06 | Catalina

Notes:

A fine summer weekend in Catalina to celebrate Jack P’s 26th birthday began with smooth sailing and high hopes. With a thick morning marine layer still in effect, we departed from Newports back-bay early Friday morning. Jacks younger brother, Charlie took the lead early and established his position as our skipper. A cancelled final High School baseball season due to Covid-19 has given him the opportunity to dive into sailing and he’s quickly learned the ropes. Our smooth crossing gave way to morning beers, several rounds of dominoes and a fun little shark sighting. We pulled into Two Harbors mid-afternoon and prepared for a big weekend. More dominoes, cards, paddle-boarding and a visit from Jacks dad and his dads friends who were making the most of a day trip to the Island. Night ones dinner…well we forgot it on the mainland, meaning buffalo milk and quesadillas at the only restaurant in town would be on the evenings menu. We woke early Saturday morning and after a quick breakfast, followed the lead of Rocky-Mountain Ross Thornton on an awesome day hike to the backside of the Island. He earned his Pacific blue stripes and was able to add Albatross to his growing list of nicknames. Another beautiful afternoon in the harbor featured more games and activities with the crew and some boat-hopping with our Laguna friends who took to the Island for a weekend getaway as well. Another California summer day came to an end with a memorable sunset and a round of night caps. We were set out to leave mid-morning on Sunday after a lazy wake-up and a finale breakfast but received a visit from another friend and experienced sailor to warn us about heavy winds and rough seas quickly approaching. That couldn’t have been more accurate and boy did the salty dogs get their fair share of that heading home. Leaving Two Harbors after several monstrous bbq breakfast bagels and a more than casual attitude, led us to several failed main sail raises, a teetering boat and a couple near wipeouts / overboards. The winds and waves were surely growing but the boys were sailing. Ross, Charlie and I handled the main sail raise as Jack and Mike Pollard took the helm. We cut the engine and set our course home. After our challenging attempts to raise the main, Charlie and I quickly felt the sea-sickness come over us. Rocky-mountain albatross was immune because, well, it’s Rocky-Mountain Albatross. Gamer. After charlie ditched his bagel overboard and I took a nap followed up by a Red-Stripe, the boys were back in Business. Our sail home was gorgeous and after threading a couple oncoming super-tankers, we were home-free. We chalked it up as a successful first voyage for the salty-dogs. HBD JP and cheers to many more adventures ahead.