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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 12:25 pm 
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Hobie Team Member

Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:04 pm
Posts: 598
Location: Hawaii, Big Island
Congratulations!

For pics you first upload them to a service such as:

http://photobucket.com/

Then copy the IMG adress for each photo and paste it in the appropriate forum.

Look fwd to seeing yours.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 3:01 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:25 pm
Posts: 2863
Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
G'Day Andrew,
Looking forward to your trip report.
See if this helps for posting pics:
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=9237


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:32 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am
Posts: 25
Location: SANTA MONICA
THE ADVENTURE ISLAND LIVES UP TO ITS NAME.
A TRIP TO CATALINA FROM MARINA DEL REY

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0048.jpg

From day one of owning an AI I wanted to go out to Catalina from Marina Del Rey. I bought the AI in March 08 and finally got to do my trip at the end of July 08. Thanks to allot of very useful information and advice from the forum, what could have been a difficult trip (for me) was much easier than I thought it was going to be. This advice combined with several test runs, observation and researching local weather patterns etc made the trip smooth and worry free. I left the harbor at 5.45 am, Sunday morning feeling I was as ready as I would ever be and felt confident that I would make it.

I got the boat ready by checking the tightness of everything. I discovered the gasket around the front hatch had not been glued in so I glued it with marine cement. On the trip out there I took on no more than ½ a cup of water and I am pretty sure that is where previous leakage came from. I also checked all gaskets around hatches and found some of them not to be seated properly so I shoed them in and cleaned them of sand. I stuffed the hull with bubble wrap and a couple of swimming noodles in all the areas I didn’t need for storage or where I didn’t want things to roll into where I couldn’t get to them. This gave me allot of piece of mind that even if a shark took a chunk out of the kayak it wasn’t going down.
I packed 5 days of water and food and weighted the load with a bias to the windward side (this proved not such a good idea). I brought my bare bones camping set up and ended up at about 65 LB of weight (food, water safety gear, wetsuit included). In retrospect I could have taken much more as I didn’t really notice a significant difference in performance.
My trip hinged on having an escort as a common thread in the forum chat is these trips must not be done alone. So I managed to get a friend with a small sail boat to shadow me for the trip.
We left on Sunday the 27th of July at 5:45:
GETTING READY TO LEAVE
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0006.jpg

LEAVING M.D.R.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03862.jpg

LOOKING BACK ON MDR (WHERE’S MY CHACE BOAT?!)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03864.jpg

I know I had to get out SWW as far as possible before the wind picked up so I could get the best angle to the wind which is normally either from the west or SW. I plotted a waypoint on the GPS 10 nautical miles on a bearing of 214 deg. And set out on the perfect morning. The water was dead calm so I didn’t have to fight the waves.
I got to the waypoint ahead of schedule, hitting it at about 10 am as apposed to the predicted 11.30am. It was at about that point my accompanying vessel caught up as they didn’t leave the harbor for over an hour after I left.

THE CHACE BOAT FINALLY CATCHES UP
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03868.jpg

From there I headed out on an angle of 170 deg. This is heading west of the island but I know the further I got out the better the sailing angle would be to the typical wind pattern. Finally noon hit and I was close to the Shipping channels out of Long Beach and still no wind ( http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03880.jpg )! Now I started to be concerned as I was feeling OK but was 20 nm in and had another 20 to go and the GPS was saying 11 hours to destination at current speed. At this point I was having second thoughts about the trip as it was glassy still only broken by the occasional family of dolphins.
ATLEAST 100 DOLPHINS
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... V03876.flv

As I approached the shipping lane a ship on the horizon leaving LB suddenly was upon me and as a note to self for next time, always weight for them to pass and go behind them!
MY A.I. TO THE RIGHT OF THE SHIP
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0032.jpg

AS IT CLOSED IN I TACKED AROUND HER (I’m the speck to the left of he ship)
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0036.jpg

Once the ship passed the wind started to pick up but it was coming from the East! I did’t expect that but it still could get me to my end point so it was not a problem but for me having loaded the boat on the starboard side!
The wind was light for the next 10 nm but as the island came in to view the wind shifted to the SW and within 5 nm of the island those winds must have got up to about 25 knots so I furled the sale a little and skipped across the water to the camp site beach. Clocking speeds up to 7.8 knots as per the GPS. This felt really good and a relief to relax the legs.

FINALLY CATCHING THE WIND ON THE APPROACH TO CATALINA:
http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... V03903.flv


COCKPIT PHOTO TO SHOW MY LAYOUT
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03944.jpg

BREAKFAST!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0021.jpg

CATALINA – PARSONS LANDING BEACH
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C03908.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... 0021-2.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... C_0049.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/ ... nown-1.jpg

The camp sight was great in a sheltered bay with a sandy beach as most are stones and I’m still very precious about my AI and hate to scratch it if I can avoid it. It was deserted for the first night but on our second night the “remotestâ€


Last edited by AJMENZIES on Tue Aug 05, 2008 4:10 pm, edited 13 times in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:39 pm 
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Hobie Team Member

Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:04 pm
Posts: 598
Location: Hawaii, Big Island
Nice report.

Enjoyed the photos.

Here's a tip so you can see them here.

Instead of the Direct Link htpp:....code

Use IMG code [IMG]http etc

The pic will then be here

Image

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 2:30 am 
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Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:50 pm
Posts: 494
Location: sacramento california
Hey AJ 8)
Congratulations. Thanks for the report and the photos.
Now that you know you can cross the channel will you do it again or would you rather spend the time going around the islands camping and sight seeing and just take a shuttle over from the mainland instead.?
Once again congratulations and thanks for the report. :wink:
Kepnutz


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 8:16 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am
Posts: 25
Location: SANTA MONICA
Thanks Alohadan for the help with the post.
Kepnutz, I would definitely do it again and probably go around the islands and make a 2 week thing of it. I did get lucky with the weather even though I did allot more peddling than I thought, it was allot better than heading into the waves for 40 nm. The other thing, having the wind come from the east was a surprise (even for my "chase" boat who has done the crossing many times). I was at one time concerned that I might miss the island if it picked up from that direction as the AI doesn't have a great angle to the wind and I was at it's max haul at that point already but the wind came around and it went great. I took all the right foods and electrolite drinks so I wasn't even tired when I got to the island so I wouldn't have too much of a problem again. In fact I'm considering just doing a kayak trip next time and see if I can peddle the whole way!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:21 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am
Posts: 25
Location: SANTA MONICA
Also! with all the different methods of propulsion on the AI I really felt in good hands getting to my destination and quite comfortable despite the seat popping out of the sockets (I did glue them in but I was putting much more strain on them than usual) and slipping down now and then. This was annoying but in retrospect did keep me moving and flexing to get it back in position which was as good as stretching! So my thoughts on taking the ferry to the island are that I would do that if a group wanted to do it but if I was solo I would sail as it wasn't hard to do and the time passes quickly as I was focussed on keeping on corse all the time. To go off course meant adding time + distance to the trip. It would have been great to have done this with other AI owners and maybe I can next time. I would hope for marine layer in the morning so that I could get those still waters again but my initial test runs were into waves hence my slower times predicted in my float plan. But even with typical 2-3ft california waves it would have been fine- I'm not so young and moderately fit and made it with ease so if the game was upped by bigger air etc I would still feel confident I would make it as the AI is so comfortable and easy to manage. I would just be more grumpy and tired at the end!


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 Post subject: excellent story
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:42 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:31 pm
Posts: 141
Location: New Jersey
thank you for sharing that awesome adventure

it is really getting me excited for my bay crossing in a few weeks.

What a awesome trip for you

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 Post subject: an encouragement
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 5:25 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:45 pm
Posts: 23
Location: Fair Haven, New Jersey
Hello AJMENZIES,

Congratulations on you successful sailing journey.

You, and the other AI sailing veterans here, are very helpful in sharing your sailing experiences; and trips such are yours are an encouragement to this novice who has yet to sail just beyond the horizon.

Ed


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:38 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am
Posts: 25
Location: SANTA MONICA
Thanks Eddie, I'm a novice like yourself as I couldn't have been out in my AI more than 15 to 20 times since I got it. I posted my adventure, all be it quite modest compared to others, mainly as reading other peoples trips was a great help to me and I hope mine is of use to adventurers like yourself. Good luck.


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 Post subject: great report
PostPosted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:04 am 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:31 pm
Posts: 141
Location: New Jersey
AJMENZIES

I have read your story many times and also have watched your videos and looked at almost all your pictures

you really did a nice job documenting your story

I have looked at all your pictures very closely just to see how you did things.

thank you, I am completely excited for my trip this weekend and after reading thru your stuff and double checking all my gear I feel really good that I have everything I need

so thank you

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 6:25 pm 
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Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:42 am
Posts: 25
Location: SANTA MONICA
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