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SoCal Cruising & Catalina

L

Lightspeed

Willpower
Shorthanded Sailors - I recently purchased "Willpower" a custom IOR Peterson 42 built at Dencho for Will Philips, hence the name. After years of racing Dennis Choate converted her into a fast cruiser with a hard dodger and below deck comfort. Luckily with the purchase she was grandfathered into the Channel Islands Marina. Before I bring her home to SF, it seem like the perfect opportunity to hang out down here and explore warm SoCal cruising.

The Channel Islands are close for a day trip but I am not seeing any safe anchorages on the charts. Santa Barbara is a day trip north, however, with Catalina just 70 miles south, seems like the perfect extended destination. The seller tells me "Willpower" has been to Catalina a lot however to get a "ball" is not always easy.

I have been encouraged to share my trials & errors down here and I will, however, it would be great to hear from others about their cruising Catalina and SoCal, especially shorthanded. I will post some pictures as things develop...Rick
 
Congrats on the vessel!

I grew up sailing in Long Beach and San Pedro. My family would spent a few weeks during the summers in Isthmus and Avalon on Catalina. You're going to love it.

I live in SF Bay now and have an Ericson 32-3 which I'm refitting for Hawaii and back single-handed. Currently refitting a lot, I'm thinking of a shakedown cruise to the Channel Islands and was wondering about anchorages, etc. Someone suggested this book as a cruising reference: https://a.co/d/aLWiJvg Might be useful for you as well. Look forward to hearing how it goes!
 
Cruising the California Channel Islands

This book is long out of print, but might be available from used book sellers. Brian Fagan was a UCSB Prof and sailor out of Santa Barbara. I met him there many decades ago.

PS. - I don’t know how much of this book is also in Fagan’s newer “The Cruising Guide to Central and Southern California: Golden Gate to Ensenada, Mexico, Including the Offshore Islands” referenced in Bryan’s post above since I only have the one.

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Pelican Bay at Santa Cruz Island is straightforward with good protection from prevailing wind. It could be small on weekend.
Smugglers Cove on Santa Cruz Island is even easier, because it is so large. Protection from prevailing westerly is good.
Since you have a fast boat, sailing to Catalina Harbor on the "backside" of the isthmus is good. It is a lot less crowded there, the protection is great, and there are many mooring balls, as well as some boats anchored.
 
Thanks guys, seller left lots of charts & books on board but I haven’t had a chance to review them yet so maybe I will get lucky. Todd thanks, I did a Google earth and your suggestions look great. Haven’t had her to full speed yet but SoCal PHRF is 57 even after the cruise weight. I am hoping to do a reconnaissance sail next week….Rick
 
SoCal log. With a 12-15 Kt forecast and great 70+ weather, the plan was to head towards Anacapa Island 11 miles away https://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/anacapa.htm Unfortunately the wind never kicked in and we came back and cruised the harbor.

The Channel Islands Harbor https://www.channelislandsharbor.org is made up of four separate marina’s, two boat yards, two Yacht Clubs, restaurants, bars, a USCG station, and lot of seals. With a harbor hotel no boat need to stay within walking distance of renting a jet ski, paddle board or an electric boat that look like they came from Disneyland’s jungle cruse. If you want to go for a walk, Hollywood Beach is endless.

To the north is a Mini Fort Lauderdale with private docks. Although it is not a gated community, the bridge over the water entrance is just high enough to get a Nordic Tug’s flybridge under but low enough to keep those silly boats with masts from moving into the neighborhood.

With the warm weather and some wine, we tried out our high tech cockpit lights….Rick - WP

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Dear Riff Raff
It sounds like you are having a wonderful time. I sailed out of Richmond yesterday and still needed long underwear and a sweatshirt. At least the sun was shining. So glad to hear about your new boat, and love that silly night light. Singlehanded or not, you remain resourceful.
 
The Fagan book is the standard for down there. Pelican Bay and Smuggler's are a good start. Little Scorpion is wonderful midweek (great kayaking). Coches Prietos (on the south side) is wonderful if there's no south swell. Prisoners is just east of Pelican Bay. Most of these anchorages are quite small (Smuggler's is an exception) so if more than two or three boats are there you will probably need to put out a stern anchor as well. My Cal 2-27 is down at CIH (I like sailing to the islands) so DM me if your boat is still there. I go down once a month.
 
Starting to miss that SF summer breeze. Last two trips had mostly morning fog with only light afternoon winds (but warmer!).

Recently discovered the 100’ schooner on our docks end tie has a musical owner. Not David Crosby’s “Mayan” but a fellow band member “Old Man” boats “W.N. Ragland”.

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