Member News and Articles

Some came by land, and some came by sea, but 28 members and guests of Santa Barbara Sail & Power Squadron (SBSPS) made the journey to Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club in Oxnard, CA on the weekend of 13-15 July 2018.

Ron Slocum, S/V Bobcat We left the harbor early Friday morning, with the typical forecast of light winds becoming W 10-15 in the afternoon.  We ended up motor sailing the entire way, as the forecast winds never materialized.   The seas were fairly sloppy, and it was uneventful except for a good number of dolphins… Keep Reading

It’s time for the annual Cruise to Two Harbors at Catalina Island.  Two Harbors is the “boater’s destination” on Catalina with almost 900 moorings.  Two Harbors with about 75 year round residents also has a General Store, coffee shop and decent restaurant plus a fully equipped Scuba shop renting tanks, kayaks, beach equipments, etc.  There is lots to do including many water based activities, hiking and beach activities.

S/V Benchmark will be headed to San Miguel August 17th to 19th.  Neil Ablitt on S/V Maude is planning on going and showing us the various anchoring spots at Cuyler Harbor and will give directions to the Cabrillo Monument.  We plan to stay until Sunday the 18th.

Yes, Ellie and I are (once again) hoping to put our two-week “Catalina Loop Cruise” together in the period immediately following Labor Day.  And yes!  It is the very cruise we presented on the last session of the Squadron Cruise Planning Course we took last year.

P/C Susan and I, and our son and his family (from SF), spent a long weekend in Newport, RI early in May.  Our daughter and her family joined us from their home in CT. So we had two grandkids, both under two years old, to share the time with, and our kids had able and willing babysitters!  We stayed in a large Airbnb house (built in 1882) in the old downtown, close to many waterfront and city attractions.  And we were easy walking distance to fine local restaurants; we especially enjoyed some local clams and oysters.  We were fortunate, not only with the weather, but also by the marine-eye-candy and exciting activities at Fort Adams and the nearby Newport Shipyard.  

I think this is a good time to share how our day to day life looks while we are working for $ on the West coast and working on our boat on the East coast. It’s crazy. It’s overwhelming. It’s a fantastic adventure that we are so glad to be doing. At home in SB Clark works as a Food Safety Consultant. He is busy in spring/summer working very long hours. In the fall/winter he is able to work about 2 days a week. This coincides nicely with hurricane season – home April to Sept and in Florida about 10 days a month the rest of the year. My work is flexible and home based, a perfect travel job.

Like many of you I subscribe to a sailing magazine – in my case Good Old Boat which is published bi-monthly.  I usually read it cover to cover and find many interesting articles covering everything from how-to-do-it to boat reviews to personal articles from sailors.  I’ve gotten a lot of good ideas and always thoroughly enjoy it.  I even know one or two of the contributors who submit some of the how-to articles.

The detailed and stirring story of this tragedy reminds us how the basic concepts of seamanship and navigation we learn in our Squadron courses also apply to big (very big) ships.  

Now it’s time to decide on what the priorities are to get her ready for cruising. This is a bit tricky. We are not retired but our schedule is somewhat flexible so we are able to spend about 10 days a month from August thru February at the boat. Hurricane season we are home working. We are on a budget so need to decide what to do ourselves and what to hire out. Time vs money….always a compromise.