South Again in California

Until late September, we didn’t have much clarity about the general trajectory of the first few months of our adventure. Our master-sketch of our trip looked somewhat like a spiderweb across the Pacific, a choose-your-own adventure of possibilities that in some final form might resemble a clockwise loop. But after a month of slowly sailing south along the Californian coast, we were approaching a decision point. We essentially had two options after arriving in the Santa Barbara area:

1. Venture west in the 2nd or 3rd week of October when the historical weather models show a favorable window for westbound crossings to French Polynesia or Hawaii
2. Continue south in California towards Baja and postpone our westbound crossing until mid-February, and explore Baja and the Sea of Cortez in the intervening months

We are fortunate to have friends who have done both of the above, so it was immensely helpful to hear opinions from several of them about what each option would produce. It’s obvious now that we’ve chosen the second option, and for several reasons.

• It gave us more time to settle into life on the boat before a major ocean crossing
• It kept us on the North American continent longer, allowing better access to support and parts as we continued to shake down the boat
• It opened the opportunity to explore Mexico, a country none of us has ever visited before, in a very unique way

We had one particularly inspirational FaceTime call with our friends from SV Kuaka, who having been to most of the above route options just a year prior, put in a huge plug for Baja, particularly its rugged and remote west coast. Ben said, “of all the things we did on our Pacific loop, the west coast of Baja is the place we wish we had spent more time.” There it was.

So instead of finding ourselves frantically provisioning for a long passage while in Santa Barbara, we were instead eagerly procuring some previously-loved surf boards for the famously friendly and perfect peeling waves of Baja’s west coast.

If the Channel Islands were our first exposure to some off-grid cruising during this trip, the remainder of our experiences in Southern California would be a grid-lovers tour. We decided to make the most of this and explore some of the better traveled cruising, urban, and -mostly- marinas that the area had to offer.

From the Channel Islands we decided to skip Los Angeles and hop a little further south towards Dana Point. We made a brief overnight stop at Cherry Cove on Catalina Island, where we got a small sense of Southern California’s most popular cruising ground.

If the Channel Islands National Park is rustic, Catalina is downright metropolitan. Every anchorage seems littered with well-maintained mooring balls, enough to pack in everyone and their brother in the peak summer months. We struggled to catch the harbormaster before their workday ended, but when we connected with them we were assigned a mooring tight into the shore, making the most of Flyer’s shoal draft.

It would have been nice to explore Catalina Island a bit but we were living on a schedule with an already-delayed reservation at the Dana Point Marina. After a quiet dinner and early bed, We dropped our bow (and stern!) mooring lines at sunrise for the 40 nautical mile hop across the channel.

Our jump to Dana Point was motivated by a couple factors – we’ve been to LA as a family before, and we wanted to see the area named after Sir Richard Henry Dana! For those who have not read Two Years Before the Mast, it’s an incredible read and gives a captivating history of the California coast (and questionable labor practices) that puts this place and time in perspective.

Historically speaking, the point that bears Sir Richard Henry’s name provided a bit of protection from westerly and north-westerly winds for ships, but certainly most importantly it created a world-famous surf break known as Killer Dana. Unfortunately, the development of the marina all but erased that break. Surfers today are forced to pick up the scraps with a small break on the eastern edge of the Marina at Doheny State Park.

Our arrival in Dana Point was delayed by a week, but we took advantage of our visit there to accomplish a few important tasks. First, a big thanks to Liz and her team at the Dana Point Marina for being so flexible, and accommodating all of the packages that collected in your office for us! Our first batch of snail-mail (and a few forgotten small items from home) came our way (thanks to Brittnie and Chuck), as well as some additional engine spares from the UK (I can’t recommend Parts4Engines enough!), replacement Starlink cables (thank you Trio!), and some miscellaneous other items including a loaned collection of paper charts for the West Coast of Baja from SV Kuaka (thank you Ben and Sophie!).

As in our time in Santa Barbara and Emeryville, we rented a car for a few days to explore a bit. We drove to get more cat food for Pelle, we sampled the local supermarkets, and made a pilgrimage to the Catch Surf flagship store, where we discovered most of its contents were on a 70% off sale! We scored new surf trunks, hats, and even a Womper. Coincidentally, Kristen also discovered her phone had a cracked back panel, so we were able to get that repaired while in the area too.

While the construction of the marina decimated the area’s great surfing spot, it is now home to a pretty vibrant community culture. In our few days there, we saw all sorts of community events, including a farmers market, a constant stream of paddleboarders, and a Halloween parade of Witches down the main fairway!

We also were fortunate to reconnect with some friends from Seattle while in Dana Point – one of James’s best friends from school is living in the area for the year and the kids spent an afternoon and evening together, escaping from a room and enjoying dumplings. It was wonderful to catch up with their family and share experiences in our first couple of months away from normal home life in Seattle.

Between Dana Point and Mexico lies San Diego, the home of Top Gun. Cruisers have been known to go mad here with the almost constant deafening roar of jets and helicopters. But with 8 days until our planned check-in to Mexico, we thought it worth a stop for some final American provisions and whatever else we could find.

As is somewhat standard on this trip so far (excepting Dana Point, where advanced planning was necessary for our mail-drop), we left for San Diego without any idea where we’d moor Flyer. Would we sample the local anchorages, or stumble across a marina with some space? The 2025 Baja HaHa* would be departing from San Diego in a few days time so our pickings would likely be meager.

The 57 nautical mile trip south towards San Diego is short enough to do in a day but clearly long enough to secure some great digs there. We decided to flex our membership at the modest but mighty Seattle Corinthian Yacht Club and quickly were welcomed with reciprocity, including a wonderful end slip and full guest privileges at the San Diego Yacht Club. The SDYC is a storied institution and -as it turns out- a wonderful host for a family cruising south.

I’d heard all my life about this place – one of our nation’s most celebrated cultivators of competitive sailing and home to the America’s Cup from 1988, 1992, and 1995! In 1980 my father spent time here in training with the New York Yacht Club America’s Cup syndicate, two-boat testing with Freedom and Enterprise (a boat that I was fortunate enough to sail aboard one day when I was four years old!).

The SDYC were spectacular hosts, giving us access to their wonderful facilities (including a first class pool and hot tub!), hot showers, restaurant, bar, and no charge for our moorage! I don’t think that can be beat. We reciprocated by using their bar and restaurant, and being the best behaved guests we could bear to be. We toured the club every night, finding models and photos we hadn’t seen before. It was a wonderful, unexpected treat to be there.

Point Loma – the neighborhood that the SDYC is situated in – is a sailor’s treasure chest. Just beyond the doors of the club lie some of the world’s great chandlers, mechanics, boat yards, and naval architects. A twenty minute walk around left me drooling – Nelson/Marek Design, Driscoll Boat Works, Downwind Marine, San Diego Marine Exchange, Reichel/Pugh Design (who designed the stout and speedy Zaraffa that won us the Newport Bermuda Race in 2002 and almost won us the Fastnet race in 2001)… the list goes on. It’s a mecca of sailing, and I quite frankly wasn’t prepared for it!

The plethora of opportunities also made me anxious – this would certainly be the closest and best access we would have to great mechanics, parts, and supplies for the next 12 months! What else did we forget? What would break? What else needed a backup that we hadn’t already purchased?

And so it was that I found myself wandering the chandlers and mechanics in hopes of a revelation, the way I used to open the fridge at home and wonder what would speak to my stomach. I purchased a few odds and ends, and surprisingly came up dry on a few other needed items. A replacement inflation valve for our Highfield dinghy wasn’t available at the California Highfield distributor. Three of the local mechanics were either too busy or not able to find me a 10/14mm x 1.5mm copper crush washer. And nobody seems to carry adjustable-length pole fishing nets anymore, which was our emergency Pelle rescue tool that probably was left on some dock somewhere. Oh well, we’ll have to do without, and jump in the water after her! At least the water is getting warmer as we head south.

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NOTES

* __ We learned after our plans to head to Mexico about this event: the Baja HaHa is a cruising rally departing San Diego for Cabo San Lucas and this year’s event had over 160 boats.