Change of Seasons Means Time to Sail

Autumn can be one of the best times of the year for sailing across the 27-nautical-mile channel between Catalina Island and Orange County’s harbors.

On most days, a sailboat leaving its Catalina mooring no earlier than 11 a.m. can pretty well expect to make it across the San Pedro Channel without relying on its auxiliary engine. Last Sunday was no exception. My wife and I brought our 27-foot sloop, Herald Bird, across in 5 hours, 40 minutes under a mostly steady westerly wind of a little more than 12 knots. It was the kind of easy broad reach that delights sailors.

It was generally what I like to call a “two-finger” sail. You can hold your course easily with but two fingers laid on the tiller. When the sea began to lump up during the last two hours, sending lightly cresting swells scudding beneath the Bird’s stern port quarter, you had to mind the helm with a firm one-hand grip to keep her from swinging off course as the force of the waves attempted to shove her abeam.

The trick is to keep the jib from spilling its wind and then recovering with a loud pop as it fills again. We should have entered the Newport Harbor jetty at least half an hour earlier, but keeping the jib filled necessitated holding a course up wind by at least 10 degrees. This put us about two miles up the coast from the harbor mouth. But the exhilarating sail was worth it. We carefully jibed about and worked our way before the wind down the coast toward home.

The mysterious Catalina eddy--wind that bounces off Point Conception in a curve seaward--is one of the problems in sailing steadily across the channel. You then experience a fine breeze once you clear the lee of Catalina for about five miles seaward. Then in the middle of the channel, the wind falls off. Patience through mid-channel lighter airs brings its reward, when the westerly, which followed the inward curve of the coast (a mainland Catalina eddy), freshens once more.

There have been rare fall and winter sails when we managed to sail off our Catalina mooring at White’s Landing under a steadily increasing wind and reach the Newport Harbor channel mouth in less than five hours. That is sailor’s heaven. You get into the harbor and with deep reluctance you turn on the engine and drop sails. You feel you could go on sailing like that forever.

Sailing Notes:

- A law requiring anyone making repairs to recreational boats to provide written estimates before doing the work and detailed invoices at the completion of the job becomes effective Jan. 1.

The law stipulates that the customer must give written or oral consent to the estimate before work can start. The final bill may exceed the estimate by no more than 10%. Failure to provide the written estimate can result in the loss of lien rights by the repair facility.

The bill does provide ways to change the cost estimate, but only with the written or oral consent of the customer. The repair firm must maintain a complete log of its communications with the customer.

- The San Diego Bay In-the-Water Power and Sailboat Show, Oct. 1-5, at Chula Vista Marina, will provide a first look at some new sailboats. Among them will be the Mikelson 50, a cutter or ketch-rigged vessel that has been designed for easy handling and low maintenance. Also the Hylas 42, a performance cruising sloop designed by German Frers, will debut. Others are the Sparhawk 366 Cat Ketch, designed by Richard Black; the Al Mason 33, and the Robert Perry-designed Norseman 447.

- Duncan McIntosh Co., sponsors of the San Diego show, will construct a temporary 350-foot by 100-foot dock south of the Chula Vista Marina. The dock will be installed on Monday and will be dismantled on Oct. 15.