We set off for Catalina at 7am and the plan was that my neighbor Connor and another dock neighbor Grant were taking their boats over as well and we'd all meet at two harbors. We left first, and around the R10 buoy the look towards shore was eerie, thanks to a fire that was burning inland.

Palos Verdes sunrise through fire clouds

As soon as we rounded R10 to cross the channel and could see south towards San Pedro, we saw a huge fog bank. NOAA satellite imagery showed it blanketing Orange County and not above LA, however as we looked away and back at the fog we could tell it was getting closer, and fast. A few minutes later and we were surrounded. The weather changed from hot, calm and sunny, to cold, gusty and misty fog, visibility was around 100 feet. I kept my eyes on the compass to keep us steered toward Catalina and blew the handheld fog horn every few minutes. Mia kept her eyes open for any craft behind us or to our port, I looked for anything in front of us and starboard. She periodically looked at our Marine Traffic app for clues to other boats whereabouts if they had AIS, oh yeah and container ships. My dad used to say that the trip to Catalina is a piece of cake except for one thing - fog banks in the channel. We saw one powerboat, he was heading right at us, we saw each other and each corrected course and passed each other within 60 feet. Who knows if we came close to other boats out there. This lasted for about an hour and a half and we reached a pocket of lighter fog and wind, then eventually it parted and we could see our target again.

This was our best form of vision in the fog. Unfortunately some of those boats locations weren't updated so we really had no idea. I took the screenshot to record our gps coordinates...some of the worst thoughts go through my mind in risky situation… — This was our best form of vision in the fog. Unfortunately some of those boats locations weren't updated so we really had no idea. I took the screenshot to record our gps coordinates...some of the worst thoughts go through my mind in risky situations like this, and knowing our last known location seemed like a good idea.

Dolphins joined us and we soon forgot about the terrifying fog

This family right next to us all Moore their Catalina 36 up all summer and rotate family members who share the boat. The island looked like Mars

So we did what you do when you get to the island, made lunch, went to shore, swam, and hung out. It was about 85 degrees in the middle of the day and then a strong breeze kicked up, I began to wonder where the rest of my boat friends were. Turns out Connor arrived about an hour after us, and there were no more available moorings... In fact we were put on a 40' mooring and the harbor patrol made it sound like we got the last one. Connor then called in for news that there were two available moorings at Avalon and he would try there. In this gusty weather it sounded rough, furthermore Grant was still hours away back in the channel. There were no more moorings, and Connor and grant genre forced to turn around. Such a bummer, they sailed for about 12 hours straight, almost 60 miles and ended up back at the dock.

Sunday morning the weather was already scorching and we enjoyed the warm water by diving in and swimming to the beach. We waited for the fog between the island and coast to clear and the wind to pick up before setting off home. About 20 minutes after leaving we were hit by 17+ winds with full sail up and buried the rail, fought not to round up, so we reefed the jib and continued at a more comfortable pace. Eventually the wind calmed and became too calm so we only were moving around 3 knots... Fired up the motor and got back safely.

departure was decided by how far away we could see other boats that were heading home. The farther away we could still see them the better because it meant the fog was burning off.

Chapters

Catalina in July