Real Thought

After leaving Smuggler’s Cove, we were on an eight hour run to Avalon, Santa Catalina Island.  Our course took us far outside the shipping lanes and outside of Anacapa Island.  The weather was fair, with a two to five foot swell and small craft advisories.  We heard many vessels complaining of the “heavy swell” and one person on a Catalina 30 sailboat who called the Coast Guard because his engine had overheated and they were “afraid” to set the sails.  We arrived at Avalon in the early afternoon and picked up a mooring outside of Avalon Harbor at Descanso Beach. 

Well, we left on July 31 with near perfect weather conditions.  After getting underway from Napa at 1830, I went below for some rest as I had the watch from 2000 to 000.  We passed under the Golden Gate at about 0100 in the morning and headed south under an overcast sky and with calm seas off out starboard quarter making about nine knots.  On my next watch, the drive pulley for the raw water pump came off the starboard engine, causing it to shut down..  A weld had failed.  We rigged the ship’s fire pump to the raw water system and continued on our way.  On the way down the crew sighted many dolphins and whales.  There was very little traffic. We finally dropped anchor in Smuggler’s Cove off of Santa Cruz Island on the morning of August 2nd.