This sail started out in our driveway, as have all our voyages. The total
distance from Davis to Catalina is aproximately 450 miles. Of this
distance only the last 30 miles or so were to be on the water. I spent at
least three days making preparations for the trip and 10 a.m. on July 8th
found me hecking and double checking to make sure I had everything. I was
terrified by the idea I might get to L.A. and be missing some critical
element (like the tiller or boom). I wished for a comprehensive list to
check but I had not prepared one. I did pretty well as it turned out. I
forgot the following: binoculars - I thought it was on the boat, but I
didn't check to see it was there, a can opener - though I had one on my
Swiss Army Knife, a good can opener is a lot easier to use. I was able to
borrow both these things from grandpa when we got to L.A. One other thing
I forgot was a key to the lock which locks the trailer to the car. This
didn't prove to be a problem but it could have.
Anyway, I lubed the bearings (noting that I had lost another dust cover)
and set off with boat in tow to get a few last minute items (ice) and
pick-up Evan from summer school. We got out of Davis at about 1:00 p.m.
and headed down I-5. We averaged about 64 miles an hour. Now this fine
day in the Central Valley of California was fairly typical for July, the
temp. was hovering around 105 degrees. I pull my p-19 with a car, not a
truck, and it is an old one - a 1986 Nissan Maxima with a 3 liter six
cylinder engine. With the heat, the tempeature needle would stay about mid
range as long as I didn't turn on the air conditioning. This was of course
unacceptatble to my teen age passenger ( a joy to drive with having
completed his driver education course that day - constant feedback on all
my driving foibles). It took a while for the engine to heat up with the
A.C. on, so we spent the drive playing a game of thermal flux. We would
remove heat from the cabin for a while untily the needle (actually LCD)
reached the hot end of the scale, then let the engine rest until the temp
went down.
This game worked out fine until we passed Bakersfield. Here things got
interesting. Just south of the aforementioned municipality is the
"Grapevine" , a stretch of Hwy 5 which accends 4000 ft in about 12 miles.
I knew this was going to be a challenge. My know-it -all son asked me to
tell him what you should do to prevent over-heating. I told him one
technique was to turn on the heater. He confirmed that this very technique
was what he was quizzing me on, and we prepared to use it if necessary. It
was about 5:30 and still quite hot. As we started up the hill our speed
decreased to about 30 mph. We had the AC off and I read out the heat
levels as we climbed.
"Seventy percent of maximum recommended operating temperature" I would say
when the unit was 7/10 of the way to HOT. "Eighty percent", I said only
seconds later. A minute or two more and it was 90 percent, then 100. We
had been letting the car get to about 80 percent in our thermal transfer
game and had decided that when the needle pointed to HOT we would start the
heat. So we did, full blast. The indicator continued to inch upward. 110
percent, 120 percent 130 percent. That was it. There were no more lines
on the LED display. We were pegging the needle, maxed out. We were also
being cooked alive as well as being asphixiated by diesel exhaust from our
companinons in the slow lane. We only had a short distance to go, I
considered stopping by knew that getting going on the grade might just be
the straw that broke the camels back, or more specifically, blew a head
gaskett. Just before the top I turned the heat off and amazingly, the temp
went down! I think my fan is drawing excess current and really loading
down the engine. Despite being on pins and needles, no adverse effects
have been noted since the trip. We made it to L.A. without any disasters
and had dinner with my father who was to accompany us on the trip.
The next day we got down to the ramp in Marina Del Rey at about 8:30 a.m.
Evan and I set up in good time with no mishaps except one. One little,
tiny detail - we had forgotten to put the whip in the antenna. We only
realized this after we were in the water, so we decided to lower the mast
and put the whip on from the dock. I had already attached the boom and
decided we could lower the mast with it still attached. WRONG, WRONG,
WRONG. When we lowered the mast there was a loud crack. I thought I had
broken the hatch cover, but no, it turned out I had broken all four of the
pop rivets holding the goose neck on the mast. Mr. know-it -all reminded
me that he had recommended taking off the boom and let me know just how he
felt about our situation. I took the boom and end cap to West Marine where
I bought some sheet metal screws with which I re-attached the end cap. I
was back by 10:00 and we were soon motoring out of the harbor.
Our plan was to sail to San Pedro to meet the rest of the group the next
morning. Santa Monica Bay was very calm and we motored. We got to
practice navigating with the GPS and I picked the position of several bouys
off of the map (lat & long) and used them as waypoints. I used this
technique for the whole trip and was amazed at how well it worked.
Once we got into the strait we caught a west wind and began to run, still
with the engine on. Eventually I shut off the engine and we made excellent
time. The GPS indicated in excess of 6 knots. There was a following sea
of about 2-3 ft and steering was a little trying. We had established a one
hour watch which rotated among the three of us and we arrived at Angels
Gate at about 3:00. There is a lighthouse on the jetty that really makes
you feel you have arrived.
We made the turn into the harbor and wham! The wind hit us broadside and I
noticed whitecaps all over the harbor. As usual we didn't really perceive
the wind speed while running. Now we knew the wind was up at about 20
knots. Evan and I tacked it up the harbor and, with the aid of grandpa's
considerable mass, managed to get into the Marina without having to reduce
sail or resort to the motor. The Cabrillo Marina is gorgeous having
received a recent face lift. The bathroom and other facilities were very
nice. Dave Lang came by with his family and introduced himself. That
evening we had dinner at a passably good seafood restaurant called the 22nd
Street Landing. Then we went back to the boat to turn in.
I had thought that my father and I would use the V-birth and Evan would
sleep in one of the quarter births. I like this arrangement because it
makes it possible to store clothing etc. in the other quarter birth and
keep from cluttering up the cabin. However, dad needs to get up at least
once a night, and I realized that getting in and out of the V birth was
very difficult for him to do. As I watched him get in I realized he needed
the whole area to maneuver, so I decided to sleep in a quarter birth. We
put our bags in the cockpit each night and this worked out well. I was
surprised how comfortable I was in the quarter birth, I had not slept in it
before and actually found it easier to get in and out of than the V birth.
Later we removed the V birth insert and dad had a lot easier time getting
in and out.
We awoke the next morning at about 5:30, ready to roll .... (to be continued)
Eric Zilbert
Davis "not by the sea" California
P19 #621 "Riptide"