MacGregorSailors.com

As you sail up the coast, they will be to your starboard!

sorry, I couldn't resist!

Maybe you can answer a question for me. I have been wanting to sail up the coast from San Diego, to around Newport, and then out to Catalina. Are there any anchorages or marina's between San Diego and Newport, and where are they?

It's 59 nautical miles from the last safe passage north of San Diego (Mission Bay) to Newport Harbor and you can't make it in one day because the wind shifts from out of the North in the morning to due West in the afternoon - that means you will be tacking further and further out into the ocean as the day progresses to keep best speed. Ultimately you will need to make a port tack at the end of the day just to get back to shore and then at that late hour in the day your stuck going into the harbor on a broad reach (which is RUNNING WITH the wind). Really slow.

Remember, the days are short in So Cal.

Best time of the day to make harbor on the south coast is 3 or 4 PM. After that the wind dies and comes from the South, slowly shifting back to North during the night and early morning hours. You can't make it to Newport that early from Mission Bay, but at least you will have light until about 8PM.

The next port South of Newport would be Dana Point at 48 nautical miles from Mission Bay - doable, but I would never 'show up' in Dana Point for the night without reservations - that place is packed full all the time.

The only safe passage that exists between San Diego and Dana Point is the tiny little Oceanside Municipal Harbor; it is 27 nautical miles from the breakwater at Mission Bay or 33.5 nautical miles from Point Loma which is the final obstruction that must be navigated to sail North from San Diego Bay.

The distance from San Diego Bay to Newport is 65 nautical miles. It's not a practical one day leg in the MAC but I do have a friend that has done it many times in a 23 foot boat in one day but he would start in the dark and arrive in the dark and always had someone waiting for him in Newport in another boat, (Like me). I'm sure he used the motor in the AM hours.

Or, you could do like this MAC X boat did. We spotted this MAC X 'ghost ship' three miles off the coast of Carlsbad nary a soul to be seen on board! There he was out in the middle of nowhere!! We did not recognize the ships name and it was very spooky so we gave it a wide berth:



Oceanside has free mooring in a little anchor basin right inside the breakwater - it's a sandy bottom there and the depth is only about 8 to 12 feet - perfect for mooring and very calm. There is usually only one or two boats a week showing up to use the free mooring - they are usually weary travelers from points north or south looking for a place to bed down for the night. The mouth of the harbor is treacherous with waves around 12PM to 3PM most days but is usually calm after that. At night everything is very quiet and calm.

Most people pull into the guest slips in front of the Harbor Masters office. There is always space and you just pull in and walk right into the Harbor Masters office right there across the street and he will give you a slip assignment for the night for a small fee. (Usually the assignment is the slip you happen to be in at that time!) If you continue to Dana Point instead make sure you have reservations - they do not have free mooring there and usually have a waiting line for guest slips if your not a member of the Dana Point Yacht Club. It's a wine and cheese crowd there, (Oceanside is more of a Beer and Shooters crowd).

We did almost 80 miles in one day. It was on the Mississippi River during flood stage, under motor.

Yup, Roger says you can go 100 miles in one day if you use the motor.
(I was sort of assuming this post was about sailing - but I could be wrong) I was talking about sailing only.

Nice thing about a power sailor is you can pull down all the sails and crank up the throttle and get somewhere in a hurry.

I would definitely break San Diego to Newport into two legs: San Diego to Oceanside, and then Oceanside to Newport.

Then I would do the SD to Oceanside portion on the I5, where my boat can do 60 knots.

mastreb wrote:I would definitely break San Diego to Newport into two legs: San Diego to Oceanside, and then Oceanside to Newport.

Then I would do the SD to Oceanside portion on the I5, where my boat can do 60 knots.

RIGHT! because there is a very nice launch ramp at Oceanside. You save a lot of time by putting in at Oceanside to head to Newport. It's real hard to put in at Newport because the launch ramp there is behind a low bridge. There is a GREAT launch ramp at Dana Point and Dana Point is only 13 nautical miles from Newport! That would be a good place to launch and park the car.

If your main goal is to get to Newport launching from Dana Point would be the best option - second best would be to launch from Alamitos Bay which is only 15 Nautical Miles North of Newport (but you do need to go under the second avenue bridge after launching and I don't think we can make it even at low tide; my old boat was smaller and barley squeaked through at low tide).

Alamitos is also very close to Avalon.

We launched out of 2nd street bridge. Just had to take an end tie and step the mast. Cabrillo Beach, (San Pedro) is probably the shortest leg to Avalon. It's been a long time but we would get a slip at the 22nd street landing near Ports O' Call and leave around sunup. Not much wind if any at that time of the morning but you stand a better chance of getting a mooring in the harbor. Spend many happy hours on Catalina. Alas, now I'm a desert rat. Fair Winds and Full Sails...Old Salt

We used San Pedro all the time for Catalina - they had a ramp right across from the Queen Mary but that ramp is gone now and they moved the ramp next to a hotel and you must go under a bridge to get out now - I don't know if we can get under the bridge. That is the shortest way to Catalina.

BOAT wrote:We used San Pedro all the time for Catalina - they had a ramp right across from the Queen Mary but that ramp is gone now and they moved the ramp next to a hotel and you must go under a bridge to get out now - I don't know if we can get under the bridge. That is the shortest way to Catalina.

Just leave the gin pole on and don't raise the mast until you get under the bridge. Before we stored mast up, I left the gin pole on all the time--you can drop it to the deck and tie a cotton towel around it to keep it from marring the deck. With the gin pole lines slack, the gib will tack around it no problem. with the MRS is almost certainly the easiest sailboat to get under bridges ever made.