We had the champagne flowing, and frozen mango and passion margaritas pouring to any one who had a glass. We had many of our friends join us, and a number of yacht members came by to check out Gone Native. Many of the people who visited had sailed on the Gone Native before, and that included Dave Hantke and Diane Bertoy, who together with Capt. Dave, captured the celebratory atmosphere of the night.


We want to thank all of you who followed us along on our journey, and hope you enjoyed the laughs and challenges that Dave, Desiree, Ryan and Wesley experienced on the Gone Native adventure.

Stay Tuned....who knows what Dave will have in mind next.


Check out the "Sailing Twins"http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sailingtwins/?xjMsgID=89244

We had a relaxing few days cruising a few anchorages around Catalina Island. We were on a perfect schedule to arrive to the Ventura coastline. The weather, however, was beginning to decompensate, and my need to return to Ventura to take call by Friday, May 8th, at 5pm was suddenly becoming a challenge.

It is a well-known fact that the weather around the Channel Islands can be one of the most defying in the world, and unfortunately we would come to experience it on our last leg home. We were carefully monitoring the weather earlier that week, and our best option (besides waiting a week to cross), was to head out Wednesday morning May 6th. We left Twin Harbors, Catalina around 6:30 am, hoping we would get into Oxnard before the small craft warnings would overcome us in the late afternoon.

Our first eight hours were primarily motoring across, and then the winds kicked up. The seas became choppy, irregular and ever increasing in size. As the Gone Native began to be tossed in the seas, we decided it was time to get the sails up. We were only off shore five miles, but suddenly it became an incredible distance. Then the starboard engine decided to give out, really making it difficult to get the sails up. However, on cue, all the crew went into action, and finally the sails were raised, a reef in place. Dave went into McGyver mode. He crawled into the engine room, trying to restart the starboard engine, but it continued to sputter. Of course that left me at the helm in the thirty plus knot winds, but the co-captain was confident. The waves were ever increasing, and with only one effective engine, we were getting broadsided by the seas. I then saw a massive wave coming, and told the twins to brace themselves. The enormous wave engulfed the boat, and as I held the helm, I was grateful I had my foul weather gear on. Fortunately shortly afterwards Dave tried something new (he pulled out the fuel filter)...and voila! The engine turned over! We then tacked and were heading in. And fortunately, the winds were "dying" down to twenty-two knots and we were all smiling. By 9pm we were tied on to the dock at Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club, Oxnard.

We stayed in Oxnard for two days cleaning the boat, doing loads of laundry, and had the joy of going to our favorite breakfast nook, Mrs. Olson's. Friday morning, May 8th we pulled out from Oxnard, in flat seas and did our final cruising leg up the coast to Ventura.
Ryan and Wesley were at the helm and took a picture of our smiling faces entering Ventura Harbor. We had made it!!!

A direct route as the crow flies from San Diego to Ventura is approximately 140 miles, and conveniently, Santa Catalina Island is at the midpoint. We left San Diego at 10pm, for our last overnighter to arrive in daylight hours to Catalina. None of us would feel a loss after this last evening venture to be now able to sleep completely through the night.

We arrived early afternoon, and were impressed by their very simple and functional mooring system. The crew certainly felt like they were getting off easy situating the boat. We took the dinghy onto shore, and enjoyed walking around the island and getting into the cruising mode for probably the last time of this trip.

With our bellies full (Desiree was happy---no chopping, cooking or cleanup!), we returned to the boat as the sun was setting. Ryan and Wesley took a pose with the casino in the twilight hue that has been an icon of Catalina Island for years. Both Dave and I have childhood memories of this place, so it was quite a special moment to see our children with the casino in the background.