200 feet from the point which separates Smugglers and Yellowbanks.

At anchor: The afternoon was glorious, an inflatable zoomed around the cove pulling a water skier; the cove was sunny and the water flat. That evening, as I swayed in the hammock I’d strung between the staysail and the mast, I remarked to my girlfriend on how bright the stars were that night.

We called it a night at around 10pm, and fell asleep.

Anchor watch: At 2am the wind started howling. Within an hour it was over 30 knots with gusts to 50 knots. A bit of the roller-furling staysail came loose, exposing it to the full force of the wind. This eventually caused the furling line to part and the sail unfurled explosively. I raced to the deck to lower the sail, however not before the sail was shredded.

Fortunately, we had set two anchors at approximately 45 degrees relative to port and starboard bow. One was a 44lb Bruce and the other a Northhill.

The wind was now heading directly towards the southern end of Smugglers; the boat had spun around and was no more that 10 feet from the rocky point at the southern edge of Smugglers.

Wind and sea continued to build over the early morning hours. Wind waves of more than 6 feet crashed into the anchorage. Pictures I took of the neighboring sport fisher show waves breaking over the bow of the anchored boat.

For now, my anchors held tight and kept me off the rocks. The boat was equipped with a dated manual windlass that we were not sure could handle the load. We realized that unless we were to cut the anchor lines we would be unable to move to a safer anchorage.

We decided to wait it out, as the anchors appeared to be holding fine. Right next door in Yellowbanks, drama was unfolding as a Coast Guard cutter had washed ashore in an attempt to rescue another boater. Later, I heard that another boat with a family aboard had died as their boat slammed into Anacapa.

Escape: The winds persisted for nearly 5 days as we sat aboard Down Under hoping for a break. On the fifth day the winds had decreased to 25-30 knots and we decided to take our chances. With Nicki at the helm, we motored at full throttle against the wind and waves. In the process of pulling up the first anchor, the line parted, leaving the anchor firmly secured to the seafloor. During this attempt the dinghy painter got wrapped around the prop and sucked the dinghy (a hard fiberglass with wood trim dink) under the boat and crunched it into many pieces.

Having now only a single anchor we contemplated our next move. Since our engine was out of commission we decided to attempt to pull the anchor and sail out of the anchorage. Fortunately the second anchor did come up with the manual windlass and we were able to reach out of the anchorage under sail.

Homeward bound: The passage home was windy and bumpy, however we made it to the Ventura harbor entrance just in time for the wind to die completely! We were towed back into our slip.

The Bill: Down Under had damage to the hull, sails, and lost the dinghy. Total damage – as they say – $15k. The insurance company was grateful; grateful that it wasn’t a total loss.

I learned a valuable lesson about sailing and carefully selecting an anchorage at this time of year. And to keep a watchful eye even if the weather seems perfect.

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