Here’s an application of technology that my father waited his lifetime plus a couple of decades to see. I debated with myself about putting a non-ocean subject in the blog, but hell, it’s my blog and I, too, have been waiting for this technology to make it to my neighborhood.

Autogyros, Gyrocopters and the like have their origins in the 20′s. The various names were adopted and then defended as brands using the same technology.

Though they look like helicopters, they are not because the main rotor is unpowered and rotates as the vehicle is pushed (or pulled) through air by an engine and propeller. Actually, the resemblance to a helicopter is  on the scary side as full-on helicopters autorotate when they lose power. (Note: these aircraft are unrelated to much tastier, though slower, gyros.)

Anyhow, it looks like fun and I want one. For more information, checkout the Wikipedia article.

Posted in Sailing

A Beluga “speaks” on KPBS.

More intelligible than the last telemarketer I allowed time to speak.

Why no picture of the talking Beluga? Belugas are white, it’d just blend into the page. But seriously, I got dinged for using an image that did not belong to me in a long-ago post. I didn’t know that “fair use” did not apply to my situation (I posted a picture of melanoma in a blog concerning sunscreen, skin cancer and sailors). It was, after all, a public service.

Getty Images, in terms explicit and somewhat threatening, said it’d cost to use the picture. I immediately took it down (it wasn’t “up” in the usual sense, but buried in an archive). Nevertheless, they asked for something north of $700.

They were right, I was wrong.

I paid up, deleted all of my archives (what else might have lurked in there{?}) and scrubbed the rest of the site.

I am chastened. BTW – if you find yourself in a battle with Getty, all the advice I could find said pay up, shut up and don’t do it again. If you don’t do all three, it can get very, very expensive.

The climate still seems pretty rosy in SoCal and it looks like just about any time is a good time to sail.

Extracted from Coast Pilot Click here to see larger

So what’s the best month to sail in these parts?

Actually, we don’t have data from the Channel Islands, but we do have about half a century worth of data from LA. I’d argue that the temps will be a bit different, both high and low, but not much. On the other hand, winds are likely to be a lot lighter near LA. Click the chart at left for a larger display.

Some facts that may help you plan your sailing vacation.

Temps: January is the coldest month with mean high of 64.8 and mean low of 47.1. July, August and Sept average highs near 76.

Cloud cover: It’s overcast about 30% of the time all year with June the worst at 37.5% and November the best at 24.6%.

Rain: It’s pretty arid, but we do get about 2 and a half inches in January and February and 11.8 inches for the whole year.

What to make of it? If you’re from the midwest as many of my relatives are, you’d say we in SoCal have no weather at all. My sailing friends from the midwest would be delighted with the forecast any SoCal day.

I’d argue we do have variation in our weather. We have good. And we have better.

For more info see Coast Pilot, Appendix B, page 651

Coast Pilot 7- United States West Coast

Admin note: I’m moving the blog to a subscription system. I intend to put out two more e-mailings to friends, clients and interested sailors, but after that the only notification of a new blog will be via subscription. To subscribe, hit the SUBSCRIBE tab at the top, fill in the blanks and you’re on the way. If later on you find that you no longer need info about our area, unsubscribing is even easier.

Continued whale mortality due to ship strikes may be slowed with this simple proposal: move the “lanes” out of the whales’ primary feeding grounds. That may happen by this summer with an order to move the southbound lane about a mile north.

We’ll keep you posted  … and so will the Local Notice to Mariners.