Sailboat Anchored at San Pedro Bay and Dinghy on the Beach
03 November 2013
Dedicated groupies will recall the previous posts from my travels to San Pedro Bay in the first Catalina 25. For this trip, everyone departed separately and on their own schedule. I was the last one, in the smallest sailboat. As I rounded the point out of San Carlos sailing north I could see several sailboats in the distance. I called to them on my radio and it was confirmed I was the final boat in a fleet of eight or nine. The wind was favorable, but only about 7 or 8 kn maximum. It was only enough wind to take the boat pulling its dinghy to about 3 kn per hour, too slow to get there in time. So I kicked on my mate, Evenrude. He brought us up past 5 kn at around 50% power and we were good to go for the rest of the way there. We experienced following seas of about 2 -3 feet and every 20 or 30 seconds we would "surf"down the front of the wave. When I came around the point into the bay I saw that the fleet was anchored at the wrong end for winds from the south. I anchored as the last boat in roughly the center of the bay close to the beach figuring the light swell would dissipate as the afternoon went into evening, but it didn't, so I hauled anchor and moved up into the north corner of the bay, which was better protected from the south winds. This took me a good quarter to half mile from the fleet, but I also wanted my own space since I'm not used to cruising in groups. Nobody seem to care. After I was sure the anchor was set for the second time, I heated my nacho sauce on a Triangia alcohol stove, picked up my bag of nacho chips, and headed to the beach for the potluck. My dish was among the favorite, but whoever made the fish thing, that was the best dish by far.
Comments