In Reply to: Meanwhile, over at the buoy ... posted by Frank O on March 15, 2008 at 15:01:44:

There are some really cool places to be on a night like this!

A few places along the front side of Catalina will provide some shelter with a minimum of fetch, but the back side of the isthmus, way up in the sailing yacht basin would be the best place to ride out a gale like this.

San Clemente Island also has a few places to ride this thing out. In Northwest Harbor you could anchor tucked inside and under the bluff. Pyramid Cove would offer perfect shelter for this clearing event. Seal cove, mid island, back side SCI, would shelter you from the wind and seas, but not from the swells. That cove is a great shelter, but is very loud due to the swells reverberation coming off the walls and beaches and particularly, the cave.

Santa Barbara Island is not the best place to be on a night like this. But if you anchor in the most common place, below the ranger station, you will need gear that holds in sand only. It's a tough anchorage in a gale because of the ground effect of the island landscape. As the wind comes over the island, it is accelerated by the shape of the island. The winds in the anchorage at SBI are always greater than the winds around the island.

There is virtually no place to hide from a gale at San Nicolas island, There is no kelp anywhere except a few places around the east end. i went out to the boilers last Friday and the kelp was gone!

If there was any one place that you would want to be anchored tonight, it would be Pyramid cove or Cat harbor...

Please be aware: every time an insignificant low pressure system (low clouds..) passes over the bight, it may bring a clearing wind behind it. Clearing winds are THE most dangerous and UNPREDICTABLE winds in our waters.

• Re: Re: Meanwhile, over at the buoy ... Divebum Don 00:45:12 03/16/08 (1)
  • 18ft gusting to 35kts at the Tanner buoy. (3:pm sunday) Brad 16:23:17 03/16/08 (0)