[C320-list] Advice for Channel Islands State Park

[DONALD LAWSON]

Jeff
	I am a past member of Ventura Yacht Club, I  have sailed the Channel Islands off and on for 30 years. When we were not cruising the CI we were racing around them. I have seen enough of the backside of Anacapa to last me a lifetime.  
	Smugglers as first drop, as mentioned by Mike P, is as good as it gets. Sand bottom.  Favorite of fishermen. Look for the olive orchard.  Bad landing.  Would not recommend it.
	The southern end of Santa Cruz, from the pier at Prisoners south, is National Park and no permit required. 
	 On the way to Prisoners is Little Scorpion and Scorpion.  Scorpion is the jump off point for hikers in the Park and the stop for hikers/campers coming over with Island Packers.  Best is little Scorpion behind the rocks.  Dinghy to  Scorpion. 
	Any land north Prisoners and the pier is Conservancy owned and permit is required. If you have a permit you can walk to  the Stanton Ranch or hike from prisoners to Pelican Harbor around the corner.  I prefer Prisoners as it is less crowded but not as protected. However the ellgrass can make for a night watch if the wind comes up. Sometimes all that is holding you is the anchor in the ellgrass.  Good to have a big anchor. 
	Anchorages up the coast are as Mike P stated.  Bow and Stern. Note that East side anchorages are a favorite of both Santa Barbara and Ventura harbors.  Frys and Pelican fill up fast on Fridays. Painted cave should be done early
	In the other direction, west side, is Coches and Alberts.  Nice beach at Coches. Conservancy land.  Pay attention to the cruising guide as to where to anchor. There is a reef at Coches that will saw your bow line through.  At the West end is Forny’s, a favorite in good weather.  Well protected from Sea but not wind. 
	We carried the next size up Delta with 75ft of chain, 250  ft nylon for bow. I was younger and only used the windlass for the last 30 ft of chain and anchor. I carried a LARGE. Danforth and 60 ft chain with 250 ft of rode for the stern.  I had to leave a bow anchor behind in Pelican once.  It was nice knowing I had another bow anchor available in an emergency.   I no longer own the boat so I can not check sizes for you. Have the cruising guide available and read and be mindful of the weather.  We   powered over to San Miguel one day, blowing 40 next morning. No weather warning.  I preferred to be over spec’d for ground tackle.  I would have liked to  have had all chain, but 200 ft of chain in  the bow is to much.
Don L. 


> On May 12, 2024, at 11:48 AM, Michael Paris via C320-list <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>> 
>