More »

San Diego to Oxnard

Share your Adventures with SpotAdventures

We visited a couple more of the Channel Islands – Catalina and Santa Barbara – both on the way out and on return. Catalina still leaves me cold. It has everything that Santa Cruz does, but it’s covered with people. I’m no misanthrope (someone who hates people, Randy), but they sure clutter the landscape.

Entering San Diego was very interesting. Though no carriers were underway in the harbor, there were plenty of warships on the radio. In fact, we got turned back when we wanted to circumnavigate Santa Barbara. That area wasn’t hot, but it was close to a firing range and it was too hard to explain we wouldn’t intrude. So we didn’t and just headed for Catalina.

The weather was dismal on the way down and we motored a great deal. The return leg got better and better with our final leg under blue skies with winds near 20 knots most of the way. It was beginning to feel like Southern California.

BTW – the Local Notice to Mariners that cites hovercraft operations near Camp Pendleton – well, there’s no real restriction, just an alert. We clocked one on MARPA at 40+

More »

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.

————

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.

———-

Sail Channel Islands

More »

We all know that a drowning victim waves their arms and will sometimes shout for help.

And we’re all acutely wrong.

Read gCaptain’s recent blog and you’ll know what to look for.

Signs of drowning.

thanks, Mack for sending this along to us.

//dan

More »

Just gotta wonder what they were thinking.

Everyone got rescued, but there was probably no good reason why they should have found themselves upside down under their catamaran in the first place. Read the report in Latitude 38.

Then comment, critique, write a diatribe or just speculate.

BTW – if you don’t subscribe to the ‘lectronic version of Latitude 38, you can start right here.

More »

Although this particular fox is in the Santa Barbara Zoo, her cousins in the wild are doing very well. I know, anthropomorphism is a bad habit I have, but it’s easier to care about something soft and furry than slimy and spikey. So in the interests of promoting anthropomorphism, here’s a link to a Nature Conservancy piece on our favorite rescue animals. Island Foxes Slide Show.

=========
Santa Barbara Zoo
Nature Conservancy
Sail Channel Islands
======
PS No, we’ve never seen a fox in the wild. The closest we’ve got is seeing fresh scat.

————

More »

22 June, Santa Cruz IslandEaglet soars, perhaps for the first time.
Here are other recent clips from the nest cam:

PH – A69 Takes Another Flight, But Rushes Back For a Food Delivery
PH – An Island Fox on the Nest Startles A68!

PH – A-69′s First Flight?

===========

Sail Channel Islands

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

More »

Boat in the Buff??

A friend of mine who lives in New Zealand suggested we offer a no-clothes option this season.

Frankly, I’m just happy that June gloom hasn’t forced us into mucklucks and parkas.

The idea is titillating (what a fine word for this exposition), and with air temps getting near 70, some may be tempted. I, for one, am keeping my shirt on.

On the other hand, if it is your cup of tea (or whatever), see Boat in the Buff.com

And if you want to doff your shirt (or more) while aboard our boats, be our guest. But underway, you’ll still need your lifejacket.

Sail Channel Islands

_________________

More »

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.

————-

Sail Channel Islands

_____________

More »

Just back from our Alaska adventure with Cruise West. I learned a lot from the captain and crew of Spirit of Columbia and got other lessons just walking the docks of Seward and Cordova on Prince William Sound.

I’ll break my info down into some bite-sized chunks and publish a bit at a time.

Sheridan Glacier near Cordova, AK

And it rained. Actually only drizzled, but we stayed damp all the time we were outdoors.


Nevertheless, Alaska provided breathtaking vistas at every turn. The crew on the Cruise West ship Spirit of Columbia and our guides on the raft trip were superb.

More to follow.
——–


sailchannelislands

More »

Glacier tour

Hi Shipmates -

Lynn and I are off for a week, heading to Prince William Sound. If only this were a sailboat ….

This is a dual purpose mission: vacation and research. I’m going to school on how this cruise line does the job. It’s a smallish ship with about 70 passengers. “A soft adventure,” just as we bill our Channel Islands Cruises.

Apparently the accommodations are very similar to Sancerre’s guest cabin i.e. cozy. Their crew, like ours, takes folks on side tours, gives the nature talks, prepares and serves the food. They just do it for many more people than the Bosun and I.

I don’t know that they’ll share trade secrets, but even so, I’ll get to see this from the customer side of the operation.

If you’re trying to book a trip with Sail Channel Islands, just shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I get back to California – I should be back in gear by 19 June.

Sail Channel Islands

———————-