whiteworks
Custom Shutters by WhiteWorks
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2007
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What he said...
The smallest I have taken over was a 21' Center console fisher type deal and that did ok but we got a little wet on the way back
My dad used to take his boats to Avalon all the time. He has more crossings in a 15' (I think it was a Glaspar??) than I do in all my boats put together. Hell the largest vessel he ever owned was a 17' Glaspar and that went over several times.
NOTE: there was more than one occasion where a day trip turned into an overnighter when he decided it was too damn big to come home.
Words to live by, litterally LOL.
Here is the tale of REM and Mark's crossing in a 20' Stoker
link to the thread I stole this from.
http://www.riverdavesplace.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20483&highlight=stoker+catalina
I feel like I was run over...
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We made the trip with no problems really. But it was HAIRBALL for sure. Mark will chime in with his comments too, but I feel pretty proud for that one. We got a little later start than we wanted (coffee comes FIRST). There were a few folks at the ramp looking at us kinda strange then one group asked Mark what we up to...he told them and I as I walked by them they were muttering shit under their breath and singing "farewell to thee"...Kinda funny really.
We launched and putted through the harbor and towards the sea...as we got into the ocean (still behind the sea wall) the waves really picked up (2-4 feet from tip to trough) with some wind chop on top. Lots of water in the face and a pretty slow ride (low 30s to mid 20 mph), There were lots of holes and water snakes that wanted to grab us. We pushed it a little and got to the big boats (cargo ships) and it was just too rough. So with our tails tucked we came back.
We cut North and headed through the Seal Beach area then to the Queen Mary and for whatever reason sorta followed our noses back out to sea. We pushed passed the breakwater and things were better here than before. We said at 8:00 am we would make our decision to press or not. Well 8:00 came and went and we really never made the choice one way or the other...we just kept going.
The gps was guiding us perfectly as we could not see the island or any lang for that matter. We stopped once to piss and the current was so strong that with the boat at idle in gear we still lost several hundred yards...it was NUTS. The water was big (FUCK THE INTERNET...DO NOT believe a thing you read on the internet)...factoring out the highs and the lows on the gps we were -5 to 6 feet of water (I know this is not an accurate measure, but the best we have). There was a strange glassy looking spot about 3 miles from Catalina that we thought we could hammer through, but it just did not have wind chop on it...the waves and holes were still there just hard to see them.
We pull into the Avalon and get some strange looks...the harbor patrol tells we better fuel up and get back as it is gona get worse soon. The Life Guards say we were "brave" to be out there, but we knew they meant "STOOOOPID". So we fuel up and head back.
I was already a little sore and the ride home was starting to look worse. About half way home the waves were unreal. At times it was like we were on the crest of a house with 10-12 foot drop on either side then an instant later we were in a 10 foot hole. I could see the line through the wave, but every once in a while the line would close out and we would just get hammered. I kept my mouth shut for fear of bitting my tongue off. Sever time the bow of the boat was below the waves and breaking through, but with a slight bit more speed we would have buried the nose and taken on water. Even at high 20 mph speeds there were several times we were airborne for 2-3 seconds. We would ride up a big wave then hit a 2 foot wind chop at the top and get launched into the trough. It was brutal for sure. The bow spent so much time in the water the registration stickers washed off the boat.
We got back to the break water, hugged in a totally gay way and laughed our asses off. It was really pretty gnarly and I learned a bunch. I would go again in a minute (in someone elses boat) LOL!
I am trying to post some video and will link to as soon as I do. We had some battery issues and the really nasty stuff was not filmed......but when I go in your (any volenteers) I will have the camera sorted out.
