Packing a Bag of Tricks to Use on a Magical Summer Journey

The Skipper Says: New kelp beds make rounding Eagle Rock, on the windward side near the west end of Catalina Island, unsafe.

Have bag of magic tricks. Will travel by sea.

Yes, my bag of tricks is packed, enough for a 20-minute show, and by Thursday I shall have my Herald Bird’s forepeak unstuffed of gear, including jib and mainsail, along with about everything else from the main cabin, and I then will have room to stow duffel for this weekend’s cruise to Catalina Island’s Button Shell Cove.

The reason for the jam-packed forepeak is that I’ve been varnishing the interior of the main cabin. Then it’s off to Button Shell, a cove protected by the headland of Long Point. Here lies the Glendale YMCA’s Camp Fox. This week, however, about 200 boys from Long Beach, under the direction Bob Felder, are attending camp. And what a splendid water-oriented camp it is. The kids snorkel, dive, swim, fish and row boats.

It astonishes me that any of them are able to stay awake for the evening’s campfire in a bowl up the canyon. That is where I’ll perform my annual magic show. I figure I’ve played there for at least the last five years, and have yet to lose a boy to sleep. At any rate, I claim the distinction of being the only seagoing conjurer who rows ashore in a dory boat to do a show.

Sailing Notes Top-flight youth sailors from throughout California are expected to compete in the First Holder Hawk National Youth Sailing Championship July 18-20 in the south bay area of San Diego Harbor. This regatta, hosted by Southwestern Yacht Club of San Diego, with supporting facilities of the Coronado Yacht Club, will involve three age groups--9-10, 11-12 and 13-15. Sailors reaching their 16th birthday during this year are ineligible to compete. For additional information call Edward Van Os, (619) 222-0438, or Hobie Cat, (619) 758-9100.

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club will hold its Couples Cruise to Isthmus Cove, Catalina, July 18-20. Two consecutive summer sailing instruction programs open to local youngsters between the ages of 9 and 18 will be offered July 2-31 and Aug. 4-28 at Dana Point Yacht Club. Classes will run from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Tuition for each session is $110. Call 496-2900 for reservations.

The Seal Beach to Dana Point Race will be held July 26. The 28-mile race is a favorite of racer-cruisers as the course is all “downhill”--a reach following by a spinnaker run. The Yachtsmen’s Luncheon at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club today will feature speaker David Cuckler. He will show slides and talk on his 17,000-mile voyage on his Hawkeye II from Newport Beach through the Panama Canal, north to Iowa via various rivers and waterways, then to Florida and the Bahamas, returning to home port.