Author Archives: Capt. Dan

About Capt. Dan

Capt. Dan is an American Sailing Association certified instructor and runs a sail charter operation in Southern California. I'm particularly interested in sailing (obviously) and ecology issues, particularly those affecting the Channel Islands here in Southern California

GPS just might be useful

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Brian’s pep-talk

Just before we headed out for a weekend of snarly weather, I attended a talk at Channel Islands Yacht Club by Brian Fagan.

Brian Fagan, author of "Cruising Guide to the Channel Islands"

If you don’t know who Brian is, then you haven’t (intelligently) sailed the Channel Islands, for Brian wrote the book on it. In fact several. And that night folks at the yacht club mobbed him for signatures on their copies of “Cruising Guide to the Channel Islands.”

Brian encouraged us all to head out to the islands. Yes, there are hazards — which he explained in some detail — but with proper planning and preparation it is a sailing ground not to be missed.

He also encouraged us to sail the way he learned: sans fancy instrumentation – without GPS, radar and so forth.

I nodded my head in agreement. But headed out the next day with the GPS fired up, the radar in standby and the depth gauge pinging away.

I do agree with Brian that a prudent sailor must know how to use a chart, plot a course, figure the time enroute and be able to get the boat to the intended destination in an orderly fashion. I’ll go a step more: I believe that we should do that sort of prep every time we sail. The reason most people cite for that sort of precaution is that the satellite might die or the batteries might give up. But my reason is something more likely – you might have entered erroneous data in the machine. A manual plot will tell you if there is a discrepancy …. plus you’ll be ready to handle the other contingencies.

And here’s another reason you want to tune in your GPS (and teach your crew how to use it). If you ever have occasion to scream MAYDAY into your mic, the Coast Guard (or Vessel Assist or anyone else who might want to lend a hand) is going to ask for your Lat/Long. Yes, you could go down and plot it, but it’s pretty handy to read Ves Pos right off the instrument.

A few summers ago, I heard a power boater cry MAYDAY, giving his position as one mile south of platform Gina. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles repeatedly asked for his Lat/Long. Wasn’t a solid landmark good enough? Well, NO. Sure, the local boys at CG station Channel Islands could find it easily enough, but if they needed to bring in a helo or help from other agencies, they really did need to know Lat/Long.

BTW – It’s easy to screw that up. We’ve heard sailors give the cursor position rather than Pres Pos or Ves Pos and we’ve had to laugh when boaters gave the destination coordinates and the would-be rescuers responded with “if you were really there you’d be safely tied to your dock. Try it again.”

Next week: Riding sails and GPS at anchor

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Charter info

Lessons

Cruising Guide

 

Flashing blue light astern … it may be the FAT PATROL

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Too fat to float

OK. The Surgeon General says we’re too fat. It’s his business to keep track of our health. But now the Coast Guard?

Eat Drink & Sail!

I wish I had someone else’s picture for this, but all the ones I found were too insulting or showed fatalities. So I used my own, and by God, I’m going on a diet.

Here’s the deal — the Coast Guard has changed the calculation for carrying capacity raising the assumed weight of passengers to 185 pounds. According to Soundings, since 1960 the assumed weight had been 160 pounds.

The call for change stemmed from two boating tragedies. In March 2004, a pontoon water taxi called Lady D overturned in Baltimore Harbor with 25 aboard. Five people died; four were severely injured.

In October 2005, a monachal called Ethan Allen sunk in 70 feet of water on Lake George in New York while carrying 49 passengers. Twenty elderly people died.

This doesn’t affect cruise ships or recreational boats, but does impact so called T boats. One Miami cruise operator points to his craft, which before the modification was allowed to carry 49 passengers and is now limited to 35.

Though we haven’t heard of a Fat Patrol, it’s not a stretch to imagine that Harbor Patrols will start looking a bit more closely at boats that are riding low in the water.

Santa Ana winds — sailing the margin

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Santa Ana winds roar through Oxnard Plane

Santa Ana winds roar through Oxnard Plain

Santa Ana winds regularly whip through this area about this time of year. But you don’t have to quit sailing just because the wind is out of the east.

NOAA doesn’t call all easterlies, not even all strong easterlies, Santa Anas. I’m not sure what NOAA’s Santa Ana criteria are, but looking at the Sailflow chart, you can figure out that the heart of this thing is moving along at 30 knots.

That’s not a lot, especially not when you consider that historically these winds have clocked in near 100 mph (NOAA thinks mostly about effects over land, hence mph rather than knots.)

Yesterday’s Sailflow looked about the same as this morning’s. It was a warm — better than summer — day here in Oxnard and we were eager to sail. So off we went.

As we reported yesterday on Facebook, it was a rip-snortin’ day, but on reflection, there were some lessons to take aboard for the next bout of Santa Anas …. which happen to be lashing the palm trees right now.

Sailflow was exactly correct: the winds were NE and not affecting Channel Islands Harbor. We started out on a broad reach heading south. We were in the yellow band — the margin of the flow. We saw winds in the 20 regime, but what is weird and dangerous in the margin is that the air is very turbulent and wind direction and velocity swing wildly. We saw 20 from the NE and then a 10 second calm, when the windex did a 360 and then 15 knots out of the NW.

That happened over and over: the water would boil with short period gusts and we’d get ready for a forced jibe, then it’d settle down and we’d be rocking along on an 8 knot sprint.

We had a great time: starboard rail in the water and almost instantly a lull was followed by a wind shift that put the port rail in the water.

Great fun, actually. Had we wanted more consistent wind, we could have sailed a bit more to the south and had all the NE flow we could stand, or we could have sailed north into more consistent (though still gusty) W to NW winds. In the gusty region we explored, we elected to keep the main in pretty tight, mostly because we were uncertain that we would be able to predict when the boat might jibe. We also remained scrupulously clear of the boom.

Only two other sailboats were out there with us, but they returned early. One looked like a Hunter with  a jammed main furler. The other guys just quit.

Our helmsman was worn out at the end of three hours and we replenished our strength at the Lookout, where they tapped a new keg of IPA for us.

Altogether, a very satisfying day on the water.

Landing Cove, Anacapa Island added to Sail Channel Islands Cruising Guide

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Landing Cove at the far east end of Anacapa Island is the only place that you can gain access to the east island. Most days, it’s pretty difficult to get there in a kayak or dinghy because there is usually a pronounced swell, which makes getting into and out of — but particularly into — a small boat very tricky.

You’ll likely find yourself dropping the hook in 50′ of water. And even at that depth, your boat is going to be very close to the bluffs. I think it prudent to keep qualified boat driver aboard at all times when anchored here.

Santa Ana winds coming to Oxnard, Ventura, LA

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Santa Ana depiction Thursday night

Gusts to 60 Wed to Friday. The Oxnard Plain really lights up Thursday night.

Read the detailed NOAA warning.