Oceanside, Ca. to Dana Point, Ca.

[Brian D]

Left Saturday morning in thick fog. Probably shouldn't have without radar, but there was maybe a 1/4 mile visibility ring around the boat.

Started with three boats in my flotilla. No sooner after we hit the first buoy outside the harbor, I lost all the boats. By the time the fog started to lift, I found out I had added two more boats. Weird. LOL

About 2/3rd the way up my outboard just stopped. Thought it was kelp but found out I left a valve open on my empty tank. Some of the fuel was siphoned from the full tank, but the main problem was no fuel was getting to the motor. My water separator was bone dry of fuel. Shut off the empty tank valve and had to pump fuel back into the separator and finally into the engine.

The entire trip was in fog. There were so patches of maybe 3/4 mile visibility, but that was about it. Even when we hit Dana Point Harbor entrance, it was still foggy.

No wind to speak of on the way up. Water was really glassy. But once we hit into the harbor, it was like gusting up to 21 mph. Made for docking a true test of skill. I failed. Ended up docking into the slip next to me. But we got the boat moved.

Departure sent me to the fuel dock for a quick 5 gals "just in case". Even though it was, again, thick fog, the wind was up and so were the sails. We spent about 2 hours under sail. The of the trip (for time reasons) was under power.

Over all it was a good trip. Went up with the Yacht Club, total of 10 boats. This was the first time my wife went with me. She was a little nervous at first. But I kept showing her our location on the charts. No land was seen until we got to Dana Point. And what we did see it was obscured by the fog.

Trip time: Up to Dana Point about 5+ hours. Return to Oceanside about 6+ hours.

Will have to do this trip again. Hopefully without the fog next time.

 

[Allan12210]

Brian,

Those are strange trips. My wife and I have gone from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay many times in the fog with the same kind of visibility you experienced. Its like you are the only people on earth as all you see a circle of water around you that tips this way and that. We don't have radar either, so we just keep a watchful eye out. We've encountered other boats but they proceed cautiously and there is time to maneuver out of the way when necessary. Good job on the navigating. Its always a good feeling to arrive somewhere and have been comfortable during the trip as you pretty much knew where you were always.


Allan

 

[justsomeguy]

Good navigating!

 

[Rick D]

Same Experience

Sunday Morning, the dog and I left early to motor back to Long Beach. It was sunny and clear when we left Marina del Rey, but we hit fog with about 100 yards visibility about Manhattan Beach. It was no big deal since there isn't much traffic there and I figured we would pop out when I went around the corner at Palos Verdes. No such luck. It got thicker until we only had about 100 - 200 feet visibility for most of the trip. I passed within 50' of two buoys and a couple of boats. I kept hoping my radar kept working since I had problems with it a while ago and it hadn't had a good test. Approaching Los Angeles harbor, things really got interesting since there is a lot of traffic there. I cut my speed and dodged one ferry and two pleasure boats and entered the harbor just on radar. I could not see the breakwater or light. I turned to the breakwater from inside, finally spotting it 100' away. I followed it for a few miles to the Long Beach entrance and then turned to my harbor. I finally spotted it 200 feet away and entered. Naturally, it was clear and sunny inside! On the plus side, the dog and I saw a breaching whale, lots of dolphin and a couple of shark before the white stuff. Tiring trip.

 

[caguy]

Sunday Morning, the dog and I left early to motor back to Long Beach. It was sunny and clear when we left Marina del Rey, but we hit fog with about 100 yards visibility about Manhattan Beach. It was no big deal since there isn't much traffic there and I figured we would pop out when I went around the corner at Palos Verdes. No such luck. It got thicker until we only had about 100 - 200 feet visibility for most of the trip. I passed within 50' of two buoys and a couple of boats. I kept hoping my radar kept working since I had problems with it a while ago and it hadn't had a good test. Approaching Los Angeles harbor, things really got interesting since there is a lot of traffic there. I cut my speed and dodged one ferry and two pleasure boats and entered the harbor just on radar. I could not see the breakwater or light. I turned to the breakwater from inside, finally spotting it 100' away. I followed it for a few miles to the Long Beach entrance and then turned to my harbor. I finally spotted it 200 feet away and entered. Naturally, it was clear and sunny inside! On the plus side, the dog and I saw a breaching whale, lots of dolphin and a couple of shark before the white stuff. Tiring trip.

Its been a weird summer on the west coast. Seems like most dys were foggy and overcast. The best weather was out in Catalina where you could look back to the mainland and seen it all fogged in.
There seems to be a lot of whale activity. I've seen five blue whales this year. This was Sunday last week.

 

[Alan Gomes]

Its been a weird summer on the west coast. Seems like most dys were foggy and overcast. The best weather was out in Catalina where you could look back to the mainland and seen it all fogged in.
There seems to be a lot of whale activity. I've seen five blue whales this year. This was Sunday last week.

Nice shot of the whale tail!

I wasn't out this weekend but I did check out the Avalon and Two Harbors web cam yesterday morning. Two Harbors was socked in, as was the SE side of Avalon (by the green pier). There was some visibility on the side of the harbor toward the Casino, and also at Descanso. Interesting conditions.

 

[Brian D]

We were hoping to see some whales. All we saw was the spout from the whale when it barely broke the surface. That was from maybe 1/2 a mile away. No whale flukes. My wife was a little disappointed as was I. But none the less, it was a fun trip save for all the fog.

 

[zeehag]

nov-may--many --now not so many...




goooood tale!!!

 

[windward54]

Friends of ours were sailing back from Two Harbors to Redondo Beach after the Labor Day weekend. They spotted some blue whales and slowed down to watch, and were barely moving. Unfortunately a whale apparently tried to breach and stuck their boat. The boat suffered a stress crack in the hull and was slowly taking on water. Good news is they made it back, the bad is they are waiting to see if the boat will be a total loss to the insurance carrier.

 

[zeehag]

i sail in migrating season so i see many and many kinds--i keep same speed when i spot them --they know i am there and will do their thing around us--i dare not change speed until i know where each one is and in what direction they are heading.... they are huge and they are smarter than we are--but things happen.
is kind of nerve wracking crossing their path when in pods of many---formidable and awesome critters.

 

[rfrye1]

Same here.

We left Avalon Sunday 8am headed toward Oceanside for the nite then to SD this morning. Decided to break up the long run to SD. We hit fog about 3 nm out from Catalina. My vis was maybe 500 yds. I was a nervous cat looking for freighters passing thru the channel. My radar is down at the nav station, so I got a good workout running up & down looking at the radar and scanning the horizon!

I had some fog this morning when we left Oceanside at 6am too, but not as bad as Sunday.