Spray

Last week LeeAnne and I took Spray on a four day weekend trip to attend the 2011 All Islander Rendezvous at Catalina Harbor on Santa Catalina Island. We loaded Spray on Wed, Sept 7th and left our slip in Channel Islands Harbor at 5:30 AM Thursday. We motored directly towards the West end of Catalina at a little over 6 knots in calm seas and light wind. By mid-morning we had light and variable winds from behind so we continued powering. We came across a couple of large groups of common dolphins that seemed to be in a hurry to find their next meal. We tried sailing for an hour or so in the afternoon; however, the wind was still light and variable blowing from our stern. We finally gave up and continued motoring to the West end and then to Catalina Head where we saw several small groups of Rizzo's Dolphins. Once in Cat Harbor, we hailed the Harbormaster on channel 9 and picked up our assigned mooring (F4) at approximately 3:30 PM.

This was Bubba's first long trip aboard Spray and we gave him a small dose of Dramamine to prevent him from getting seasick. The medication made him rather drowsy and, as hoped, he didn't get seasick. We took the dinghy to shore and walked to the Two Harbors side. It has been about 20 years since LeeAnne and I sailed out boat to the Isthmus and we were curious to see how much it had changed. The Two Harbors side was a bit more developed with nice public restrooms with showers, a visitors center, and rental shop for snorkel, SCUBA, kayak, disc golf, etc. The general store and Harbor Reef restaurant were still there and seem to have expanded.

Behind us there were three Islander Freeport 41's from San Diego and an Islander 36' sloop from Ventura for a total of five Islanders. Brad from Big Tuna, the middle Islander Freeport 41, came over on his dinghy to welcome us and provide an update on the plans for the weekend. It turned out that the FOGgers moderator and Rendezvous organizer, Don Grass, had a breakdown with Grasshopper and was unable to attend.

On Friday night we had a group barbecue and pot-luck at the picnic area just above the Cat Harbor dinghy dock. This was our first opportunity to meet the other Islander attendees. We first met Islander Freeport 41 owners Dave and Kim from Canta Libre, Brad, his wife Nikki and daughter Dawn from Big Tuna, Hank and Brandy from Windscape, and Phil and Anne from Mouse Pad, the Islander 36' sloop. It was great meeting the others and hearing about their sailing adventures and/or plans. It turns out that Phil has owned Mouse Pad for many years and has sailed her extensively in Mexico and across the Pacific all the way to New Zealand.

The next day we slept in longer than normal and again went to Two harbors to walk Bubba and shower. On the way back to Spray Hank hailed us over to his boat and invited us aboard for a tour. That night we all met at the Harbor Reef restaurant for a wonderful dinner.

On Sunday morning we dropped the mooring at 6:30 AM for our return trip to Channel Islands Harbor. We motored in very flat seas and no wind at 6.8 kts for most of the way. The wind picked up in the early afternoon so we sailed on a broad/beam port reach for the last 2-1/2 hours. We used the autopilot the entire time in both directions and it worked flawlessly. Also, the AIS from the VHF radio integrated with the chartplotter informed us of all nearby commercial vessels. It was great being able to determine their name, course, speed, heading, destination, etc. with a push of the buttons. This was the first time we had a chance to use our rigid inflatable boat with the 8 HP outboard... and it worked very well. It was also the first time we used the Honda generator to heat the water and charge our batteries.

All in all it was a great trip! We had pleasant weather, met delightful and interesting people, got to see Two Harbors again for the first time in 20 years, learned that Bubba can indeed handle long trips, and Spray worked wonderfully. After running the diesel engine for approx 18 hours, our fuel gauge went from slightly above 1/2 tank to slightly below 1/2 tank and we ended with 138 total hours on the engine. Here are some pics (the Friday night pics are from Brad):