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Sweet Home Catalina... and Island White (May 2026)
June 1, 2026 · 25 min · 978 views · off the coast of Los Angeles, California
Crew toasting beers aboard sailboat at Catalina dusk
What this video covers
Mark departs Los Angeles Harbor on Thursday, May 28th, bound for Avalon, Catalina Island, aboard his Valiant 40-2, with guest Vince — last aboard 20 years earlier on a Tartan 27.2:48 Winds out of LA Harbor run 8–9 knots true, light enough that they motor sail to make Avalon before dark.3:55 A 600-foot tanker, the Harrisburg, closes to a CPA of half a mile; Mark turns hard to port to make the course change obvious.7:59 Once clear, Vince deploys the genoa and the boat reaches 7.3–7.4 knots, briefly chasing friend Ron's motor vessel Lorena.8:36 They pick up mooring 91 in Avalon, where moorings fill fast on a Thursday ahead of the Catalina Wine Mixer weekend.12:19 Departure Sunday morning is delayed past the 9 a.m. clearance deadline.15:09 The return leg carries only 3 knots of wind until the final stretch.16:59 A tangled anchor chain in an undersized locker forces them to abort anchoring at Island White, an oil island off Long Beach near Queens Gate.17:33 They instead pick up a Belmont Shore mooring at $1 per foot per day — no harbor staff, just a text and a Venmo QR code on the mooring float.21:47 Boat traffic runs fast through the mooring field, and a Padma Leader cargo ship passes within 100 meters on departure.19:35 An anchor locker too small for the Valiant 40-2's chain is identified as the boat's main unresolved issue.
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