Monday April 27
Another grocery store run was made today. It was a 6 mile walk round trip. We typically are buying produce.
There are several commercial fishing boats docked close to shore in the marina. You can purchase directly from them too, Joy bought 2 Dungeness crab, cooked them up for dinner.
Movie night, we watched Blow the Man Down on Amazon Prime, made popcorn using the leftover crab butter.
Saturday April 25th – we spent the entire day in the fog. Yes real fog, with little to no wind, as we traveled 59 miles from Redondo Beach to the Channel Islands, Smugglers Cove, the fog lifted as we arrived. Going to anchor here for the night. Tomorrow we’re off to Santa Barbara. Where we’ll wait for a weather window.
For dinner I made Southwest Chipotle Pasta with shredded chicken. One pot meals are the best!
Wind… we’ve experienced a few named wind events on our journey, the Papagayo, the Tehuantepecs, and now just north of Los Angeles is Point Conception, the Cape Horn of the Pacific. There is no specific name for these winds, it’s a combination of wind, waves and current with the islands and mountains, creating a Venturi effect. There is potential for abrupt change in strong north winds while rounding the point.
Sunday April 26th left the island by 7am, arrived in Santa Barbara by noon. Along the way we saw several whales. Finally captured a photo of a tail! We were about 1/4 mile from them.
Joy and I purchased Alaskan Halibut from a local fish market on the waterfront. we grilled it along with bell peppers for dinner.
Friday April 24
Departed Island White by 9am. The plan is sail out a ways away from all this red tide, as we need to make water.
By 5pm we arrived at our destination, Redondo Beach.
For dinner Joy made pasta in Alfredo sauce with sautéed vegetables and chicken sausage.
As we’re sitting in the cockpit after dinner, at anchor, we saw a few boats go by with what looked like lights underneath them. Then we realized it was bioluminescence! The best we’ve seen! The water literally sparkled, when fish swam by they were streaks of light. Dan swirled a deck pole in the water. (be sure to listen to the conversation.) 😃
Thursday April 23
At noon we departed Newport Beach, arrived at Long Beach by 5pm. We sailed through a parking lot of tankers and cruise ships.
Two days ago Dan called Los Angeles harbor police regarding anchorage at Cabrillo Beach as that’s what the charts say to do. The dispatcher said just call when you arrive to let us know you’re here, so we did. After an unfriendly conversation with an officer and his supervisor, they said we cannot anchor there, if we did we could get fined and or the boat impounded. Guess their dispatcher should know this! There were also two other sailboats anchored there.
We eventually anchored by this little island, Island White, which has oil rigs on it. Several mooring balls are available to connect to. There is a cluster of four little oil rig islands.
For dinner I made Fajita Bowls. Layered rice, shredded chicken with black beans, corn and salsa with garlic and Cumin, cheddar cheese, chopped Romain lettuce, optional extra salsa and sour cream.
Monday the 20th- there are gale force winds expected to begin around 3pm today. The anchor was up by 7am, arrived at a marina in Newport Beach by noon.
We walked the beach and logged 5 miles walking today.
Had a Zoom family get together, made chicken fajitas for dinner.
Tuesday the 21st-laundry and provisioning day! The laundry here is free!!! Yes free!!! Everything is getting washed while we’re here. I went shopping along with Dan and John.
We ordered take out pizza from Il Farrio Italian Restaurant, supporting the locals.
Wednesday the 22nd-the local American Legion post next door to the marina, is offering meals for purchase, it’s a drive through. We ordered lunch from them.
Out with the old, in with the new!
Grilled hamburgers for dinner with roasted potatoes and watermelon. Tomorrow we plan on leaving Newport Beach for Los Angeles.
April 17-19
Our new dinghy purchased at Trade Wind Inflatables, should be ready Tuesday or Wednesday. We are also having custom fit chaps made for it, this is why there is a delay. Chaps are a sunbrella covering to protect the vinyl from UV rays. We could have made them ourselves but the supplies would have to be ordered and we don’t exactly have a shipping address.
Friday the 17th we theft the Anchorage at Mission Bay by 8am heading towards Oceanside, arrived around 2:30. The police are not allowing anyone to dock there nor would Camp Pendleton (we called them) allow us to anchor in their empty basin.
Plan B. Going to Dana Point for the night. Boats anchored are required to stay behind the yellow buoys. We were next to the one in the photo. The wind shifted late resulting in that yellow buoy banging on the hull in the middle of the night. More anchor chain was deployed to drift away from it, which later became entangled with the buoy ground tackle.
Saturday the 18th, departed Dana Point in the morning headed to Catalina Island. Unfortunately the island is closed to all visitors. We anchored in Catalina Harbor for the night.
For dinner we made Coleslaw and Fish Cakes from left over grilled Wahoo. Not a fish we caught but we were given raw frozen by Rick and Danielle on Festina lente, who we met in Mexico, we both were at the police dock in San Diego, they departed before us.
Sunday the 19th. This morning we’re heading to Avalon Bay, circumnavigating the Island.
Arrived at Avalon mid afternoon, a call to scthe harbormaster was made, they are not allowing anyone to anchored in the harbor. He however recommended an anchorage 2 mile away.
We dropped anchor here in 70ft of water.
For dinner we made Chicken Cacciatore with Rice. Later watched National Treasure.
Thursday April 16
Departed San Diego mid morning only to drop anchor 13.2 miles away Mariners Basin, Bonita Cove at Mission Bay. We will be doing several short passages passing time waiting for our new dinghy to be ready on Tuesday.
For lunch we had a Costco Cobb Salad shared by 4.
Grilled burgers with roasted vegetables for dinner on the boat.
Wednesday April 15
Provision Day, it’s a crazy world out there. Costco has two enter lines, general one and the other is for 60 and older. When we left, the general coral had a waiting line but not the 60 or older. It’s like having a fast pass at Disney! There were no paper towels, disinfectant wipes, limited toilet paper, and no flour! Loaded up on fresh produce, bread, chips and yes a boat staple, Pop-tarts!
After Costco we went to Vons, they also had several bare shelves. We did however manage to get 7 lbs of all purpose wheat flour from a Co-op. We had dinner with Leslie and Dave, ordered take out from a Hugo’s Mexican restaurant.
April 13-14
Not much happening here on Sailing Trance. Our torn sails were dropped off at the North Sails loft here in San Diego. The damaged Code 65 sail as well as our spinnaker that caught the edge of the spreader and tore. The spinnaker should be ready on Wednesday, North is still discussing internally how or what to do with the Code sail. Not sure when we’ll see that sail again.
Our dinghy, which is old, leaks air from the material requiring it to be pumped up every day, time to replace it. There’s an Inflateables store here in San Diego, after several conversations with them, without explanation, they won’t sell us a boat. A new dinghy was purchased from a store near Los Angeles, we’ll pick it up in a day or two.
We’ve been working on boat projects the past couple of days. Several boxes we had shipped here for us, mostly parts and spare ones.
My beautiful Seabags tote arrived that was made from our old Island Packet mainsail! Donate your old sail and get a free tote bag! Be sure to mention your donation is for supporting the Seabags all women’s sailing team.
Grateful to Leslie’s for having us for dinners!
Leslie and her friend David stopped by for Captains Hour and to see the boat.
Departure from San Diego May be Wednesday or Thursday, after checking the weather. We have been using PredictWind as our primary source. Looking to purchase an Iridium GO! soon for offshore reporting.
Sunday April 12
Happy Easter, it was quiet day. Dan, John and Joy spent time polishing the stainless steel on the deck.
For dinner we had a small Boar’s Head ham, Caesar salad, scalloped potatoes, fresh fruit, cheesecake for dessert. With champagne for our beverage.
Sailing Trance 