Catalina Gale Part IV: Monstrous Waves!

Captain Brad continues:

     At the crack of dawn we got on the cell phone right away to call the guys. “Hello? Yea, you all need to take the tent down immediately, and …..What’s that!?“ To our shock, not only were they awake, but they had already broken camp. Furthermore they had also hiked with all their gear into town, and were in fact in the proximity of the pier. They were waiting for us! Man, the Navy S.E.A.L.’s could definitely use these guys. We got everyone on board, and ate an improvised breakfast (this would unfortunately not be the last time we would see our food as we quickly gulped it down), so as to gain an immediate departure. We checked the weather one last time for good measure. This time it was predicted for breaking seas, and very high winds. But not until the evening. We could already see the tops of the palm trees moving from the wind as it attempted to blast through the narrow isthmus, but it was otherwise a beautiful sunny day for all we could tell. For good measure, we lashed everything down, and set up a jack line to snap into, incase we should have to leave the safety of the cockpit. We also reefed down (tie it down so it is smaller) the mainsail, so as to prevent the boom from injuring someone, assuming it would be inevitable to do so latter anyways judging from the increasing wind.

 Even with the shortened sail, we made surprising good speed as we zipped out into blue water. The truth is that I hardly got any sleep during the night, even though I had felt exhausted. It was starting to catch up to me.  I told Albie that I was going to lie down for a few hours, so that I would be rested incase things got worse latter. As it turns out, later was not far away. I was just about to drift off to sleep when I could feel the bow of the boat being jolted with increased violence. I could overhear Albie telling Max that the boat was refusing to stay on our course. I climbed out into the cockpit, and was interested to see that the surface of the ocean was covered by whitecaps. The wind was strong enough that with our jib sail still up, it was impeding the bow of the boat from heading up. I put on my upper body harness, and clipped into the jack line before leaving the safety of the cockpit.  I began to make my way forward but was immediately forced onto my hands and knees, in order to keep from being thrown overboard. With some difficulty, I was able to pull down the fors’l (for-sail), and lash it off to the lifeline. This being accomplished, the little ship was now capable of heading up a little further into the wind, which allowed us to get back on course. Unfortunately, during the brief time that I was on the foredeck, the pounding of the bow in to the weather began to have its effect. It was not long at all, as I was hanging on with both arms and legs to the stanchions, seasickness began to overcome me. The wind was powerful enough that even with the jib down, the boat was heeled (leaning) over a good 25 degrees. I remembered the words “One hand for the ship” meaning that at all times you are supposed to hang on to the boat no matter what else you are doing. And hang on I did. As I yakked over the windward side of the vessel, the chunks flew straight back towards Albie, who was at the helm, carefully keeping the boat on a close reach. If the boat fell off the wind at this time, I would easily get thrown overboard, and harness or not, it would no doubt result in injury. I thought some of the vomit had hit Albie, but with so much spray and wind it was hard to say for sure. My Son Brad was out in the cockpit for quite a while, but only Albie and I had upper body harnesses rigged up. Twice we felt the boat toss and lurch so hard that we both looked over apprehensively at Brad who seemed relaxed and calm despite the building madness, as he was resting on the starboard side. If the boat were to capsize suddenly, he would be thrown into the drink, no question, and the vessel was starting to respond as if she might do just that. We suggested that he retreat into the safety of the cabin, which he obediently did. Well, this was certainly not a good start to our return voyage.

I kept looking back earnestly at Catalina wondering if we should not turn back. However, by now we could not find any shelter on this side of the island, and besides, we were already at least a quarter of the way across the channel.  I was disconcerted that the swells began to get steeper, and the frequency (how often the waves would hit us) was also increasing. I just kept vomiting as the weather worsened, and began to feel my energy draining, despite the adrenaline and exhilaration of the wind and the building seas. The little boat began to really get pounded from the steepness of the seas. It was as if we were driving into literal solid walls of water. And it was relentless. Most people can never appreciate the power of the substance otherwise known as H2O. --- While being a liquid, seawater actually weighs in excess of 8 lbs. per gallon, or 64 lbs. per cubic foot. That is of course when it is stationary. When it is being driven by the wind, its power and weight becomes exponential. Then add on to that the force of it breaking down on top of you as it swirls and collapses upon its self, well you really don’t want to be in its way at this point. But of course it was too late to choose to be safe and dry at home watching TV.

     As the vessel fought to climb over these ever increasing mountains, we could all feel the entire hull shudder from the violence. Upon the pounding of each consecutive wave, the fiberglass would literally bend and twist under the great pressure. My concern was mounting as my thoughts began to consider the gravity of the situation we were in. Just how much punishment could this little ship take anyways? Certainly not much more. What would we do if she began to break apart?! I did not want to even consider that possibility. Of course that’s when I did what any logical person would do.  Pray. “Lord, please don’t let the mainsail give out. Just help us get these young men back safely.” I began to feel this huge burden of responsibility for the safety of these young lads, especially since their Moms had entrusted us with their well being. To our amazement the waves just kept getting bigger and bigger, and BIGGER. It became ever more urgent to steer the sailboat with the uttermost skill and accuracy. The seas were starting to get confused (like a washing machine). If the helmsman misjudges even a single wave, it could be all over in less than a second. When the waves get that big proportionately to the vessel, it becomes necessary to pick the exact course of the sailboat as it weaves in between the breaking whitecaps. It’s like playing the video game Pac-man, where little goblins are trying to devour you, and all you have to do to avoid “game over” is to out-maneuver them. At the last minute some of the waves would be bigger than anticipated, and rouge waves were coming upon us from our quarter as well, just within the peripheral vision, and sometimes looming over us seemingly out of nowhere. This was just a little too intense. ONE mistake, and I mean only ONE, and the boat would be thrown sideways (known as broaching*). That is a guarantee to be knocked down (on to your side), and possibly rolled over and over, while taking on water, and most likely resulting in the mast snapping off. And of course that would be getting off easy. The balance is to maintain enough SOG (speed over ground) to be able to get over the top of the crests of the mountains of water, but too much speed and it subjects the boat to pressures beyond its ability to withstand. The result is that it can and will break to pieces.  Speed is obtained as you surf the boat down the back side of the wave. Unless the vessel is turned gracefully at the exact moment it is arriving into the bottom of the trough, the bow will dig into the oncoming face of the next wave, resulting in what is known as pitch poling. This is an even more horrific scenario, where the boat literally attempts a somersault (usually not successfully). The boat comes to a screeching halt, and is then propelled backwards, jamming the rudder off to one side, or snapping it off altogether. Then you go sideways, and …..yes you guessed it….refer to the previous paragraph pertaining to broaching*.    

As Albie and I took turns at the helm battling against the unmerciful conditions, we were both awestruck at the sheer monstrosity of these waves. In-between waves, when free falling down into the trough, we would literally be obscured from everything around us, including the wind. It would seem for just a brief moment a repose from the elements, almost serene you could say (that is besides the gargantuan foaming waves all around us). When cresting over the top of the swells, the wind would suddenly unleash on us with a scream consisting of white salty foam being sprayed into our eyeballs at an estimated 50 of so miles per hour. The mainsail and mast were straining under a ridiculous amount of force."

Captain Albie: " That about says it all! I just couldn't believe I was seeing twenty foot waves out here only coming back from Catalina! I had heard of waves this big, but to see them in real life was just amazing and scary at the same time. You would not believe how much fear was building up in me. I couldn't even see getting home safely anymore. That just seemed like a dream to good to be true. After talking to God at this point, I felt this unbelievable peace and knew I was in His arms. I must say one last thing. Even though I was feeling SO sick, I remained on deck to help Brad in any way I could. Looking out at the ocean,it was terrifyingly
beautiful - if that makes sense!
I will leave it at that. But stay tuned for part V! If you haven't signed up your email to stay connected to the blog-sight - do so! That way you will be the first to know when the next section comes out and can finish reading the story!

~Albie
P:S Thanks for your comments!!

Catalina Gale - Part III Ignorance of the Sea.

After having sailed all night and arriving at Catalina in the morning, we docked and let the three teenagers, Braddock, Matt and Louie off to find a camping spot.

Brad continues:
"But they were denied with the explanation that only an adult could make the reservations. In the meantime Captain Albie and I were busy getting our boat “Canta Libre” settled in for the night on her hook (anchor). We made our way onto the beach using a system of lines to comically pull ourselves back and forth from the sailboat to the beach in a little toy inflatable that as it turns out would barely - and I do mean barely - float under our weight. We would have to refill it with lung fulls of air after each short embarkation since as it turns out; it also had a very significant leak. While we did not seem to have avoided getting soaked in the process, we were fairly successful in getting the sleeping bags and other camping essentials onto the shore in relatively dry condition. At last we had made landfall. Now our greatest concern was that the weather forecast had taken a turn dramatically for the worst. The following is the entry of the Captains log accordingly: "It was now predicted for gale force winds the following day with 20 foot seas."

We walked into town to talk with the Harbor Master, as well as some of the more knowledgeable locals to find out what they advised under these circumstances, being intimately familiar with the Isthmus. They informed us that because of the direction of the intended wind, Two Harbors would be converted into a lee shore, meaning that if we stayed where we were, we were likely to experience 10 foot breaking waves which they believed would undoubtedly throw the sailboat on to the rocks no matter how well we were anchored. If they were trying to scare us, it worked. They further informed us that the only safe option was to sail all the way around the West end of the island to Catalina (“Cat”) Harbor. We did the calculations, and deemed it about the same distance to just sailing home instead. The only problem is that we had just got there, and were too tired to just pack everything up and leave. When I spoke to my wife on the cell phone she wisely commented that if the storm was going to kick in, it was not a good idea to attempt a crossing at night, since it was far more dangerous if someone fell overboard in the dark. Besides it was such a beautiful evening, it was difficult to be worried about such things for the present. Since the young men were not allowed to pay for a reservation, we were all going to sleep on the boat, but I decided to at least try to speak with the people in charge of the campgrounds. They were kind enough to hint that even though their offices were closed, and therefore could not accept money for reserving a campground, that in lew of the approaching storm, we were welcome to go ahead and set up camp anyways for safety sake. How awesome is that! There are still some decent people on this earth when it comes right down to it. We spent the remainder of the evening hiking around and then set up camp on the side of a hill overlooking the harbor and Albie's little ship. We were in a wonderful mood, despite the uneasiness of what might follow in the wee hours of the morning. The one peculiar thing that I remember from that evening was a group in an adjacent campground trying to light their camp fire with gasoline. However, the fuel would consume itself, and the fire kept going out. This caused them to take action by pouring even more fuel onto the now simmering coals. To their amazement (but not to ours as we watched) there was suddenly a huge ball of flame - gasoline having a flashpoint of -40degrees Fahrenheit - and as everyone ran around trying to put out the miniature, but growing forest fire, the gas can itself began to engulf itself in flames. We couldn’t help but be entertained and bewildered at the same time as everyone in their group began to attempt to extinguish the fire with bottles of what appeared to be Evian drinking water - which was causing the gasoline to splatter, and to spread even further. I had just recently completed an advanced fire fighting training course at the Navy Base in San Diego for fires on board ships, and tried to advise the group that water was not always a good idea when extinguishing a type B fire. To our surprise, they not only rejected our advice, but were visibly upset that we weren’t minding our own business. We ended up making our own campfire, as well as some exquisite hot chocolate while we gazed off towards the horizon at the distant glow of greater Los Angeles where over 12 million souls were either asleep, or no doubt too busy to stare back. We were in a different world out here on our little rock, so peaceful and serene, without a single worry. That is what we thought anyway, but as we continued gazing up at the stars and the clear night sky, we noticed a particularly dark mass of clouds meandering across our view. It seemed just moments before the stars were devoured by this ominous presence, until everything was pitch black. Even the lights of L.A. were extinguished. This did not look good at all. No Sir! Albie and I began to discuss some of the options in case the storm hit us during the night, which looked likely. We decided to move the boat over to a mooring ball as close to the protected side of the isthmus that we could maneuver into. We explained to Braddock, Matt and Louie that it was paramount for them to monitor their cell phones in case we had to leave in a big hurry, rather than be trapped in the harbor by huge breaking seas. As I squirmed my way into the quarter birth (sleeping space), I found that I could barely fit. I had no room to turn on to my side, or to even take a deep breath for that matter. Definitely not for the Closter phobic.  Not to worry, as I heard the rain begin to pitter patter down on the cabin top of the boat, I was just extremely glad to be warm and dry. AAAAh! Good night everyone.

Captain Albie continues:

"Yes, it was a good sleep. Having little sleep from the night before, crossing over to the island, I was very tired and slept soundly. In rethinking it all though, I wonder why I let Brad sleep in the quarter-birth? The main birth would have been much better. I only had to drop the chart table and put out the cushion that goes across it and Brad would have been much more comfortable! But all this is in hindsight. Also I don't remember the weather report indicating 20 foot waves for late sunday night. I do remember hearing 40 knot winds. But after hearing these reports often and having been out in seas that were supposedly reported to have 40 knot winds, I didn't take it too seriously. I expected some five or so foot waves but could not imagine it could get much worse than that. But this was my ignorance of the sea! I may have sailed in areas where up to 40 knot winds were PREDICTED, but to actually sail where 40 knots winds WAS - is entirely different!

~Albie

Thanks for your comments!!!

Catalina Gale - Part II, Darkness, Increasing Winds & Then Dolphins! No Signs of A Big Gale Coming...

     We finally cleared the breakwater wall and got on our rhum line (straightest possible line of travel) towards the isthmus, bucking gently into the swells on a close reach. The further you get out, the darker it gets and you begin to wonder if you were sane to decide to go out to Catalina at night. The Shipping Lane was coming up too - as if I needed the extra worry about being hit by a big ship in the dark!

As we got further out toward Catalina that night, the wind came up and we bucked through bigger waves and stronger winds. It was a lonely watch at 3 am in the morning while everyone was asleep and you're out there by yourself watching the dark seas and white caps breaking on the waves. I had the luxury of taking a couple hour nap earlier in the evening. Still, early in the morning one feels very sleepy but the seas at this time of night - approaching Catalina - were worth watching. But everyone was sleeping down on the v-berth or cabin berths as I moved the tiller to starboard and then to port a bit as each wave tried to knock us slightly off course.

Captain Brad continues the story:
"Our heading was 170 degrees magnetic. It is important to distinguish between magnetic and true headings, since there is about 14 degrees of variation (difference between true and magnetic) in this part of the world. This phenomena being the result of unknown influences or disturbances on the earth's magnetic field. Deviation is another type of error that can have a devastating effect on a ships compass as well, but usually results from metallic objects on the boat itself, that throw the compass off. This could be something as simple as a set of binoculars or a tool set down in close proximity of the compass, to an even stranger situation with ships that are made of steel. While the vessel is being built in the ship yard, if it is sitting in a position from east to west, it will actually become magnetized accordingly, and will always remain that way no matter which way it is facing while on the ocean. These are some of the many things that a prudent mariner must familiarize himself with not to find himself drastically off coarse. One degree off on the compass can be the difference between arriving home safely, and ending up on a reef in the fog. But enough about the technical stuff.

 Needless to say it was the ultimate night for sailing, and it was a great chance for us to clear out thoughts of those things left behind, as the land became more and more distant, and the millions of stars, normally obliterated by the prevailing city lights all of a sudden began to portray themselves in all of their magnificence. Wow!

After some time elapsed, we began to take watches (turns). I can easily remember some of my most profound nights of rest being out on the ocean with the fresh air and the gentle lulling of the sea, rocking me into the most blissful R.E.M. imaginable, but this night it was a little different. With all the excitement of the adventure, it was hard to sleep too soundly for fear of missing anything. Soon this turned out to be the case at dawns early light, when the damp grey darkness began to reveal both earth and sky with prevailing hues of golden colors, which then in turn quickly transformed to shades of green and blue. Now I understand what must have inspired poet Robert Frost when he wrote one of his well known thoughts:

Natures first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold
Her early leafs a flower, but only so an hour.
As leaf subsides to leaf, so Eden sank to grief.
So dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay

 I can’t be sure, but I believe that Frost was trying to help us realize that there are certain moments in life that God grants us that are just incredible, but that they rarely last for long, and it is sooo important to appreciate them while there is still time.  That’s how I was feeling sailing upon the Pacific Ocean with my son, his friends Matt, Louie, and my good friend Albie, who I consider like a brother.

     Just when I thought things couldn’t get better with such a sunrise as that, we began to see and hear dolphins playing in the wake of the boat. As the day continued to materialize, we began to witness more and more of them, until it became literally impossible to count them anymore! They seemed to have great interest in us as they would take turns darting over to jump and splash all around us. We saw a particularly thick pod of them feeding in a team effort upon a giant ball of smelt (fish) which were literally boiling on the surface. The scene was complimented by squadrons of sea gulls and pelicans dive bombing on to the bait fish, pushed up so close to the surface and to their advantage by the attacking dolphins below. We called all hands on deck to see the spectacle. Braddock and Max took it upon themselves to jump into the freezing cold water to interact with the Dolphins first hand! They told us later that they could literally hear the high pitched communications from the dolphins as they darted back and forth in immediate proximity to both of them. From our vantage point in the cockpit of the boat, we could see they were literally surrounded by the porpoises the whole time with Catalina as the backdrop. The island was definitely beckoning us by now and after retrieving the lads from the icy water, we continued towards the green isle, past ship rock, and into the sheltered waters of Two Harbors. We briefly tied up to the pier, while the three amigos ran up past the harbor masters office to secure a camping spot, just before the place closed."

Next week, come back to check out Catalina Gale - Part III. Thanks also for your comments!

~Albie
Columbia 22, 1969

Catalina Gale - Part I, First Mistake.

"It was in fact, a week or two - perhaps even a month after the horrific storm - that this lesson dawned on me. But its REALLY important and not one of those lessons you ever forget!!" ~Albie

Captain Brad begins our tale: "It all started more or less when my cell phone rang the other day. Rrrrring! Kinda like that, except right in the middle of something important. Not good timing, but what is this....the caller I.D. displaying the words “Son”. Oh, cool! A call from Braddock no less. “Hey Son.....What’s that? Did I remember that I promised to take you and some friends to Catalina for spring break..... Uhhhhh, oh yeah. I mean....of course not!”          As soon as I got off the phone the thought occurred to me: “No problema”. Since I live on a sailboat, all I had to do is get everyone on board by Friday, undo the dock lines, and start heading the vessel west, by south west, right? Of coarse there’s the small consideration that the engine needs to be fixed. Oh yeah, and the other small non-sequitorial factor that the rudder (for steering the ship) is not working either. And then there’s the minor issue that my wife Brigitte completely vetoed the whole idea, since she didn’t want our home to be missing for a few days, as she legitimately had a bunch of commitments going on that she could not change at the last minute, and unlike me, actually remembered that she had them. Then there’s the.... okay, I suppose you get the idea. 
     That is where things got seemingly really complicated. I mean a man does not ever go back on his word, right!? After all, that’s part of what makes us real men is our integrity with others, not to mention before God Almighty. But then again, I did forget to look at my calendar, and I’m sure my Son will understand. I better call him back with the bad news......wait a minute.....what am I saying, I can’t possibly let those guys down! What was I thinking (actually I guess technically, now you know what I was thinking).      But what else could I do.  And that’s when the thought occurred to me to call “Captain Albie”. If only I could convince my friend to drop everything and allow us to use his sailboat for a voyage across the channel at such last notice. That was this weekend! A brief phone call latter, and suddenly I felt the warm fuzzies all over. Not only did Albie not blackmail me (which he could have easily done at this juncture) but instead said that he was himself wanting to go to Catalina, and only needed such an excuse to go, such as my phone call for example.“Yeah!”

      Well, there was certainly no time to waste. A lot of preparations needed to be done. More than the average Land lubber (lover) could ever imagine. We had to fix the outboard engine on the sailboat, make sure that it was running perfect for the expedition. Inspect and tune the rigging to minimise the chance of a de-masting (the mast falling off), scrub the bottom of the boat. Get the provisions, get extra fuel. Gather the correct paper charts. Do all the calculations for the navigation. Go over all the emergency gear like the flares and radios and extinguishers. Get extra type II life jackets for all personnel, and that was just the beginning of the list. And that’s about the time I decided to check the weather. Not tooooo bad, but it was forecast for a chance of rain late on Sunday. I called Captain Albie to notify him of this issue, and to see if he might want to postpone the trip for a sunnier weekend. Come to find out, he had made some really HUGE sacrifices to be able to take us at the last minute, and would definitely not be able to go the following weekend. I spoke to Braddock who in turn inquired with his friends Max and Louie. They all conveyed unanimously that a little rain was not reason at all to postpone an expedition.  Well, that was that!
       It was starting to get fairly late by the time we had all convened at Marina Del Rey Harbor. We stowed all of our individual gear as best we could on to the trusty Columbia 22 foot sail boat. ”Canta Libre” was her name (which means to “Sing Free” in Spanish). Then after some last minute arrangements we again checked the weather broadcast from a repeater tower on Mount Wilson (with no significant change from before).    

It was finally time to set the little ship free of her birth as we began to motor out towards the open ocean. In typical fashion, our schedule suddenly changed when the engine began to sputter, and then stopped all together. It started back up a couple of times, but was definitely being un-cooperative. Ironically, the little outboard had been nothing but both faithful and reliable up to this point, so it seemed inappropriate to be too upset about this small misfortune.
              We had to decide if we should break out the tools and begin to fix the auxiliary while drifting, or to turn back to the slip to make repairs, and then of course there was option number three….. We were on a sailboat after all!  With the catabatic winds beginning to subside, we knew some offshore breezes were waiting for us not too far away out on the open ocean. After all, didn’t folks sail to the far ends of the earth without an engine for thousands of years? And so would we by golly...well....at least the 30 or so nautical miles to Catalina anyway's, God willing! As we were tacking out of the last hundred yards or so of Del Rey (“The King” in Spanish), little did we know that the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords was about to gift us with some of the most spectacular dolphin interaction just a few short hours later, but then again, I shouldn’t get ahead of the story, now should I.
      We finally cleared the breakwater wall and got on our rhum line (straightest possible line of travel) towards the isthmus, bucking gently into the swells on a close reach..." ~Captain Brad


~Captain Albie: Did you notice a few things that we did right? Yes, we packed all the right things and we were careful to check the weather. Now comes the question...did you notice what we did wrong (and didn't mention)?

Well, in attempting to do the right thing we even checked the marine forecast before leaving. But what we didn't mention and what we did wrong was that we didn't check the marine outer water weather report! It was in this report that we may have got our first clue of a gale approaching Catalina on Sunday. It was in fact, a week or two - perhaps even a month after the horrific storm that this dawned on me. But its a REAL important lesson and one not ever to forget!!

So stayed tuned to see Catalina Gale part II next week!


Thanks for ALL your comments. They are most welcome! :-)