10-06-2011 Sail to Avalon

10-06-2011, Thurs. Well it was a little dicey this morning, but we decided to go ahead and set out for Avalon, which should only be a 4-5 hour adventure. The winds were a steady 20-30 knots and the seas were pretty large, 6-10 on the beam for the first hour and a half. Things eased some once we turned to head to the east point of Catalina and started taking the seas on the stern.

We got 15 minutes out of Catalina Harbor and found that the regulator had died, so we had no RPM readings and the batteries were not charging. Yikes! ………… To the rescue comes my “Jackofaaaaaah” (Jack of all Trades :--) (pronounced “jacovah”, emphasis on the “ah”) That would now be Dick’s new nickname. So, my honey goes back down into the engine compartment, while I’m conquering the seas, and found a connector on the regulator had worked loose. Fortunately the fuse that should blow if this happens did . (Let’s hope that is all.) Everything else seems to be working properly, which is a good thing.

We saw more wonderful dolphins and a flying sea lion on a mission! No whales yet!

When we got to the eastern end of the island and turned left, the winds calmed in the lee of the island and the seas calmed too, of course. Sooooo, we increased the engine speed. Here comes the engine heating problem again. We ended up creeping our way around the end and up to Avalon at 1.5 to 2.5 knots into the wind & current.

Thankfully, we got a spectacular mooring in a nice protected area right next to the beautiful Casino building. The name of our mooring was “Endless Summer”. They all have names after their owner’s boat name.

We got ourselves situated, pulled the fuse out of the regulator, launched the dinghy, mounted the motor and headed to shore to see if we could find a replacement fuse (oh yeah, we didn’t have one).

First of all, Avalon is gorgeous! Anyway.,… off we go through town, looking at shops, scoping out the mini-golf course (which we will play tomorrow) and scored at the hardware shop for the fuse (got 4). Had a “cold one” at the El Galleon Restaurant/Bar; a very historic spot and headed back to try out the new fuse.

Yaaaaaaaay! It worked!! AND… Jackofaaah found that some air had gotten trapped in the exhaust manifold, bled it….. and presto……the overheating problem was gone. (I hope - D)

Whew!!! We are going out for pizza tonight to celebrate…enough for one day…