Wednesday, October 01, 2014

A Trip to Catalina

Back in August I chartered a Beneteau 43-foot sailboat for five days out of Marina del Rey in Los Angeles with Dawn, my little brother Steve, and friends Lance, Ivy, Kelly, and Rob. We did a 4-day trip to Catalina Island, and then Steve and I spent an additional night anchored up at Paradise Cove near Malibu. We enjoyed beautiful weather and phenomenal sailing conditions, and I was able to get the entire crew training & practice time at each of the crew positions. It was actually my second time taking this boat to Catalina, as "Liberty" was the boat used for my ASA104 Bareboat Chartering course last September. Here's the really cool part: the charter company / sailing school, Blue Pacific Boating, hired Steve to make a promotional video from our trip. Steve is a multi-talented guy, and he did a really nice job with it (including enlisting our brother-in-law Jordan to write & record the music). I don't know about you, but it makes me want to head for the nearest body of water and jump on a sailboat! Watch it full-screen in 1080p.


5 comments:

amulbunny's random thoughts said...

Love Catalina but I'm seasick before we leave the breakwater. Have flown over on the chopper and have had wonderful times.

Can't figure out the seasick thing, I grew up on lakes in Northern WI.

The video was wonderful. Looks like a wonderful trip over there. Kudos to all involved.

(a little PS, my daughter got caught in the kerfluffle on Friday past trying to get home on your friendly employer. Leaving ORD they left on block, but were #30 in the conga line. Pulled into MSP as the 738 was taxiing out. Spent the night on the mezzanine till the first flight out Sat AM. Made it to LAX safe and sound. Yesterday she gets back to MSP and her flight to MDW was delayed an hour. Not a happy camper).

Sam Weigel said...

amulbunny-- Have you tried bonine? I know a few people for whom dramamine doesn't work well (or it knocks them out too much) but bonine does the trick. Ocean swells are definitely a different motion than lake waves. Takes me a day or so to get acclimated every time I sail on the ocean.

Ugh, last week was NOT a good time to be going anywhere near Chicago! Fortunately my trip was completely north-south flying between NYC/DTW and South Florida. Sounds like it's slowly getting back to normal now. Glad your daughter at least knew about the MSP mezzanine hideaway, hibernated there on many long MSP sits at my last employer.

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to those "watches" advertised on Avweb that sent tiny electrical impulses to the inside of your wrist, thus negating the effects of motion sickness? They seemed to work well for pilots.

I've spent maybe an hour on open ocean and it's amazing how different it is from inland lakes (I've got *years* on the Chetek chain in N. WI!) Completely different sensation with the entire body of water rising and falling and the whole notion of a "following sea."

Looks like fun, Sam! Cool vid.

Marty

CaptainVector said...

Sam -

Motorcyles, airplanes, world traveller, published author,and now boats and movie star. What's next? I always enjoy your writing -- thanks for sharing. Cool video, and kudos to Jordan as well for the music.

CV

JetAviator7 said...

It's interesting that most pilots also love to sail, myself included. With most of my flying days behind me I mess the fellowship, but my online store where I sell Randolph Engineering Made in America aviator sunglasses puts me in touch with a lot of pilots.