‘Bit in Hand’: Good Advice for Two in the Fog En Route to Catalina

I thought of Albert Strange’s advice--”always keep a bit in hand”--as we slowly made our way through the fog in the San Pedro Channel last Friday morning.

An oily calm was upon the sea as our sloop, Herald Bird, motored along at half throttle, the compass swinging at 240 degrees. In about 5 hours and 40 minutes that course should bring us to Buttonshell Cove, embraced by the protective headland of Long Point, Catalina Island.

We were expected. Bob Felder, director of the weeklong Long Beach YMCA camp at Camp Fox in the cove, had reserved a mooring for us.

I think my wife and I would have lingered longer at our slip in Newport Harbor had we not been expected. As it was, we’d prudently delayed our departure for nearly two hours until we could make out the dim outlines of the Balboa Peninsula across the channel from Balboa Island. The delaying would be Strange’s “bit in hand,” a precautionary measure that leaves a shade of room for unforeseen circumstances.

I’d never heard of Strange until a couple of months ago, when I’d read about him in Wooden Boat magazine. Strange was an English boat designer, yachtsman and artist of the Victorian era. His great contribution to yachting was in his design of small, simply rigged cruising sailboats that could be single-handed during an era when hands were plentiful and yachts were large, heavily canvas-covered and expensive to maintain.

Strange developed the cruising canoe yawl. The canoe stern, which was the trademark of his most successful designs, became know as “the Strange stern.”

Strange’s advice to yachtsmen is as valid today as when he wrote in 1901:

“Do not drive your boat too hard. Press her to gain a point, but don’t press her all the time. Canvas and sail her with seaman-like judgment, and you will get as far as the man who drowns his craft and wears himself out, while you will be fresh and dry and he will be well-salted and very damp.

“Always ‘keep a bit in hand’--a bit on the weather side, a bit of room to swing clear in harbor, a bit to spare when cutting things fine across shoal patches, a bit of cable to slack out if necessary. In fact, always have a bit to spare of everything you know you will want the most.”

By waiting until the morning fog thinned, we were heeding Strange’s advice to keep a bit of visibility to spare, especially when about six miles at sea and crossing the inbound steamer lane. Those big babies loom up awfully fast while traveling at 20 knots or more; it takes them more than a mile to come to a stop, and their maneuverability is limited. The thought of meeting one of these behemoths suddenly in thick fog is enough to stand my hair up on end.

Motoring at half throttle holds in abeyance that extra bit of speed we may need to avoid something unexpected, keeping that bit in hand.

Fortunately, the thickest fog was closest to shore. By the time we reached the inbound steamer lane, visibility had become at least a mile, and our apprehensions began to lift, too.

Some 18 miles later, we made our first landfall of Catalina since our recent cruise of the Greek islands on a much larger vessel. It was remarkable how alike Catalina looked from the seato many of the Greek islands, and we rejoiced in that knowledge. How lucky we are to have such an unspoiled island off our coast, thanks chiefly to farsighted Catalina Island Conservancy that assures no growth in man’s ways but imposes no such restrictions on nature’s ways.

Felder was there to greet us at Buttonshell. He had arranged for me, once again, to give a magic show around the evening campfire for the campers, a whole new group of young faces. It was good to be back on our “Greek” island again.

Sailing Notes

- With the signing of Senate Bill 89 late last month by Gov. George Deukmejian, the coast waters between Point Sal, Santa Barbara County, and Yankee Point, Monterey County, were permanently closed to the use of certain gill and trammel nets to protect the southern sea otter. Under the closure, gill and trammel nets with mesh sizes larger the 3 1/2 inches in length cannot be used in waters 15 fathoms or less in depth. Dept. of Fish and Game biologists estimate that about 80 sea otters a year were accidentally entangled and drowned in gill and trammel nets between Monterey Bay and Port San Luis during the last two years.

- Our official state tallship, the Californian, is reported in Hawaii, having sailed from here to represent the state during the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Japanese immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands. She is scheduled to sail with several other tallships in a parade tomorrow from Coco Head to Honolulu. Eight cadets from throughout the state, ages 16 to 24, in company of senior cadet Alison Watt of San Clemente, are aboard the California. Kevin Mullen of Mission Viejo is learning navigational skills and seamanship while participating in a documentary film aboard ship with actor William Conrad.