West Coast Schooners and the like...

[MikeStevenson]

This is mostly for Frank, as the Hawaiian Chieftan will be in Oxnard and Ventura harbors soon, but anybody out this way might be interested in seeing some of these pretty and BIG ships.

The Long Beach Sea Festival is to be on the 3-4th of Jan.

Here's the Hawaiian Chieftan's schedule along the coast:

Sausalito Oct 25-Nov 1

Sacramento Nov 3 -26

Stockton Nov 29-Dec 7

Santa Cruz Dec 10 -21*

Marina del Rey Dec 11 -26**

Long Beach Dec 31-Jan 11

San Diego Jan 12-25

Newport Beach Jan 27-Feb 2

Marina del Rey Dec 11 -26

Oxnard Feb 10-16

Ventura Feb 17-22

Morro Bay Feb 25-29

San Francisco March 3-7

Oakland March 8-16

Redwood City March 17-28

Here are some good links:

The Star Of India's group;

http://www.sdmaritime.com/

Links to West Coast tall ships and schooners;

http://www.hawaiianchieftain.com/compass.html'>http://www.hawaiianchieftain.com/compass.html

http://privateerlynx.com/index.html

http://privateerlynx.com/ed/sailtrainprog.html

http://www.hawaiianchieftain.com/

[Frank Hagan]

We saw the Hawaiian Chieftan last year also ... along with the Privateer Lynx, I think.

A couple of years ago we took a 3 hour sail on the Pilgrim of Newport, now renamed *something* and berthed in Dana Point, CA. It was a fascinating trip for me, because the boat was built in the town I grew up in, in a guy's front yard. Took him 12 years or something, but I remember people talking about how foolish he was, right up until the time the boat was hauled out and launched. Then he was a genius (he sold it, and never really sailed it for long).

You haven't lived until you've crawled out along the bowsprit and dropped into the "Widow's Net" under sail. Of course, the captain has the choice of turning into the swells and giving you a wild ... and wet ... ride. We were lucky because we got up just the minimum crew to go sailing that afternoon ... just 10 customers. So we had plenty of one-on-one time with the wheel, climbing the rigging (OK, so I only got about 12' up off the deck!), etc.

[Pat Mellema]

This past summer we had a fleet of tall ships in Muskegon. We took Sanddragon out to watch them on parade and it is amazing how many people took pictures of our boat from the tall ships. We were within 50 yards of some of them and could watch them putting the sails up and getting ready to sail out.

[MikeStevenson]

Frank,

Sounds like you had a great sail. We took a three or four hour sail w/the H.C. out of Monterey when it was here. They're a great crew. I was disappointed to have to sail on the modern, cattle-boat (tourist) Hawaiian Chieftan as opposed to the more authentic Lady Washington which I had wanted to sail on. It turned out to be far more fun on the H.C., as they're not museum docents; the crew lives aboard and is doing this for fun and profit, not education (ok, a little bit of education.) They felt a lot more like privateers, which suited me fine! We had some real fun talking about the tactics of fighting with sailboats, as they were on their way back from the annual sea battles in Long Beach. Lots of hand movements like fighterpilots...only slower.

I still have yet to get up to Sausalito and go out with them for a sail under the Golden Gate. They take cruises most of the time.

Mike

[Frank Hagan]

Sailing out the Golden Gate would be great on one of these! We'll have to go up and do that someday. I've heard there's about a 6 knot current "surge" at the 'gate, and punching through can be exciting.

My son-in-law is back from Ireland, and while officially still employed through the end of the month, has nothing to do. I'm hoping we can get the Weekender out of mothballs, get the outboard back in shape, and get a few sails in if the weather will cooperate (October and November are often great months here on the Gold Coast).

[MikeStevenson]

I still have yet to get out under the bridge in any kind of boat. I have walked across it on a nice sunny and windy day. Very cool. It's really up there, but not too arched as it shoots across from point to point up on the headlands. What struck me was the tidal wave set up, as well as BIG swirling near-whirlpools and what looked like standing wave/current intersection lines which seemed to have slightly different surface elevations. There were some powerboats in the mid-20-foot range zooming around and they were getting tossed as well as twisted in the eddys.

All-in-all, I think I'd like to be in something at least 60' or bigger, I think. I'm suitably impressed by anyone who sails out through there, particularly if the fog rolls in along with the tide. I don't know what the harbors are like down your way, as I never sailed the northern Channel Islands or that coast, but Morro Bay and points north seem pretty serious. Monterey is easy as there's no real harbor mouth; just a protected cove really, but most of the harbors along this coast are pretty daunting in little boats.

Mike

[Frank Hagan]

The harbors here are easy. They generally use breakwaters, and are easy to navigate. The Channel Islands and Ventura harbors both are fairly well protected from big swells by the Channel Islands, although we do get some wave action. The farther north in the channel you go, up towards Santa Barbara, the rougher the water becomes as you get out of the "shadow" of the islands.

The main problem with the local waters is how quickly the fog can come in, and then you don't really know if you are in the shipping lanes. The big container ships coming into the deep water port at Port Hueneme move pretty quickly once they get going, and they might not even know it if they ran you over. Many of the guys in small fishing boats like the C-Dorys will install radar for that reason.

[MikeStevenson]

Sounds much like San Diego area. There's a name for the gulf created by the sweep from Pt. Conception to Point Loma, but I can't remember it. It's certainly a more protected coast than north of Pt. Conception.

I only have had one opportunity to play with a radar set; it was pretty cool. I couldn't figure out what I was seeing until I realised that I was looking at a thirty-mile radius! I was thinking more like a mile or so just because that was what I was looking at. I was amazed to be able to watch ships moving around and see where the land forms were.

Mike

[Frank Hagan]

I haven't seen radar up close, but if I was offshore in these waters a lot I might consider getting it. For now, I do the "dead reckoning" thing, always within sight of shore and only out in calm weather. At least that's the PLAN anyway.