The Isthmus, Catalina Island

We had the perfect conditions on the run from Channel Islands Marina to Catalina. Winds were off the beam 10-15kts and seas were relatively flat. We sailed using the Monitor to steer us. About half way across Paul wanted to try our new assymetrical “drifter” sail. It was the only new piece of equipment we had not been able to test. The set up was no problem and when we pulled the sock she billowed out the most beautiful deep sapphire blue one can imagine. It was really great. I tried to take a picture of it, but the camera angle and colors don’t translate well for this event. We are very happy with this sail and the size/shape that Carol Hasse suggested for us.

The arrival into Two Harbors “The Isthmus” was a whole new experience for us. The facility has laid out a mooring field that pretty much eliminates any chance of anchoring in a safe, sheltered zone. Mooring ball was our choice. How difficult can it be??? The balls are spaced closely together (I suppose so campers can share their poupon mustard over lunch). The lines that are pre rigged to allow boaters to slip the loop over the cleat on the boat, but it had knots so big that they were barely able to fit thru the chocks to place on our cleat. I wasn’t about to run it over our toe rail….After you secure the bow line you continue to pull the leader line aft until you find the stern loop. Meanwhile the neighbors moored 5 feet to the lee are helping to fend off the stern, the surge is so strong and closely timed that balance and footing is impossible except for those who choose to crawl the deck. Our helpful neighbors did remind me to be very careful pulling the leader line to stern as most are full of fish lines and hooks. (GREAT!!!) The harbor patrol finally motored over after assisting another boat and offered to pull our stern to windward so we could get the stern line secured. We gratefully accepted.

Honestly…This is the worst cluster I have ever encountered. The night was so rolling with surge we had to sleep in our off shore berth for security, but awoke to a beautiful morning.  They have a water taxi service here to get you to shore. Talos IV is moored spitting distance to the dock, seriously, it can't be more than 20'.  It costs 6 dollars each way, for a total of $12 bucks round trip to the dock. I think we are going to inflate the kayaks and take a long hike.

Where is Talos IV in this cluster.  We were stacked in
like sardines.

We finally had a chance to fly the assymetrical on our
way out to Catalina Island.