[C320-list] Advice for Channel Islands State Park

[Michael Paris]

Hi Jeff,
I’m not an authority on the Channel Islands but we did go a couple of times a few years ago. We only went to Santa Cruz Island. From Long Beach, we crossed to Emerald Bay on Catalina on Day 1 and then headed to Smugglers early on Day 2. It was a nice reach sail crossing at that angle. Smugglers is big and well sheltered in most conditions - also, you anchor on a single hook. The following days, we circled around the east end and stayed at Prisoners and then Fry’s. We anchored bow and stern at each of those and had some problems. We were anchored bow and stern at Prisoners because a couple of boats already there were. The wind shifted to our beam during the night and our stern anchor slipped due to the eel grass causing us to swing 90 degrees. If I go again, I’d go a bit further out and stick with a single hook there. There’s a small pier at Prisoners that they bring hikers in that you can dinghy to. There are some very nice trails to hike. Permits are needed in some parts of the island but we didn’t go there and it didn’t really affect us. Fry’s is very nice but pretty small so you have to anchor bow and stern there. This is the case at many anchorages on the island. The winds through the cliffs picked up at night. We held but a couple of boats around us were sliding out. This made for a long night but gave us good stories to tell. It’s a little tricky to do but visit Painted Cave if possible. Be very aware of the tide and sea conditions there if you plan on going in.

On the bow, I have a 22lb. Delta anchor with 50’ of chain and 300’ of nylon. This has always held for me. The stern is a Danforth with 35’ of chain and 300’ of nylon. I’ve only used this a few times and its one failure was the time at Prisoners mentioned above - primarily due to me choosing a poor spot. It’s likely you will need both at the Channel Islands.

It’s a great place to sail to. I plan on going again and will stick to Santa Cruz Island. The conditions can get very windy up there - especially on the western islands. The Channel Islands are remote - no water, food, fuel, etc. available. Cell phone reception is spotty in some locations but VHF was solid. There are a number of good videos on YouTube about sailing to the Channel Islands. 

Mike P
Mojo #734


>> 
>> On Friday, May 10, 2024 at 07:39:44 PM PDT, Jeffrey Brown via C320-list <
>> c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> We’re heading to Channel Island state park in July for a week coming from
>> Dana Point.  Wondering if anyone on our forum has experience and knowledge
>> of the area. We’ve done a bunch of research but still would like to chat
>> with someone about most protected anchorages, best anchor to use and other
>> things that we might need to be aware of. Thanks for your help.
>> 
>> 
>> Jeff Brown
>> 949-350-5123
>>