Category Archives: Channel Islands

Sailboat burns, sinks at Anacapa Island

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A Hunter sailboat catches fire, sinks at Frenchy’s 7/8/2010

The Coast Guard and Vessel Assist responded to a report of a burning vessel last week. The preliminary report said that the captain was sailing alone, had anchored in Frenchy’s Cove and had started cooking on his rail-mounted barbecue.

The captain reported that he fell asleep and awoke to find the boat in flames. He abandoned ship in a small skiff and was picked up by a Good Samaritan. He was subsequently transferred to a Coast Guard vessel and returned to the mainland. He suffered no substantial injuries.

The following day, Vessel Assist, Ventura refloated the vessel, policed up the debris and towed it back to Ventura Harbor.

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Comment

That had to be one scary experience for the captain. We’re hoping he was well insured and glad that he wasn’t hurt, at least not badly. We’re also very thankful that Capt. Rob of R Escape has mounted a fire extinguisher on our boat about 5′ from our barbecue.There are also two in our galley area below.

Cooking is the number one cause of fire on diesel powered boats and a stove without an adjacent fire extinguisher is a big oversight. In the case of a rail-mounted barbecue, it’s probably impossible to safely turn off the propane when the stove is engulfed in flames. But there are three ways to turn off your galley gas – the burner control, the solenoid and turning off the tank in the lazerette. Definitely a topic worthy of a crew briefing.

I’ve always been confident that I could survive cooking with a rail-mounted barbecue, afterall, it’s mounted on the rail outboard of the boat. With the top on it, it’s not likely to flame the bimini. Of course, I try not to fall asleep (or pass out) while I’m cooking as I’m partial to rare beef and unblemished gelcoat.

I’m fairly sure that there are more lessons to be learned from this incident.

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Sail Channel Islands

Planning on hiking Anacapa? Not so fast

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Unless you’ve got climbing gear, you’re not going to easily get to the top of East Anacapa Island. NPS was actually in front of this problem and had decided to replace the decades-old ladder last spring. Unfortunately, a recent inspection showed that corrosion has rendered the ladder unsafe ahead of schedule.

OK, so what’s the problem? When will the new ladder be ready?

The really big problem is that a recent inspection of the crane that they use to offload materials from boats and was slated to be used in the ladder construction was also deemed unsafe.

NPS was in front of this. No one got hurt and the problem will get solved.

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Sail Channel Islands






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More eaglet info than you’re likely to want … though I’m totally fascinated

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FACTS: The chicks hatched on 4/3 and 4/5, 10 & 26 have used this nest at Pelican Harbor for the last five years, the nest is a bit over 12′ in diameter  …. there’s that and much more information at http://chil.vcoe.org/eagle_faq.htm

And, if you don’t want to watch 24/7, there are some sweet extracts at Janntone. And the low down on “hacking” and other eagle conservation techniques from the folks who do those things – The Institute for Wildlife Studies.

Sail Channel Islands with Capt. Dan

Eaglets starting flight tests

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Eaglet tries wings

Our Santa Cruz Island eaglets are growing fast, and, as I wrote to one of my shipmates I saw yesterday that the chicks are learning some manners, dodging out of 26′s way as she settled into the nest in the afternoon.

Those chicks are not pretty kids. They’ve gone from being really grotesque at hatching, to ungainly, to homely and they’re now on their way to becoming  adults when they will be awfully foreboding.

I think the Muppets ruined the grandeur and majesty of eagles for me.

Fasten your seatbelts

Anyhow, the dear little things have discovered their wings, and Rocket #1 here is flapping those little stubs. He didn’t get much altitude – exactly zero – but he did get some crash landing practice has he rocked over on his face.

They’re getting more entertaining. Tune in before they fly away.

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Sail Channel Islands with Capt. Dan

We’ll react a whole lot differently on the next Tsunami alert in Ventura, California

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The next time we get a Tsunami warning, we’re not going to dither. We’re going to do one of two things if we’re in Ventura:

1. Get underway and get to deep water
2. Get to high ground.

This video from the 1994 Thai Tsunami is very instructive. For one, it shows that the first wave is not necessarily the worst wave. Watch the video for at least a minute. The second wave shows up at 53 seconds.

Tsunamis are probably widely known as tidal waves because they look tidal in that a lot, a whole lot, a veritable s-load of water comes ashore. The wave may be only a couple of feet high, but it can be on the order of a half mile long. And initially, it’s moving at 500 mph. Compare that to towering surf, which around here gets to maybe 20 feet, but runs back maybe 100 feet. And it trucks in at -what? – 20 knots?

A lot of us now realize we have never seen anything like a Tsunami. Nothing remotely like a Tsunami. NOAA warned us to stay away from beaches and out of the harbor.

So those of us who ran to the harbor and waited on the boat for this monster to come crashing in the other day were lucky that this Tsunami was trivial. Had it been something on the order of the second wave in the video, folks sitting on their boats would have been in for a fight for their lives.

However, if they’d been in deep water, they might not even have noticed.

Next time I’m either getting underway or heading for Ojai.

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