The group photo and trip report is at www.rollordrown.com.

Joining me for the Second Annual Catalina for Lunch were Jake Stachovak, Lee Shurie, Don Russell and Bob McMurray. None of them had crossed to Catalina Island or paddled 38 NM before. But I knew Lee, Don and Bob were mentally and physically tough enough to do it. I never met Jake before, but he was highly recommended by trusted friends.

On Saturday, September 25, 2004, we launched at Cabrillo Beach through small surf in the dark at 5:30 a.m. I took the first one-hour shift steering with a lighted compass and setting the pace. The bioluminescence from our kayaks and paddles in the water was bright. Small fish, probably anchovies or sardines, were jumping out of the water and hitting our kayaks. After paddling a half hour, we took a quick water break and turned around to see the city lights on the coast.

Daylight was welcomed and we settled into the routine of taking rotating one-hour shifts steering by compass and setting the pace. Quick breaks were taken at the top and bottom of every hour. The group worked so well together that it ran itself.

Conditions for the crossing over were calm, but visibility wasn't great. We paddled for about three hours before being able to see Catalina. The channel was also unusually devoid of marine life. The water was clear, though. As we paddled into Two Harbors at Catalina, we could see kelp, bright gold garibaldi fish and rocks on the bottom about 30 feet down.

We landed at Two Harbors at 11:30 a.m., giving us a six hour crossing of the 19 NM channel. After taking a group photo, we had lunch together at the restaurant and walked around the quaint boating and camping town.

We launched back for the mainland at 1:00 p.m. Earlier, I had told the guys that Catalina is infamous for jamming skegs. As Jake and Lee (two of the three skeg kayaks) launched, they discovered their skegs were jammed. Fortunately, they were able to quickly fix them for the long paddle back.

As we left Two Harbors, a couple of older, well dressed boaters on the pier asked us if we can roll our kayaks and paddle them across the ocean. We told them that we had just paddled over for lunch and were paddling back now. They didn't believe us. Jake performed a roll for them as we waved bye.

At first, we thought we would be lucky and have calm conditions for the crossing back. But by 2:00 p.m. the usual afternoon conditions in the channel hit us. We had winds up to 15 knots and whitecaps, which were occasionally washing over our decks.

With the wind and waves quartering us from the left rear, Don's skegless kayak was weather cocking. I didn't want his left arm falling off from corrective strokes, so I moved the gear in his front hatch to the back one, and then I moved all of the gear in the back hatch as far back as possible to alter the trim. His kayak tracked a lot better afterwards.

We changed our heading 20 degrees into the wind and waves to prevent them pushing us off course. The mainland wasn't visible until 4 1/2 hours after we launched. Our 20 degree heading change was just right.

The sky was pink while the sun was setting at 6:47 p.m. Once it was dark, we had a nice view of the city lights in front of us. We landed back at Cabrillo Beach at 7:30 p.m., giving us a 6 1/2 hour crossing back.

Duane Strosaker

I want to publicly thank Duane for organizing a safe yet challenging trip. Everything that needed to be organized was expertly done, and it made all the difference. I would not want to cross the channel twice in one day without the benefit of Duane's group crossing procedures. Each person was able to contribute to the group's success, and each person benefited from the contributions of the others. Perhaps as noteworthy: everything that didn't need to be organized was purposely left that way. This gave each paddler an ideal balance between group participation and individual freedom.

Thanks Duane!