Carl and myself are planning on doing a weekend catamaran trip to Goat Harbor on Catalina from October 23 to 25 (Friday to Sunday). We are taking Carl's Hobie 18 with a 2.5 HP motor.
There are pictures of Catamarans on the the beach at Goat Harbor if you search online. Neither Carl or myself have been to this landing which is a big part of the appel.
If others would like to join on it looks like there is room for up to 12 people total (4 people per site: 3 sites).
Obviously the trip is weather dependent, but reservations are required so we need to make plans now. I have reserved one of the three sites. If anyone else is intrested in going, it makes sence to reserve a diffrent site. If we have three crews going, and we reserve all three sites, we could have the entire cove to ourselves.
The crossing from San Pedro (where we are launching) should be a reach to Goat Harbor is typical westerly wind.
Last year we did a trip to Catalina and there was vertually no wind so a motor is a really good idea.
If the wind dies, will you tow me across with too :)? Would love to do this trip, don't know if my wife will let me me :(.
We had a really good time doing a similar trip last fall.
Our motor is very small and light weight, but it is also just enough to push our boat. We towed another cat away from the island last year so they could get out to where there was wind. But otherwise, it is too long of a crossing for anyone to be towed.
There is plenty of time to fabricate a motor mount and find a small motor...they are pretty inexpensive.
yes, motor mount shouldn't be too hard depending on boat type to rig something yourself. I still need to work up something for my Prindle 19. Probably do something with L brackets and a board as transom to mount the motor we discussed with might work well on the stern for Prindles without a lip. I have a light weight 2.5HP Mercury, maybe 30lbs or so..my boat was overloaded last time around we went. Would probably dump a lot of that ballast next time around, e.g. no tent, just a sleeping bag should do.
Only kidding about being towed. I'm staring to consider this. How much gas are you taking? Is there cell phone reception from the island?
kevinlbatchelor wrote: Only kidding about being towed. I'm staring to consider this. How much gas are you taking? Is there cell phone reception from the island?
you can buy gas at Avalon, so probably a 2Gal would do. Service is patchy overall, near Avalon could be better. Wouldn't count on it. There's trackers and GPS locators, some with text service. The cheapest is probably SPOT or Delorme's InReach Iridium that I use with family. They have various plans some subscription some one month at a time.
Edited by marekli on Sep 02, 2015 - 03:11 PM.
I think we took about 2 gallons last year. We ended up using most of it on the way over so we went into Two Harbors to buy more. I plan on taking more this year. Last year we used small camping gas bottles (spun aluminum) so we could refill easily while out in the ocean. That worked pretty well. This year I think we will do the same but possibly take a separate 2 gallon gas can to refill the small bottles for the ride home.
Hopefully there is good wind and no gas is needed.
Fuel consumption also depends on what kind of motor. I have a modern 4 stroke so it is pretty easy on gas, an older 2 stroke will consume much more.
I have always been able to get at least texts out when over at Catalina Island but like Marek says...it is a bit spotty. We used VHF radios to communicate with on the water.
here's a boat for sale that comes with an electric Torqueedo...seems the engine more than doubled the price for the boat:
Not so. The boat sold for $3000 two years ago and was in very good condition. Torqeedo was needed to get out of his canal--probably should be sold separately. The 18-2 is a quality boat & few around. Pete
prindle pete
I'm in, but debating bringing a motor. If it's dead like last time, I'll probably turn back and save myself from another 12 hour crossing. I plan on being prepared to leave the first sign of favorable winds.
I found this report of a group which hiked from Goat Harbor to the airport. My first choice for Saturday would be to sail to other coves and "explore" the coast a bit, but its good to know hiking is an option from Goat Harbor.
http://www.gohikeit.com/2014/08/catalina-airport-hiking-trail.html
that looks like a fun hike from Goat Harbor...like Gene said it's good to know there's a few things folks can do on Saturday. If someone is looking for crew send me a PM, I'd probably be up for it.
there was an incident with 2 fatalities where a dinghy was run over by a power boat at 1am in the pitch dark in Descanso Bay by Avalon last weekend. Probably due to failure to use running lights. Last year we spent half a day in low winds trying to reach the Parsons Bay and around 3 hours or so sailing in the dark. It must have been 10-11pm by the time Gene/Carl guided us into Parsons Bay with flash lights.
Fortunately, I had running lights with me on our cat - we had at least one boat motoring by us. You can buy portable ones that mount with velcro straps or suction cups for a few bucks online. It's a good investment, especially if you decide to forgo the motor...
I have inexpensive removable battery operated running lights. If you are only sailing they might not be required but still a really good idea. At minimum a flashlight is required. A good bright flashlight to light up your sail will make you very visible from far away but navigation lights are better as they let the other vessel know which way you are traveling.
Here is the direct link to last years trip. If anyone is intrested in this trip or a similar trip, it has a ton of info...
http://www.thebeachcats.com/forums/viewtopic/topic/14181/start/100
I just booked our second site. I believe we have three boats going and Dartman a maybe.
Sounds great Lance, better start whistling up the wind!
Searching online for more info about Goat Harbor I came across this picture of a cat pulled up on the beach....
http://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=18822
The album was posted by "Gary" with the boat "Whisk".
There is many other pictures online with sea kayaks pulled up on the beach.
It sounds like another cat sailor booked a second campsite. If anyone else is interested, book the third ASAP. It would be great to have the cove to ourselves.
I just bought a used 2hp motor for the trip...now for the mount. Precious few weekends left to prep the boat and trailer, working way too much these days. I plan on heading down the 21st to avoid morning traffic the 22nd and stepping the mast. I'll leave the boat overnight since the parking gate is attended 24hrs and find a nearby hotel.
There are people looking for a ride. More Cat sailors would be great. Still at three maybe four boats.
You taking the 19 Lance
genehacker wrote: Searching online for more info about Goat Harbor I came across this picture of a cat pulled up on the beach....
http://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=18822
The album was posted by "Gary" with the boat "Whisk".
There is many other pictures online with sea kayaks pulled up on the beach.
I just have to pop in here and chuckle. 10 years ago I think Gary was responsible for 25% of the posts on the beachcats and probably coordinated every trip to catalina. Now he has become some guy who posted a pic. 🙂
I've never been to goat harbor, but I've done the crossing to Two Harbors several times in the past. Does anyone still go there on beach cat?
-Eric
SC20
H18
efinley wrote:
I just have to pop in here and chuckle. 10 years ago I think Gary was responsible for 25% of the posts on the beachcats and probably coordinated every trip to catalina. Now he has become some guy who posted a pic. 🙂
Hey Eric, good to see you here!
Blast from the past, one of Bill and Gary's excellent adventures to the Channel Islands onboard a Mystere 6.0 in 2001.
http://www.thebeachcats.com/OnTheWire/home1/res07lm8/hobie/archives/v5-i1/feature1.htm
____________
Damon Linkous
Hey Damon,
Yeah I'm still around just not as much time for web forums now that I have kids. 🙂 But my brother has become more active on this site since I left. Still sailing though!
-Eric
SC20
H18
aka - tallest guy on the beachcats. 🙂
Yep, I'm taking the P19. Should we bring something to slide the hulls above the high tide line?
Bill Matson is still making crossings to the local Channel Islands and has wild stories about encounters with heavy winds this past summer. On his most recent trip to Santa Cruz Island, he sailed back his H18 on jib only doing 12 knots in 10 ft seas.
Marek and Bill had a Mr Toads Wild Ride adventure a couple of months before during another Santa Cruz crossing.
Eric, you should consider joining and sharing some of your experiences /stories from those earlier days with Gary. I just sent my 3rd son off to college and am looking forward to more of these trips, the one we did last year to Parsons Landing was a lot of fun. The Channel Islands offer some of the most beautiful untouched nature in Southern California with beautiful, marine life, flora and fauna to enjoy. If you have a liking for a bit of adventure and don't need all the creature comforts then a trip like this can be a really fun thing...
Gary Friesen's socal yahoogroup is another option to post about this trip to, just google it. I posted something there last year and got a few responses.
efinley wrote: [quote=genehacker]Searching online for more info about Goat Harbor I came across this picture of a cat pulled up on the beach....
http://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=18822
The album was posted by "Gary" with the boat "Whisk".
There is many other pictures online with sea kayaks pulled up on the beach.
I just have to pop in here and chuckle. 10 years ago I think Gary was responsible for 25% of the posts on the beachcats and probably coordinated every trip to catalina. Now he has become some guy who posted a pic. 🙂
I've never been to goat harbor, but I've done the crossing to Two Harbors several times in the past. Does anyone still go there on beach cat?
-Eric
SC20
H18
spfx wrote: Yep, I'm taking the P19. Should we bring something to slide the hulls above the high tide line?
Bill Matson is still making crossings to the local Channel Islands and has wild stories about encounters with heavy winds this past summer. On his most recent trip to Santa Cruz Island, he sailed back his H18 on jib only doing 12 knots in 10 ft seas.
Marek and Bill had a Mr Toads Wild Ride adventure a couple of months before during another Santa Cruz crossing.
I'm gonna walk back those sea heights a tad, after checking buoy data. Probably in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 feet. Steep as hell though, right on the beam. (I've got some GoPro video of some of it, but video flattens conditions, and a fisheye flattens them even more. ) On the big ones, had to head down and surf them to prevent a broach. When my tiller arm got tired of that, I tried heading up instead. The problem there was that as the bows left the water, the wind would blow them downwind, so I went back to surfing figuring I'd have Ben Gay for the arm when I got home.
The decision to sail on jib only was after the experience I had with Marek at Scorpion on Santa Cruz. Winds where 30+ at the ranger station. The blowing sand took the windward registration sticker off the boat. It was the first time using a custom reef point on the new sails, and there were issues with that, but we left the beach away, on a run. As soon as we hit the wind line, with are weight as far back as we could get it, we pitchpoled both hulls to the crossbar. Broke the gooseneck pin, which caused some very interesting issues on capsize, and also had a rudder problem too detailed to get into here. Left the boat there, took the ferry home, then came back a week later with parts. Had a wonderful sail home.
Didn't mean to get into war stories here, but what I determined from both experiences here is that if you've got really heavy conditions, and your destination is anywhere from a beam reach to a run, sailing on jib alone is very doable. I was getting 12 knots of boat speed, and had good control. The downside is raising the main at sea which can be challenge depending on the sea state. The real solution for me is to get my reef point straightened out.
Sorry for getting wordy. I need to frequent this forum more as you guys have some interesting stuff going on. I wish I could join you on the Catalina trip, but I've got weekend commitments through Oct. Maybe next time.
Will anyone have SPOT beacons on board? I'd love to follow you guys on your trip.
Bill Mattson
Hobie 18 "Cheap Thrill"
Edited by mattson on Oct 11, 2015 - 01:33 PM.
Bill Mattson
Hobie 16 #58342
Santa Maria, CA
Just another fun story....
Years ago, we took a trip to Two Harbors with pretty good sized group of cats. I had purchased the boat only 3 weeks or so before. The next day some of us took a daysail up the coast, and one of my rudders snapped off right below the casting. (Apparently the previous owner had left them in constant sunlight). We limped back to Two Harbors. In a exercise of Positive Thinking, I told my son and Buzz Waterstreet that the next time they saw me, I would have a Hobie 18 rudder in hand. I then marched off to town wondering where in the heck I would find one.
Long story, but I ended up meeting an old Hobie 16 sailor who was building a deck and said I was welcome to any parts I needed that were laying in the crawlspace under his house. I found complete hobie 16 rudder assemblies, crawled back out to borrow a couple wrenches, then went back under again to get a rudder. I then borrowed the guys drill to drill the Hobie 18 bolt pattern in the Hobie 16 rudder. (I had brought the remaining section of rudder with me to use as a template). Came back with the rudder to the amazement of the others. Good times!
Bill Mattson
Hobie 18 "Cheap Thill"
PS: In my last post, it's kinda funny that the second word of Ben G-a-y is automatically censored by the forum.
Edited by mattson on Oct 11, 2015 - 01:50 PM.
Bill Mattson
Hobie 16 #58342
Santa Maria, CA
Pretty far out for reliable weather forecasting but the long range looks promising...
Here is the long term for Avalon:
FRI Oct 23 84° 68° mostly sunny S 7 mph
SAT Oct 24 82° 67° Sunny NW 7 mph
SUN Oct 25 81° 66° partly cloudy S 6 mph
I would be happy if that holds. Hopefully the winds would be a bit higher in the channel.
On a side note this trip will be on Carl's (OneKiwi) last weekend as a single man. So it just might be his last sailing trip ever 😉
Edited by genehacker on Oct 15, 2015 - 07:11 PM.