Thursday May 11th from Dana Point to Catalina to Dana Point Catalina is a great location for boats in Southern California. We had been there with our previous boat. At 35 miles away from Dana Point it took us about 5 hours to get there and 5 hours to get back. This is a nice first trip, not too far, not too close. It gave us a chance test things while underway and get some fun pictures and video. Jeff Merrill, who is our friend, boating mentor, and Nordhavn salesperson, came along to train us.

One thing we got to test right away was the radar. Visibility was about a half to one mile.

We even had a sailboat without radar follow us all the way to Catalina.

• Video Action
  • Radar and Following Sailboat – We have an “open array” radar, which means you can see it moving. Furuno is the brand of radar. In this brief video you can see the sailboat that followed us all the way to Catalina.

This was not thick fog, but land and boats disappear quickly from sight. Radar came in very handy. We crossed shipping lanes and encountered one large freighter. We changed course to go behind it. The sailboat following us took our lead and easily avoided the freighter with us. A couple fast power boats buzzed passed us just before being able to visually see the freighter. They came scurrying back and took our course, as well, to avoid getting too close to the freighter. It was a good confidence booster as we confirmed each vessel on the radar.

Christi made breakfast and we merrily cruised along. Kosmos has a nice quiet and pleasant ride. Of course the ocean was pretty flat as you can see in the background.

Another confidence booster was our other escorts. Three tiny birds and several dolphins came along for parts of our trip.

• Video Action
  • Dophins at the Bow – Look at the reflection of the bow and you can see Eric recording.
  • Bird in the Pilothouse – He sneaked in the small window.

The main area of civilization on Catalina Island is the small town of Avalon. That is where we arrived. The landmark item is this round building seen in the background.

Once we got there we practiced on some moorings. Then we went off try the anchor. Jeff could not resist and decided to take the plunge after we anchored.

He then got a couple great pictures from the water.

Overall it was a wonderful trip. We did hourly engine room checks, and tried everything out we could. Everything worked great.

And a final picture from atop the pilot house anchored next to Catalina.