Father's Day sail

[rcvesselstyn]

My son took us up to Marina del Rey and rented us a Catalina 22 for Father's day. My rigging is still compromised so we haven't been taking our boat out for many months now. It was really great to be back out on the water. The wind was blowing 10 to 15 with a odd gust of 18 to 20. The swells weren't bad but there was a pretty good wind chop. We tacked up the channel barely beating some of the UCLA racing team (or maybe they were just learning).

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Once outside of the harbor we headed up towards the Santa Monica Pier but the wind was picking up and the little rental was beyond its capabilities. A quick tack around and we were able to ease off the main and jib and just surfed down the face of the wind waves all the way back to the harbor. A really beautiful day until about 6:30 when the dark gray Marine layer came in. We sailed back into the harbor but still had about 30 minutes of time left on the rental. We sailed down to the end of the harbor tacked around and headed back to the main Channel just as all the dinner party boats were coming out of their slips. While the wind was still good we did a few tacks up the channel and the boat just flew. Navigating around all the big party boats added some excitement to coming back into the rental dock. Such a strange feeling to not have to put the boat away, just walking away felt like I was shirking my duty. My son ended us taking us out to a restaurant in Marina del Rey for a Father's Day dinner it was great!

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[SailingChris]

Where my other boat lives, on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, we have a different problem--not dinner cruise boats, but the proliferation of pontoon boats. Some area dams failed in an extreme weather (and poor-dam-maintenance) event a few years ago, draining the artificial lakes where they had been kept. They seem to have all migrated to the Saginaw River. And sadly, most of their owners seem even less informed about navigation and rights of way than the typical power boater. My marina is about 2 miles up the river so we have to share the dredged navigation channel with them.

My Cal 20, by contrast, is on her mooring in Grand Traverse Bay, and when I cast off the mooring lines, I'm sailing.

Chris Campbell
bi-coastal in Michigan