Catalina Island in a Skiff America 20
by Donovan

https://www.skiffamerica20.com/

We had a great trip to the island; the weather was great with light winds in the morning. The best time to make the crossing is in the early morning as the typical weather pattern for southern California with a high pressure ridge over California and Arizona is no wind or light wind at night and in the early morning and picking up to 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon in the Catalina channel between the mainland and the island. We made about 13 to 14 knots going over and 14 to 15 coming back.

(click images to enlarge)

Weather was clear blue sky and no local fog. You could not see the island for the coast at the start but at about 10 miles out you start to see the fuzzy outline of the island. When you can see the island clearly from the mainland that may mean it may be a little windy out there with all the haze and smog blown out.

We arrived about 9:15 am at Avalon and circled with the other boats around the harbor patrol boat hoping to get a mooring on the inside of Avalon harbor. We got the last one which made Emily happy, she does not like the outside mooring area as it is bumpy all day long with all the boat traffic coming and going. I would have made the run to Two Harbor about 12 miles west along the lee of the island to make Emily happy if we did not get into the inside harbor. Two Harbors is a nice harbor also and it typically does not fill up as fast as Avalon on the weekend.