Coming home to Oxnard in Heavy Weather

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© Wayne Lambright 2005, photos used with permission

Santana 22, about to be engulfed, passes beneath Golden Gate Bridge. This does not go well.

This picture shows this hapless boat just before it and the crew are tumbled by the breakers. This most graphic of graphics prompted Mack Frankfurter to ask the best strategy for returning to Ventura or Channel Islands in heavy weather.

We’ve come back home to Channel Islands Harbor a few times when we wished we hadn’t. The most notable was a high speed transit home from Santa Cruz in 40+ knots (gusts over 50) and swells building to more than 10 feet.

The swells were not penetrating the channel that day, so if we could get past the breakwater, we’d be home free. It was a harrowing ride aboard the 46-foot, 12-ton Sancerre. A swell caught us as we neared the breakwater and lifted so high we felt as if were floating above the G1 light. The wave broke, really collapsed, and we settled into frothy whitewater, but inside the breakwater in fairly flat water and a mere 30 knots of wind.

Coast Guard 47-footer in action

Was there a better way? I called the Coast Guard Station at Channel Islands and talked to Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Jimmy Allen. Petty Officer Allen is the operations PO and an expert at driving all of the boats at the station and a graduate of 3-week National Motor Lifeboat school at Cape Disappointment, Washington.

According to Petty Officer Allen, either 30 knots of wind or swells greater than 8 feet constitutes heavy weather in their book. When conditions get to that point, they will only operate the 47′ Motor Lifeboat. Nothing smaller.

Allen’s advice coincides with what we teach at Sailtime Channel Islands Sailing School: Take time to assess the situation before leaving the harbor. Allen says watch for at least 10 minutes and check both the north and south exits. We agree that south is usually best in the prevailing W-NW wind and swell.

When PO Allen’s leaving on SAR, he’s got to go. We don’t, and if the waves are crashing over the breakwater and the sea looks like mashed potatoes as far as you can see, go back to your pier.

Let’s take the case that you’re already out there and heading home in snotty weather. Again, scope out the situation before committing. Call the Harbor Patrol on channel 16 to get their assessment of the situation before heading in.

Get the boat ready. If you’ve been paying attention to the conditions, you’ve already got your hatchboards in place, your hatches dogged, loose gear stowed and you’ve got everyone clipped in. Start the engine and get her warmed up. Brief your crew on what to expect and what you’ll be asking them to do.

47-footer at Morro Bay

If we have our typical N-NW windc and swell, approach the harbor on a broad reach – never dead downwind – that could turn into an ugly gybe. Put the engine in gear. You’re likely to need every bit of power from every source to make the passage. Try to get the rhythm of the swell. PO Allen runs at nearly full power and settles in behind a swell, doing S-turns so that he doesn’t outrun the waves. That’s obviously something we can’t do in our 8-9 knot sailboats. But we can read the waves.

If the moment you’ve picked turns extremely snarly, come up to a close reach and head back out for deep water, another look and, maybe, better conditions.

I set up so that I’ll pass close to the breakwater – normally 50 yards or so and at about 90 degrees to the breakwater. The swell will shoal up in the shallow water, making the waves higher and steeper, but it’s better to be as far upwind as possible than to get blown down to the south jetty and the shallow water south of it.

As soon as I’m a hair past the breakwater, I turn up hard, go to max power and head for the lee of the breakwater. We trim our sails and sail almost parallel to the breakwater until we’re on the channel centerline or slightly left of it. Then we head in.

All of that said, there may be a time when the wind and swell are so hazardous that you’re better off staying put at an island anchorage or even simply heading back to deep water. It’s a tough call – my crew is tired, we’re already here; do I want to try to wait out the storm?

Finally, Petty Officer Allen says that they’ve been able aid boats in distress by positioning the 47-footer directly astern and matching speed. This dampens the effect of the breaking water.

The discussion of returning to port in heavy wx will continue in the next blog. If you’ve got an experience to share or comments on the issues, please post them in the comment box below.

See you on the water

Capt. Dan

2 thoughts on “Coming home to Oxnard in Heavy Weather”

  2. Joe Schmidt the sailor who sank his Santana 22 “Yachtsea” in this sequence should have known better. The south side of the Golden Gate bridge is a well known surfers hangout the break at this locale can be treacherous. Had he entered the Bay to the north of the south tower he would have been safe. This sailor did not have to enter so close to Fort Point in these conditions. The telltale he failed to recognize was the obvious presence of surfers in the water so for out from shore. Surfers align themselves with the critical break of the wave to catch and ride them. I guess Joe Schmidt is now called Joe Schmo locally. He is said to be famous … I would ay imfamous. Failure to use good common sense is a recipe for disaster. As a side note, you can see the Doublehanded Farallons Race in the background of the slide show. A warning had been issued to all sailors in the race not to use the bay entrance between the south tower and the shore. Apparently, this sailor did not heed that warning.