I arrived first at the beach and found that it was hazy with a little bit of fog as well. After a false start while I returned to the beach to change my glasses for an old pair that I usually wear kayaking, we were off.

We headed out past the East side of the breakwater and just kept on a course of 210 degrees. Peter remarked that if we kept going for only 65 NM, that we would hit St. Nicolas Island. I replied that he would have to do that trip without me.

The water was flat and there was very little wind as we kept on heading SSW. We wound up passing a sailboat under sail. I was almost tempted to offer them a tow, they were going so slowly.

There were a lot of "Sunday Drivers" out there in their power and sail boats, and it seems most were calling on Ch 16 for a radio check. The Coast Guard finally had to put a call out to tell people that radio checks are forbidden on 16 and should be done on Ch 9 and that they were using radio direction finding equipment to track down violators. A boat 3 mi North of Anacappa called on Ch 9 for a radio check and when no one was answering, I finally replied. He asked where we were, and I told him my antenna was 2 feet off the water and 2 mi South of Channel Islands Harbor. He was impressed (as was I) that he could hear my handheld and that I could actually hear him. Total straight line distance between us was 6 - 7 NM.

The wind stayed down, and the swells were extremely gentle. We were out of site of the shore in the fog and Peter kept calling out compass headings to maintain. By the time we were able to see the breakwater, we found that our ded reckoning was right on the money. Peter's skill with a compass and his local knowledge, make it easy to do ded reckoning as opposed to dead reckoning.

It was a little crowded coming back to the harbor as there were power boats and sailboats all around us. I can't remember the last time I saw so many boats underway in as small an area as we had today.

It was also feeding time for the local seal population as every time we turned our heads, there would be another seal popping up.

It's back to work tomorrow, but what a fun day we had, even if the water was totally flat with no wind.

    Steve Holtzman

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