Catalina Cruise, Part 4 (Passage to Newport)

Eventually it was time to drop the moorings and shove off. Tim and Amy, with Kacey and Kevin, were first to shove off in Desert Blue and made a fairly quick motorsail all the way to Newport Beach and the delights of mainland civilization.

Al, Stan, and Pat followed shortly behind in Hägar, passing by the huge motley crew aboard Your Mom.



Before long, Braxton and crew had caught up to us, did a photo run-by, and then started hauling up their spinnaker. Unfortunately, Your Mom is so fast that it had run a mile or two downwind by the time the big chute was in position, so we didn't get a good picture.

There's plenty of small boat traffic in the lanes between Avalon and the big mainland harbors such as Newport Beach and San Pedro, so other boats were very often in sight. We motored for about an hour until the breeze steadied, then cut off the motor and enjoyed a quiet, beautiful day on the water. The winds remained moderate during our sail, and we enjoyed a leisurely broad reach almost all the way to Newport Harbor.






A couple of high peaks to the southeast of Newport Beach provide a rough landmark from many miles away. At about six miles, the tall buildings that stand about a mile behind the harbor become visible. Boat traffic is also frequent enough to be usable as a landmark. As we approached Newport Beach more and more boats became visible; some folks were racing a few miles offshore, while others were fishing off the coast and jetties or ducking out for a quickie daysail.