From the Beyond to Venice Beach

A stroll along Venice Beach.

We made the decision to leave Morro Bay and round Point Conception with a light gale looming in the forecast. It wasn't the intensity of the wind that concerned us, but the intensity of the wave sets and cross-wave periods. With the dominant wind and wave forces out of the northwest, we could run due south, 10 to 20 nautical miles near-offshore, on a deep, broad reach. The waves were somewhat confused; we had 9-foot northwest swells, at 11 seconds, 3- to 4-foot wind waves on top of the swells, and an additional, smaller, 3-foot, 14-second, southwest component added to the dominant swells. The result was: moderate but confused 9- to 14-foot combined seas with an average period of about 7 seconds.

It wasn't terrible, but it was far from comfortable. We chose the lesser of two evils: moderately-large seas and a lot of wind vs. sloppy seas and too little wind. The latter is worse. Because with no wind, our sails can't fill and we can't stabilize (dampen) the rolling action and washing-machine effect that confused waves have on a boat. Any boat. So, off we went with trysail and storm staysail set. We anticipated a lively, 30 hour, downhill ride. And that is exactly what we got.

By the time we reached Point Conception we were surfing along at 7 to 10 knots in a light gale. Not bad. It was midnight and the waves were spraying fields of bioluminescence, everywhere. The sea was lit up in an intense argon-green foam, which blew across the breaking wave crests. Anna blazed a bright, sparkling, bioluminescent trail, as she plowed through the, otherwise, dark waters that enveloped us under a black, starry sky. The half-moon rose in the east, just before midnight. A huge, dark yellow-white globe ascended slowly through a low layer of clouds, peaking through from time to time until it rose higher into the clear sky overhead.

As morning light broke we were approaching the westernmost island in the North Channel Island chain. Expecting seas and wind to calm down, now that we were in the lee of the southern California coastline, it seemed inevitable that smoother sailing was just an hour or two away. We thought we would slide into the protection of Santa Rosa Island's leeward side and anchor there for the night, to rest, but as we were making our final approach through the channel, to the anchorage, the winds blasted through with a vengeance. The seas built even higher and we were now dealing with a raging full gale. The open-anchorage was awash with 3-foot wind waves, whitecaps and screaming winds. Winds that were whipping up the seas at 40 to 50 knots. Anchoring was out of the question.

There was nothing to do but continue on, downwind, until conditions eased. After all, we were approaching southern California. Land of small seas and light breezes. It was just a matter of time. But it would require a night entry into the protection of a harbor, or, alternatively, continuing on through the night, until daylight, once again, before finding a harbor of refuge.

We opted for a night entry into Ventura Harbor because we were dead tired, and because Ventura was located at a good angle for a downwind approach under sail. When we arrived at Ventura we contacted the harbormaster who had someone meet us at the fish boat dock, with a flashlight, to help guide us into a very small slip at the end of the fairway, tucked in behind the returning squid fleet. That went fine. We tied up for the night, got some rest, and left the next morning for Channel Island Harbor where we were treated to a spacious end-tie at the Channel Island Harbor Yacht Club's guest dock; gratis for 3 luxurious days.

Well rested, we continued on to Venice Beach and yet another complementary stay at the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club, in Marina del Rey. We squeezed into an incredibly tiny 30-foot slip (Anna is 44-feet overall length). And it will take a miracle to extract ourselves from this particularly minuscule slit in the water in a few days time. It won't be a pretty site. But it will be entertaining for the yacht club as they watch us try to escape.

View of snow caps from Channel Is. Harbor - winter arrives in S. Cal.

We stretched our legs walking around Venice Beach, a couple blocks away from where we were moored. The old beach shacks and canal shanties are now all but gone. Replaced by slick, modern, upper-crust homes along the canal network, just off Muscle Beach. The 1950's beat generation and energy of the 60's has all but disappeared. Yet the canals and Muscle Beach still have a certain unique charm, albeit a charm that not too many people can afford these days.

Photo shoot for the Hollywood portfolio -- Venice Beach.

Prowling Venice.

Surfing off municipal pier at Venice Beach.

Venice girl.

Venice boy.

A branch of the Venice canal system.

Muscle Beach boy.

Bigger Muscle Beach boy.

Peace, love.

Double-braiding at Muscle Beach.

Formal attire -- downtown Venice.

Blending in, in an odd sort of way -- Venice Canals.

Venice seagull.

Skateboard girl -- Venice Beach skateboard park.

Riding the slopes -- Venice Beach Park.

Graffiti Park -- allowed by permit only, at Venice Beach..

Searching for surf at Venice Beach.

Houses on Venice Canal are $2 million and up.

Muscle Beach guy.

We are now just 100 nautical miles north of San Diego. We'll take it easy at this point as we finish up this segment of our journey, wrapping up our sail down the west coast of the U.S. We hope to begin our next segment in December as we sail south, along Mexico's west Baja coast, to the Sea of  Cortez.

Our neighbors, Yoshi and Mayumi on the voyaging boat Gaku, surprised  us with sushi for Thanksgiving. We hope to visit them one of these days, in Japan. Happy Holidays!